Volunteers are amazing

Dear editor: Volunteering is a personal choice, and within our society there are many who choose to do so, whether it be in a hospital, or a seniors’ centre, or just helping out your neighbours by shovelling the snow from their driveways. There are a myriad of things that one can do in the form of volunteering.

It takes a special kind of person to come forward and volunteer to be a first responder or a firefighter.

This past week, there was a fire in our mobile home park in Okanagan Falls and the fire was across the street from where we live. After calling 911, it seemed like an eternity before the fire truck arrived, but in reality it wasn’t. It’s not as though they are sitting in the station house waiting for the fire alarm to ring.

We forget that they are volunteers, and have to be contacted and then make their way to the fire hall, and get their gear or perhaps just drive from where they are when they get the call, to their destination and meet up with the truck. They get to their destination as quickly as they can and that is what matters.

The fire truck pulled up and parked directly in front of our driveway and we were able to see what these volunteers do. It was snowing, it was growing dark, the flames had engulfed the deck.

A second fire truck from Kaleden arrived on scene and together they worked as one, trying in vain to save the man trapped inside the house. We watched as one firefighter checked an oxygen tank which was attached to another’s back to ensure it was hooked up properly, while he was on all fours in the dirty, cold, snow and water. And then they traded places and repeated the process.

We saw a lot more which will forever affect us and give us a new appreciation for these particular volunteers.

We, who live in Okanagan Falls, are indeed fortunate to have first responders as well as a fire station in this small town. We are also fortunate that these men and women have the support of their families to do what they do.

When an emergency arises, they may be pulled from family gatherings, from their beds in the middle of the night, or a hundred other things they may be doing. And they volunteer because they care.

We would like to publicly thank, and acknowledge, these brave men and women who give so selflessly of their time to help others in the most dire of circumstances.

To Joan and family, you have our deepest and sincerest sympathies. Wayne, you will be missed, R.I.P. Colleen and Bob Levesque Okanagan Falls