Firefighters made a difference for chief’s future daughter-in-law

Posted 14 April 2014 at 12:00 am

Editor:

For the past 28 years I have been involved in emergency services both as a firefighter and past assistant chief with the East Shelby Volunteer Fire Company and also as a firefighter and as current chief with the Medina Fire Department.

In those years I have responded to thousands of calls including all types of emergencies. At the end of each call we return back to the station, clean our gear, clean and fix our tools, put the equipment back on the engines and restock the ambulances, all to get ready for the next run. Many times after sitting down to reflect on our last call I find myself wondering if all we did really made a difference.

This past Saturday I was on the receiving end of what I have done thousands of times in the past, when my soon-to-be daughter in law and her two sisters were involved in an accident.

I did not respond that morning so I didn’t see the vehicle firsthand as they were being extricated. Her father called me from the scene while they were still cutting the car open to remove the three girls. He was describing the scene to me and answering my many questions. I knew the girls were in the best possible hands as the emergency services in Orleans County are the best around.

A heartfelt thank you to the professionals from the Ridgeway and Medina Fire Departments and the Mercy Flight crew who responded that morning. You all did a remarkable job.

To all the emergency service workers in Orleans County who so tirelessly respond day and night please know thisYes, you do make a difference.

So the next time you’re driving down the road and you see a vehicle with blue lights on, a fire engine or ambulance with its emergency lights flashing and you think to yourself, do I really have to yield the right of way? Keep this in mind, this time it just may be someone in your family they are responding to help!

Respectively,

Chief Todd Zinkievich
Medina Fire Department