“Hondo, illegal burn. 99 Old Las Vegas Highway. Timeout, 1620.” Typically, this is a call that gets maybe one or two firefighters and a brush truck rolling to the scene. Typically, we find a campfire, someone burning slash or our always favorite, a sweat lodge. But yesterday was not typical. We responded with two brush […]
Be Brave
I love writing about the bravery we see daily. Firefighters train to do things that other people describe as brave, we think of it as our job. What grabs my heart is the everyday bravery we see, a mom dealing with a son who’s a heroin addict, a son caring for a father with dementia, and passerby’s stopping to help us with a brutal crash. These are all acts of courage. Find my writing on being brave in a frightening world.
Be Kind
I speak publically about kindness, PTSD and bravery. As every firefighter learns, for each time we need to be brave, there are one hundred opportunities to be kind. We are rarely remembered for our big trucks, sirens, and flashing lights. Most often we are remembered for our kindness. So it is in life, you will be remembered for your kindness.
Contact me about speaking to your group.
Fight Fires
One of my ongoing projects is interviewing firefighters on why they chose the vocation and what they’ve learned. I interview both career and volunteer firefighters. You'll hear stores about service, giving back, and "knowing in a flash I wanted to be a firefighter". Firefighters are inspiring, thoughtful, and wise!
Alexis Witzke, Paramedic-Firefighter, Salisbury, MD
Alexis is a Kickass Paramedic from Salisbury, MD. Watch her story!
Questions for the Good Guy with a Gun
All I saw was the gun and the hand holding the gun. It was coming out from behind the basement door. We were in a house searching for an assault victim, and this was the first guy we ran into. All I could do was sputter, “Gun!” to the two sheriffs behind me. The guy-with-the-gun […]