The Brotherhood

The fire service has always been about the 'brotherhood' or the comraderie that is shared between one another. There is a special bond that created when you know you might either have to die saving another firefighters life or a fellow firefighter might die trying to save you. The brotherhood is supposed to be pretty strong.

Yesterday I had to pick John up from work and take him to the ER because he was feeling pretty bad. We were worried, well I was worried. John was too busy being in pain. We went to a well known trauma hospital and I dropped him off at the door so I could go park the car. When I got back to the ER, he was back in triage where nurses were taking an initial assessment of him. The triage also happens to be where the HFD ambulances come in and off loads their patients. John was looking pretty ill, and all of these firefighters were standing around with these concerned looks on their faces. They kept looking at me and I tried to reassure them with a meager smile. But then they would look back at him again with these totally freaked out expressions. I think they were wondering if something had happened on duty. They all looked pretty concerned.

We got him into a bed and when I turned towards the door of the trauma room, there was another group of firefighters just standing their staring at him with these looks of fear, concern, trepedation...I don't know. But eventually the crowd died down because they had to go back to work, but for a while there was always one or two that would hover by the door.

You see, the Houston Fire Department just doesn't have the kind of brotherhood you see in movies like Ladder 49. If you die in the line of duty, yeah they show up with their pomp and circumstance but that's about the closest you get to showing real brotherhood in this department. It's a darn shame too. However, it made me feel good to see these guys stand there at the door, even if they were wondering what was going on. I think this is the closest I have ever seen 'brotherhood' within HFD outside of a death.