Always on call

by

It was 1:30 a.m. on a Sunday when my family was jolted awake by the piercing wail of our smoke alarm. My wife and I ran to grab the kids—they were scared to death, and frankly, so was I—but we soon realized there was no fire, just a faulty alarm. We heaved a sigh of relief, shut off the device and eventually got the children back to sleep.

The next evening, I called the Columbia-Richland Fire Department’s non-emergency line and asked to speak with someone about having the system checked out. The number they gave me rang through to the cell phone of Capt. Thomas Glisson. “I need to clean up, but I’ll be right over,” he said.

When he arrived, I was surprised to learn that Capt. Glisson had just come from putting out a fire at Satchel Ford Elementary School. He quickly diagnosed the problem with our system and gave me some valuable tips on improving my home’s fire safety. I also got to spend a few moments chatting with him about his life (he’s a member of Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative; his wife is from my hometown of Clover) and his demanding line of work.

It turns out that extinguishing a blaze one minute, and answering a seemingly mundane call about a faulty smoke alarm the next, is all in a day’s (or night’s) work for firefighters. “Anytime you need us, we’re here,” Glisson told me. “It’s part of our job to come out and help you with things like this.”

This month, we mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The events of that day are a poignant reminder that it’s also part of a firefighter’s job to put his or her life on the line in the most extreme emergencies. I will always remember the astounding bravery of the New York City fire crews that rushed into the burning World Trade Center towers that fall morning. In their effort to save as many people as they could, 343 firefighters gave their lives.

Closer to home, I also remember the Charleston Sofa Super Store fire of June 18, 2007, which claimed nine men of the Charleston Fire Department in the deadliest blaze for firefighters since Sept. 11, 2001. Fire crews arrived just three minutes after the alarm went off and managed to rescue two employees trapped inside the building. Sadly, the fire spread rapidly through hidden air pockets in the ceiling, causing the roof to collapse on the men as they searched the crowded showroom floor to make sure no one else was inside.

Running into a burning building and risking one’s life to save others takes a special kind of courage, and I’m thankful for the people like Thomas Glisson who are always there on call when we need them. I’m also mindful that we all have a responsibility to make fire safety a priority in our homes and businesses.

The good news: Fire deaths in South Carolina are on the decline. Last year’s 63 civilian fire deaths were the lowest in the state’s history, and a remarkable reduction from the 179 deaths recorded in 1989, according to statistics from the S.C. State Fire Marshal’s office. One of the reasons for that decline is the state’s ongoing effort to promote fire safety and provide smoke detectors. Since the 1980s, the "Get Alarmed South Carolina” program has worked with local fire departments to install more than 510,000 smoke alarms in homes throughout the Palmetto State.

So far this year, there have been 38 civilian fire deaths. That’s 38 too many, but if we keep up the effort this winter (the season with the most fires), we stand a good chance to break the record for the lowest number of fatalities. Please visit SCLiving.coop for practical fire safety tips, and let’s make sure our firefighters get to answer more of those mundane calls about smoke alarms and fewer calls for extraordinary sacrifice.