Imagine you are out eating with your family, and from a distance you see an ambulance and fire engine approaching and swiftly cruise past the restaurant. Your kids shout with much excitement, “Look, mom and dad!” As the sirens fade, your son or daughter verbally ponders, “I wonder where they are going?”  Everyone shrugs their shoulders and takes another bite of their lunch.

No one really gives much thought what local fire and emergency medical services do … until they require their services. Even then, we still do not know what our local emergency service organizations and their firefighters and paramedics really do and why they do it. As a citizen, we will call 911 and expect within a short amount of time that an ambulance will arrive when a love one is seriously ill or fire engine will come fast as your report a house fire.