I will admit that I am one of those people that cries during movies. And don't get me started on those coffee commercials at Christmas – you know the ones where the son comes home and the little sister is there to share a moment before Mom and Dad wake up – it gets me every time. 

 

As a member of the local Disaster Action Team (DAT) however, I try to keep it together on fire scenes when working with our clients. They don't need my tears on top of everything else they are going through. I usually succeed, but this past Saturday night I almost needed the hankies.

 

We had been called to a house fire and arrived at the scene before the homeowners (they were out of the house when it was struck by lightning). When they arrived, we were there to offer whatever words of comfort we could, but there was no consolation to be had because we could not tell them what had happened to their "puppies."  The residents were an elderly couple who "did not give a lick about anything in the house" – they just wanted to know about their dogs. 

 

As we were helping the woman into her wheelchair, a Police Officer approached us. He leaned down to the woman and told her that he had been first on the scene. He heard the dogs barking and kicked in the front door to reach them. He got the dogs out and they were safe with the neighbors. The woman grabbed his hand and would not let it go – she must have told him thank you a dozen times.  We took her to see her "puppies" which turned out to be two well-fed yellow labs that had long ago passed puppy stage. The neighbors let her into the house and when those dogs started licking the tears from her face, we all had to catch our breath and blink back the tears in our eyes. 

 

As a member of the American Red Cross Disaster Action Team we talk a lot about making preparations for disasters. This was a reminder that we should make sure that any disaster plan includes all members of our families, whether they walk on two legs or four. 

 

Lori