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I see many friends reflecting tonight, and rightfully so. Tomorrow will turn the calendar on one year. One year since our community and our brotherhood, past present and future was forever changed. Reflection varies from person to person, and by definition alone, it should. Christmas Eve shall forever be a day of mourning for many, a day to “pay it forward” for others, and for most of us, a day that our ears will be tweaked to the airwaves, listening to and analyzing every call for help. While statistically there must be a handful of people out there, I can say in certainty that I don’t personally know a single person who won’t be “remembering” tomorrow.
We hear of tragedy on the news nearly daily. Line of duty deaths across the board. Police, Fire, EMS. Soldiers killed overseas. Sadly, it’s almost at the point where we EXPECT it. We anticipate tragedy, and we are hardened to it. Every life is valued and mourned, yet it is common to “move on” and return to business as usual when they are “other peoples” tragedies. Christmas Eve in West Webster, NY 2012 was OUR tragedy. They were OUR people, our brothers, friends, co-workers and family. Perspective defined.
For me, I’ll never forget tossing and turning that morning, half asleep, and hearing dispatch directing units to stage for the “West Webster Incident”. It sounded odd, but I was half asleep after all. I distinctly remember blindly grabbing for my phone on the nightstand to check the time and finding that I had numerous text messages. Things such as “Are you up?”, “Are you listening to the scanner?”, “Do you know what’s going on?”. Immediately my heart sank, knowing in my gut that the world as I and “we” knew it must have shifted on it’s axis.
It didn’t take long to figure out the gist of what was going on, although it was still early and details were uncertain. Statistically, in communities such as Rochester and it’s suburbs, the odds are good that most first responders know each other, or at the very least know OF each other. Minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like days. The moments of wondering who was down and the moment of reality when it hit you that the WHO wasn’t the point. Loved ones were down. That’s the truth in public service. Whether the macho want to admit it or not, there is love. Blind and unconditional love.
I’ve never been so grateful for a return text from Big in my life, even the short “can’t talk,call later, I’m okay”. It was a relief. “My person” was okay. But the truth is, they were and are all “my people” in one way or another. Chip and Tomasz were “our people”. Joe and Ted are “our people”.
That afternoon my family was scheduled to ring the bell for the Salvation Army at our local supermarket. I was determined to follow through despite the random onslaught of tears that continually plagued me throughout the day. Being a small community, it was inevitable to run into firefighters I knew, and tears flowed each time I met eyes with any of them. Both mine and theirs. Words unspoken, grief shared.
As we all remember and choose to reflect on that unspeakable tragedy in different and unique ways, I force myself to focus on the positive energy I have seen born from the flames of a horrific day. I do that because in knowing what I know of Chip and Tomasz, I think that is what they would want. They lived and died serving the community they loved, and doing a job they felt “called” to do.
Not only the citizens of West Webster, but people across the WORLD rallied to show support both to their families and their department. Communities continue to do so. Every time a fire department places a West Webster sticker on a piece of new apparatus, Chip and Tomasz are remembered. At ceremonies, banquets, concerts, and parades, they are remembered. Most importantly they are and will be remembered amongst friends and family. Always talked about, never forgotten, and more than likely riding along in one way or another to every call, looking over their brothers and sisters in West Webster. They have earned their angels wings, and wear them under their turn-out gear in Heaven, I have no doubt. God Bless.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
