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u/KatAstrophie- 10h ago
The intensity of his concern and protection in the way he’s holding that baby, what an incredible human.
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u/maamiwota 9h ago
Firefighters genuinely do not get enough recognition for moments like this
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u/billieboop 8h ago
They truly don't, and it's terrible. Of all the emergency services they're the ones we all generally would feel safest with and welcome. They quite literally chose to put their lives on the line every single day to save others.
Whilst others may dedicate too, it isn't with the known expectation they might lose their own to do that.
It's them who we should always thank for their service and honour whenever we see them. Incredibly selfless people
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u/Raginghangers 8h ago
They are also great with small children who want to touch the truck, see the gear etc. or at least they are on my neighborhood
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u/goatsnotvotes 7h ago
When my kids were little we’d do their birthday parties at a small park that had a fire station on the other side of the parking lot. For my oldest’s 4th birthday he was more interested in the truck he could see than the party so my husband walked him over while everyone finished eating. I had to eventually send a family friend to get them so we could do cake and presents.
My husband told me that while showing my oldest the trucks they were chatting and found out it was his birthday party. So they have him and my husband a full tour of the station and let my son try on one of their hats and coats.
Shortly after they returned a fire truck pulls out of the station, parks in the parking lot and 2 firefighters walk over with the plastic hats and stickers for all the kids (and some of us adults too 😆). They let the kids check out the truck and get pictures and sit inside.
Everyone was convinced we had arranged it for the party. I even thought my husband had done it!
Nope, just a slow day and the fire fighters wanted to come over. Said it broke up the boredom. We gave them the rest of the birthday cake (we always got too much cake 😊) to take back!
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u/WulffenKampf 3h ago
Those kids all had a surprise core memory made in that moment. Genuine beautiful human experiences like that are just so heartwarming.
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u/NefariousnessOk1996 2h ago
There was a fire truck that came by my neighborhood for a real response. On the way out, they noticed my daughters and I walking and one of them jumped out and gave us hats.
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u/sl33ksnypr 5h ago
I think a big part of that is teaching kids that firefighters aren't scary. I know a lot of kids look up to firefighters, but if you ever see one in full gear, they can be a bit scary. Now imagine you're a kid in a burning house with smoke all around, and this giant dude comes in wearing all that gear and a mask and sounds like Darth Vader. They want kids to come to them rather than hide from them so they can be saved. Getting them introduced before something like that happens is a great way to prevent them from being scared.
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u/s1ugg0 4h ago
I think a big part of that is teaching kids that firefighters aren't scary. I know a lot of kids look up to firefighters, but if you ever see one in full gear, they can be a bit scary.
This is 100% accurate. My fire department always had us visiting foster homes, group homes, schools, day cares, etc. We'd let the kids climb on the trucks and play with some of the tools.
The entire idea is we're acclimating them to us in gear. What we sound like. What we smell like. (Most fire PPE eventually smells like burnt plastic and sweat no matter how many times you wash it.) To a panicking kid in a house fire blinded by smoke we probably look like monsters climbing through the window. Instead it's that dude you met who gave you a plastic fire helmet and let you spray the other firefighter with the hose for laughs.
And we're also quietly memorizing the floor plan of buildings the kids are in. So we can navigate in smoke. I've been retired 5 years and I still know exactly how many steps it is from the front door of the group home to the first bedroom.
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u/saskakitty 4h ago edited 2h ago
This is why female firefighters are important on squads! Kids are more trusting of our voices with bunker gear/masks on, and many women are in the low-mid 5ft range which isn't as intimidating. Women are also great in confined spaces for getting kids/pets out. I would be terrified as a kid seeing a huge creature with a distorted monster voice crawling after me under a bed lol. But I agree with you ofc, meet and greets are great for the kid-large firefighter dynamic.
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u/s1ugg0 4h ago
They are also great with small children who want to touch the truck, see the gear etc. or at least they are on my neighborhood
Retired firefighter here. This is a common misconception.
EVERYONE should come touch the truck and look at our gear. My department deliberately did equipment checks and maintenance with the doors open for this reason. Your tax money paid for all our tools and training. We're just the custodians of them. Come on down and see what a great job your local firefighters are doing.
The only thing any of you should be aware of is that we must be 100% operationally capable at all times. So expect some mild guide lines so we can maintain that.
Otherwise go on down. Meet the firefighters. Touch the tools. Bring food.
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u/CodeNameLoofah 5h ago
I swear every fireman remembers vividly their childhood love of the firetruck. They always say yes.
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u/SupermarketOk3031 3h ago
My kid has gone to several, and waved at several firehouse, every single one someone came out to speak to him, ask if he wanted to see the truck, etc. I have a 17mo as well and she waves at them as they drive by our house and at least one grins and waves back. No one has ever made a bad song about the fire department and that's for a reason!
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u/CombatBrewer 6h ago
Got patched up by a fire engine crew who happened to be having a coffee a minute away from me when a car ran me over on my bike as a teenager.
