At the top of my list of heroes are people who do their jobs in the service of others in the face of great personal danger.  Firefighters are at the top of that list.  I'm grateful for those that look after my town.  I hope I never have a reason to meet them while they are on the job but I'm thankful that they are there. I have an enormous amount of respect for the amount of training they do and physical requirements of the job.  The protective gear alone adds weight that must be carried in situations that are by their nature physically gruelling.  In addition to the inherent dangers in the fire itself, they have to deal safely with mechanical equipment and vehicles.  They are tasked with doing the work in whatever weather gets thrown at them.  Cold and miserably wet or hot and dry.  This is particularly true for firefighters battling a forest fire where the dry conditions and winds can take a fire from dangerous to fatal in seconds.

On Sunday, 19 smokejumpers were killed fighting a wild fire in Arizona.  Smokejumpers parachute into fires in remote areas that are hard to get to.  They have the already dangerous fire to battle and these folks jump out a plane to get there.  I hate getting into a plane and can't imagine jumping out of one into a fire.  My heartfelt thanks goes out to those who lost their lives and the rest of the smokejumpers still out there fighting.  For the family and friends left behind, I'm tremendously sorry for your loss.

The fallen firefighters:

Andrew Ashcraft, 29, Robert Caldwell, 23, Travis Carter, 31, Dustin Deford, 24, Christopher MacKenzie, 30, Eric Marsh, 43, Grant McKee, 21, Sean Misner, 26, Scott Norris, 28, Wade Parker, 22, John Percin, 24, Anthony Rose, 23, Jesse Steed, 36, Joe Thurston, 32, Travis Turbyfill, 27, William Warneke, 25, Clayton Whitted, 28, Kevin Woyjeck, 21, Garret Zuppiger, 27

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it"
Victor Hugo