Helping a Stranger in Need

12/22/2018

Council: 2537 - OLD TOWN

Project Description:

February 15th was a snowy, crappy day. The roads were ice and snow with poor visibility in the little town of Alton, Maine. When catastrophe hits, a tone drops for Alton Fire Department for a 10-55 pick up truck verse FedEx truck unknown injuries. Due to the time of the call and Alton being an all volunteer Fire Dept. only two firefighters could respond to the crash, while an ambulance tried to make it’s way from Old Town. One of the responding firefighters happened to be brother knight Jarod White a 9 year veteran of the fire service at the time. Upon arrival of Jarod to the scene he could tell it wasn’t going to be the best call. Two people hurt inside the pick up truck and one very shaken FedEx driver. Jarod went right to work to try and comfort the people in the truck which sat in one of the road lanes in a blinding snow storm. Knowingly putting his life in danger and relying on his fellow firefighter to keep him as safe as possible, for the next 45 minutes Jarod kept the two occupents inside the truck occupied by having a conversation with them to help keep their mind off the fact they had just been in a crash and doing minor vitals till EMS was able get there from Old Town.

Once the ambulance arrived Jarod went to relieve the other firefighter who was in his 70’s so he could stay warm inside the firetruck. At most calls you need two people to direct traffic, but Jarod was by himself on this call and his job was to try and slow traffic down to keep everyone safe on this scene. Once everyone was checked out the good news was brought that no one was hurt badly and that they would be ok but shaken and sore for the next few days.

After the call had ended that was the last time the firefighters ever saw the three people in the crash, this is common in firefighting to never meet the ones you helped save or comfort after a call as ended. Ten months later Jarod was out in Milo Maine giving a snow plowing quote in his truck to a couple that lived on a private road. Jarod stopped to talk for the quote and in conversation found out the folks he was giving the quote to happened to be the same people he helped comfort on that snowy day up in Alton Maine.

Jarod showed what it is like to be a true knight of columbus, going to help those in need though he had never met these people before like on most calls. While it might not have been known he was a knight he and his fellow emergency first responders showed to everyone there what it looks like to be a true hero and in Jarod’s case a true Knight of Columbus.

Jarod and all involved did what they had to do in the worst of conditions to save and protect anyone in the limits of Alton on that frightful day. To this day Jarod and now his wife Teddi serve on the Alton Fire Dept. with 12 other dedicated firefighters as they continue to protect and serve the Alton area.

A little background on volunteer firefighting. Unlike bigger city where the fire house has someone that is always there, a volunteer fire house sits empty most of the time. The firefighters all have full time jobs, lives and family outside of the Fire Dept. But when a tone comes in whenever that maybe, no matter the condition, or what they are doing, everything is dropped to help those in need. 70% of all firefighters in America are volunteers.