Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail........no matter what!

I sit in a lovely office, complete with two large floor to ceiling windows, overlooking one of the busiest streets in the county of Sacramento.  The road connects two major highways, with less than 9 miles between them.  It's estimated that 100,000 cars pass through here daily.

Every day I hear the traffic while I work at my desk.  I get a glimpse of people's busy lives, watching them navigate this overcrowded street as they run here and there.  Some cars are screaming down the busy road, their screeching tires calling me to look over my shoulder. I look just in time to see them narrowly dodging other cars.  I hear the clank of big rigs as they traverse the avenue, sometimes shaking my seat when two or three pass at one time.  And the accidents!  Trust me when I tell you that people avoid using this street because of the potential for major traffic congestion and accidents.  Just last week, as I drove into the office on a dark and rainy morning, there was a pretty bad crash within feet of our front door.

Most recently I noticed that there is another sound that catches my attention every single day.  Sirens! Lots of sirens.  I cannot remember a day that I didn't watch as a first responder raced to someone else's emergency, fighting their way down this crazy, crowded road.

We have had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks, and yesterday was one of the worst.  All day long it was dark, dreary, and freezing cold with unrelenting showers.  The road was soaked with standing water, potholes filled with rain, and street drains plugged making intersections potential slip and slides for people driving too fast.  But what else did I see through my window to the world?  Ambulances, fire trucks, and law enforcement alike, running lights and sirens, risking their safety to get to someone else's emergency.  They didn't hesitate to do what they are called to do, just because the driving conditions were even more dangerous than normal.  

From my window, I watched as they responded with the same commitment and heart that a First Responder always responds with.  When the rest of us are dreading getting on the road, and avoiding it at all costs, these men and women in uniform respond regardless. They respond as quickly, but safely as possible.  EMT's don't tell the family of a heart attack patient that they couldn't get there in time because they waited until the rain let up to get on the road.  The Fire Department doesn't tell the car crash victim that they had to spend an extra 20 minutes in their wrecked car because the firefighters wanted to wait until the rain let up.  And law enforcement doesn't tell the parent's of a missing child that the search was delayed because officers didn't want to stand out in the cold and rain.  Each of these First Responders got to the scene as quickly as they could, forsaking themselves to help a total stranger.  This is one of the many reasons that I feel privileged to be a law enforcement liaison, and to work closely with the brave men and women of Fire, as well as EMT's and emergency transport personnel.

So to all of you who suit up every day, no matter the conditions,  thank you.   When you are skillfully racing down that dark, rainy road to provide a life saving service to a stranger, know that there are people watching from their windows, sending up a prayer for you, and feeling so grateful that you do what you do, no matter what!