follow up to "The Best Job Ever"

A while back I posted about how Adria has "The Best Job Ever" (http://clayton-ryon.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-job-ever.html).

Of course, that's the label I give it, based on the joy I see in her face and hear in her voice when she's at work and when she talks about work.

My fascination with her job as a firefighter still exists. I am full of questions about the profession and the lifestyle. She happily answers all of them. Now I know the difference between a fire engine and a fire truck. Now I know why I always see a group of firefighters in the market together, shopping for food. Now I know why it was a fire engine, not an ambulance, that was first on the scene of my bicycle accident last year. Now I know what's behind all those small doors on fire engines and trucks. Now I know the difference between wood and aluminum ladders. Now I know why firefighters deserve the schedule and benefits of their profession.

But one thing I hadn't learned up to this point is how to tell, by hearing alone, if a siren is coming from a fire engine, a police car, or an ambulance.

Well, last week I got the chance to find out.

One evening last week we were sitting on the floor, playing backgammon. Sirens were going off in Felton and I peppered her with questions: "Are those police cars or fire engines? Or ambulances? How can you tell?" She said they were probably fire engines based on the tone.

Satisfied, I focused on backgammon.

But the sirens kept going off in the distance. Then a different siren went off - her cell phone. It was her captain calling from the fire station, and he was checking with Adria on the quickest, straightest way to get from Oakland into an area deep in the Santa Cruz mountains near her home. For a few minutes they discussed the most direct route, considering that the captain was driving a tractor, pulling a bulldozer. When she hung up the phone, she turned to me and said "There's a wildland fire nearby."

This is how we were notified of the Lockheed fires that have currently rejuvinated 5,000 acres of wildland just five miles from her home. Before the news media got hold of the story.

Before any "civilians" knew about it. Just as the emergency services teams were mobilizing, strategizing.

Adria hasn't been called to fight this fire yet (unfortunate because she loves wildland firefighting). But yesterday, when we connected on the phone during her two day shift, I could hear the joy and excitement in her voice from all of the supporting action that she and her team had been doing.

How many of us can say that we sound that way at our jobs?

Best job ever.