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Do You Smell Something Burning?

It didn’t matter what I did, it was still there. Maybe it was not as strong, but it was still there. No matter what I did to wash my husband’s work uniforms, the smell of smoke would hit my nose when ironing them.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. It’s just what it is when you are married to a firefighter. When they have battled a significant blaze, sometimes for long hours, the smell of smoke simply remains a part of them

They can shower off the soot and grime. They can hang their bunker coats up to air out. They can stuff their boots with newspaper to dry them out. Yet, the smell of their work will follow them home.

After years of fighting fires, smoke becomes part of their DNA. It eventually affects their health in various ways. Firefighting is becoming more of a science with advanced training for all the types of materials crews face in today’s modern world.

Thankfully, firefighting gear is being developed to keep up with the challenges of fighting today’s fires. I don’t know if it’s enough. It’s not just wood smoke wafting from their uniforms. There are chemicals, plastics and other hazards they now face as we have become a techno society.

Sadly, the fire service has seen its share of fatalities among its ranks. The inherent and invisible dangers of the job are always there. No amount of training can foresee every potential danger.

Firefighters spend a great deal of time together as it’s common to work 24-hour shifts. This creates a bond few outside the firehouse can understand. Just as with law enforcement officers, firefighters have each other’s backs. They treat each other as family.

Watching the firefighting efforts ongoing in California should give us all a new respect for those in the fire service. These men and women on the front lines have been working against all odds. Their own homes and families may be in the line of fire, yet they don’t relent in the task at hand.

While those California fires are thousands of miles from the Ohio Valley, the media puts them in our living rooms. We can’t and should not ignore what is happening there. We can never be of the mindset that it couldn’t happen here. Last summer’s drought had a lot of locals fearing the threat of fire. While there were several brush fires, we escaped the likes of what is happening in California.

You can thank our local fire crews for that. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers should be with all those who come home smelling of smoke.

I never complained about the smoke — he was home.

Heather Ziegler can be reached at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.

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