If somebody had told me before I worked in EMS that mildly Ill people, younger than me would call 911, lay in bed until we arrived, allow others to physically carry them from their homes and then wait for 8 hours crammed into an overcrowded emergency room with other mildly Ill people I’d never have […]

He was funny, larger than life, a decent guy, and a good firefighter. We knew he was a little off, but accepted him and enjoyed his unpredictability. Sometimes he simply forgot to come to work, and we covered for him; one of us would stay late, another come in early, and nobody was the wiser. […]

As a firefighter, there is nothing that we cannot do, no obstacle we will not overcome, and nothing we fear…except, maybe, what to do when it is time for us to re-join the workforce after retirement. When our time in uniform is through, we’ll put all of our experiences together, put on our finest civilian […]

The cable guy was finishing up after having spent a few hours in my house. It’s tough not to figure things out about a person when you are on the inside. When I spend a few minutes in a person’s home, I could write a book about them. I’d have to make a lot of […]

Whatever happened has already happened. Now its time to get to work. We had nothing to do with whatever it was, be it a mass shooting, a train de-railment, a carbon monoxide leak that leaves a family dead or any of the unimaginable things that do happen that precede our involvement. When sorting through the […]

  “When there’s a lot, take a lot, when there’s a little, take it all!” – Michael Dillon, COD, Providence Fire Department (ret.) as quoted after “all hot” was announced at LaSalle Square, Special Hazards 1, January, 1992. My grandson Jaxon agrees.

The Providence Fire Department has been plagued with a lack of official leadership and without a Chief of Department for years. Fortunately, leadership on the street level is in abundant supply. It was my pleasure to work alongside them.   By Michael Morse “Rescue 1 with Engine 13, respond to Broad and Connor Street, at […]

The Providence Fire Department has been plagued with a lack of official leadership and without a Chief of Department for years. Fortunately, leadership on the street level is in abundant supply. It was my pleasure to work alongside them. By Michael Morse “Rescue 1 with Engine 13, respond to Broad and Connor Street, at the […]

“…And if not us, then who? Who will they call when the bullets are hitting their targets? When they are hunkered down, bleeding, dying. When sirens in the distance are the only thing they have to hold on to. When all is lost. Who will they call? They call us. First Responders. The Army isn’t […]

“We few. We happy few.” …Not many people get the opportunity to respond to other people’s emergencies and, by doing so, participate in the age-old struggle of good vs. evil. By taking every opportunity that presents itself to stem the tide of discontent; disillusionment; and good old-fashioned beatings, robberies, fires, accidents, and disease, we do […]