Sidewalk Safe Haven

3.13.2013

There was a gas leak in my neighborhood. Everyone within a few-block radius was evacuated from their homes until the fire department had fixed the situation. In the mean time, residents could sit on special buses to keep warm but most people either left or stayed outside to watch. I was lucky because my house was just outside of the evacuation zone, so when I got off my bus (which had slowly moved through the lined up firetrucks, police cars and news vans) I ran into my house, grabbed my camera gear, and ran back out to figure out what was going on. A firefighter from the 6th street station taught me that the color of a firefighter’s helmet says what position he/she is. White helmets are chiefs, red helmets are captains, black helmets are drivers, and yellow helmets are firefighters. This makes it easier for them to work in a more hectic environment. As a joking aside, the man told me that some firefighters have such charred helmets that they’ll be mistaken for drivers.