Honestly, I've not thought of myself as a first responder.
One day about a month or so ago, I was at the Burger King drive-thru, when at the window the radio went off with some fire going on somewhere, and the gentleman at the window asked about it and I gave details of what was happening and what I might do if I headed there (I didn't go to that one). He then thanked me for my service, and I thanked him for being so kind and appreciative.
I felt so weird. I'm not going into burning buildings, I'm not doing anything of that sort. I go and provide water, snacks, and monitoring for firefighters cycled out from the fire so they stay hydrated and get medical care if needed. If the need came up, I'd go search for a missing person, or search a building post-disaster event, or head down to Houston/etc. if something longer-term went on, but nothing on the level of 'major' risk-taking activities.
But then last Sunday evening (a week ago from today) dispatch jumped on the air pulling in a lot of resources on a structure fire at 9:39 PM, and I got up from the kitchen table, changed into my tactical pants (lots of pockets, can carry lots of supplies), waved goodbye to Pom, my sister-in-law, and my in-laws visiting from Thailand, went out the door and off to the fire, handing out water and snacks to firefighters, providing seating and watching for signs of medical issues as they rested, and getting sprayed by water while walking the scene (it flew up and over the building at me incidentally). The other rehab team member that went there with me and I stayed until 1:00 AM, pulling away when the last fire truck left the scene. We reset the emergency response vehicle and had it back at the emergency operations center ready for redeployment at 2:30. I walked in the door at 3, put the public safety radio in the charger, and went to bed.
And that's when I figured out, I actually am a first responder.
