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It’s Us Not Them
Anytime a firefighter is killed in this country |
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By Gerry Shannon, Director | ||||
| Your contract, negotiated by the M.O.U. committee, through a long and tedious process, was presented to the City with no margin for reassessment. While seated in the supervisor’s chamber, it was so different than past years, to hear the finance committee members say it was an honor to sign this agreement. They have been watching with the same admiration as the rest of the country, the news coverage of what firefighters stand ready to deliver when called upon. If you don’t appreciate this job as a firefighter, in the light of the occurrences of the past couple of months, perhaps you’re in the wrong occupation. If you don’t hold your head higher just to be associated with a profession which attracts people like those firefighters in New York, who laid it all on the line, with no hesitation fortheir own lives, reexamine your motives. Our fire department is an insurance policy that the citizees bet will pay in full for the people it has pledged to protect, at any cost. The love for this job makes it an enjoyment to talk with the retired rank and file of the S.F.F.D., from chief to Jakie, to hear them speak with pride of the memories of what | |||||
| the Department has meant to them and the citizens of San Francisco, since the early days. They set the standard; watching them one learned there was no backing up. I feel every real firefighter dreams of having the chance to prove they can lay it all on the line, when the opportunity presents itself. It isn’t just New York; it’s the fire service in every major city. Maybe this disaster can bring together more than the East Coast. We have more in common than the helmets we wear. Our department has also proven it’s got what it takes, on more than one occasion, when the rest of the country watched the S.F.F.D. with admiration. We salute New York and stand in solidarity with these bravest of souls, in this most honorable of professions, and feel in our hearts what it takes to really be a firefighter. This country has witnessed first hand what firefighters can be walking into, while everyone else is walking away. | |||||