E. WALAS 51-90's Page

First Law of EMS:
All emergency calls will wait until you begin to eat, regardless of the time.

The EMS Law of Gravity:
Any instrument, when dropped, will always come to rest in the least accessible place possible.

The EMS Law of Time and Distance:
The distance of the call from the hospital increases as the time to shift change decreases.

Corollary 1 - The shortest distance between the
station and the scene is under construction.

The EMS Rul…

Sorry if we woke you
in the middle of the night.
But someone in your neighborhood,
is fighting for their life.

Sorry if we blocked the road,
and made you turn around.
But there's been a bad wreck,
with injured on the ground.

When you see us coming,
I hope you understand,
Let us have the right of way,
Someone needs a helping hand.

Sometimes a child is c…

See the sadness of a business man as his livelihood goes up in flames, or that family returning home, only to find their house and belongings damaged or lost for good.

Know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns.

Comprehend a wife's horror at 3a.m. as I c…

Firefighters are those crazy people who run into a burning building when all others are running out.

Firefighters are those people who wake up in the middle of the night to help an old lady, who fell out of bed.

Firefighters are those people who work on half eaten meals because someone needed their help.

Firefighters are those people who have a second family that seems just like a first family.

Firefighters are those people who never usu…

Sea of Blue

Bill Manning, Fire Engineering, October 6, 2002

 We miss you, fallen heroes,
And time seems to move slower without you;
Yet through the mists