So I was thinking about the Providence Firefighter who prepared a speech for the Black Lives Matter rally, and told his story for the local news. Then I was thinking about my former union’s president releasing a press release in support of that firefighter. Having stared down the barrel of a police officer’s gun not […]

Memorial Day I often think of the people whose lives ended violently, in a foreign land, far away from their friends and families. I imagine their last moments, maybe spent looking into the eyes of a person they may have known only a little while, but whose bond held them tighter than the blood shared […]

0800 I miss getting to work an hour early, picking up the paper from the ramp, the apparatus floor ghostly quiet, entering the boot room, smoke mixed with sweat and leather, gear lined up, squared away, waiting for bodies to fill it. I miss signing the accountability sheet, seeing who was already there, climbing the […]

Night shift started at 1800 hrs. but most of us came in an hour early. The ones who didn’t came in even earlier. Didn’t want to miss anything. After turning in the pack, relieving your man and telling your officer, “I’m with you,” we would gather in the day room and talk. It never took […]

By the time you are finished with your career in the fire service, everything about you will have changed. You will be old. You will be experienced. You will be confident, patient, and wise. Or, you will be old, disillusioned, angry, and bitter. The people with whom you started your career won’t be the same, […]

Published in The Providence Journal, May 12, 2020 Covid19 has made an impact of all of our lives. It is a virus, does not choose sides, does not care about our politics, thoughts or opinions and has one purpose – to survive. It does not possess malicious intent, it simply is. It does not think. […]

“All the people I once looked up to are gone, my friends at the hospital have moved on, the new people don’t know who I used to be. They just see what I’ve become.”   I was fortunate, I had the ability to find the positive in a sea of misery for most of my […]

Doug taught me how to play Norwegian Wood on this guitar. Back in the day, when I was Lieutenant of Rescue 1, Doug was assigned to Engine Co. 13, both quartered at the Allen’s Avene fire station. It was my station guitar, I’ve had it since eight grade, bought it for fifty bucks from my […]

Lonely people don’t reach out. They don’t call the volunteer hotline. They don’t connect with Skype. If they were comfortable doing those things, they wouldn’t be lonely. What they do is get lonlier, and sink further into despair. These folks are not embracing their lives, or enjoying their existance. They survive. For many, their weekly […]

If ever there were an opportunity to show the world exactly what EMS is, this is it. Now is not the time to create controversy. Now is not the time to complain. Now is not the time to demand respect. Now is not the time to degrade the fire service. Now is not the time […]