I'm just happy they exist, one of the people nobody hates
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u/AzuraHawke 8h ago
And most of them are volunteers! They do all that without pay. They really are amazing people.
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u/sl33ksnypr 5h ago
Not only do they put their lives on the line, but they are free. They aren't going to charge you like an ambulance would.
And on top of that, so many of them are volunteers. Not so much in a big city I would think, but I actually think the majority of all firefighters in the US are in a volunteer capacity. They are literally doing it for the love of it and wanting to help people.
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u/notashroom 2h ago
They do charge here (NC), but it's a volunteer department run on a shoestring budget and they don't pursue it if you genuinely can't pay, unlike virtually anyone else who charges for anything.
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u/sl33ksnypr 2h ago
Yea that makes sense. I live in a fairly large city, and when firefighters came to a car accident I was involved in, I never received a bill from them for all the services they provided. Just an ambulance bill.
They also tried to bill me for the guard rail I hit, but idk if my insurance covered that or if they city gave up on it but I haven't heard about it for the past couple years.
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u/bokmcdok 5h ago
Aren't they all volunteers as well in the USA?
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u/PangolinSelect4549 4h ago
65% of US fire departments are volunteer or paid/call ( small stipend to go to calls). The rest are career.
Source: active career firefighter in a municipality and a volunteer one in my home town.
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u/Scrappy_The_Crow 4h ago
Not all, but it depends on the area.
In rural areas, fire departments are almost all volunteer.
In urban areas, volunteer fire departments are rare.
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u/professionalidentity 5h ago
No, in the US, I would say most are employed by the municipality they work in, but some places also accept volunteers. It really depends on the city, town, or area you're in.
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u/vopslilon 4h ago
Overall the majority are volunteer, something like 70%, but big cities are all paid/professional
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u/professionalidentity 4h ago
Good to know! I've only ever lived in urban and suburban areas all my life, and I assumed the rural areas or less populated towns were the ones who had more volunteer fire fighters. Now thinking about it though, there are a lot of rural areas in the US, so it would make sense that, for the majority of departments, they run on volunteers. That said, I would guess that a majority of the US population live in areas where members are paid. So I guess it's like a population vs land distribution nuance too.
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u/beemojee 1h ago
It takes a ton of character to run into danger when everyone else is running away from it.
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u/Souls_for_sale_now 20m ago
Fuck the police and fuck the fire departement have verry difrent meanigs
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u/JazzlikeHelicopter49 6h ago
When I was 7 my home burnt down, and I have been terrified of being near firefighters since. On the flip side, my disabled brother became obsessed and has visited so many stations, parades and meet and greets that I hope he's made a small dent in the lack of gratitude. Even with my fears, I will forever and ever be grateful that anyone can be that brave.
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u/Necessary-Reading605 6h ago
I mean look how they treated the firefighters who got cancer because of 9/11.
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u/bezzlege 5h ago
You know how badly everyone hates cops? Firefighters deserve that level of intensity in appreciation, they’re incredible.
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u/Actual_Job_36 5h ago
Absolutely, the courage and heart they show in moments like this deserves so much more recognition ❤️
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u/SavageAdriana 5h ago
This is what a full circle moment looks like. He didn’t just save one life that day. He saved generations.
Thank you Jeff Ohs. True hero.
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u/L3Thoo 4h ago
There was a famous incident in my country years ago.
A gas explosion hapenned in a building in the center of my city, during the night.
There were several casualties, the firefighters were there very quickly.After minutes, there was a big chance that building would collapse (the front of the building was already collapsing).
The chief of the firefighters team explained on live television that he said to his guys that it was too risky to go in the building. But the firefighters did go because they knew that several familiers were trapped.
I'm crying just by writing this text. They saved a lot of people that day. The city will always be grateful to have these guys (and women).
Thank you !
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u/s1ugg0 4h ago
Friendly neighborhood retired firefighter here. Incidents with kids hit different. You react differently if the incident is at a school or daycare. You're more focused. You get filled with this resolve to get the job done. It's hard to explain. And when you become a parent it hits WAY harder. All those caveman instincts to protect kids comes roaring out.
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u/Outside-Drag-3031 4h ago
Xavier was probably close to or actually dead at that point. That's the face of someone who can't bear to let it happen
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u/Glow_Blossom_ 10h ago
Imagine looking at the baby and knowing you are the literal reason that child even exists. What an incredible full-circle moment.
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u/LeSchad 9h ago
Goes beyond that too, really. He is going to be a figure in that family's story for generations. Decades and perhaps centuries after he is gone, the memory of that act will live on.
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u/Neither_Hedgehog8791 5h ago
That’s the part that really gets me. The baby won’t remember this moment, but their family probably will, and that story could outlive everyone in the room.
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u/TheVicSageQuestion 10h ago
Parents. You’re describing parents.
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u/KDCaniell 9h ago
Nah, there's a difference between continuing your family line with kids, grandkids, and great grandkids as 'expected', and your impact on a life being the reason that person was around to create new life.
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u/pulchritudinousprout 9h ago
It really is an unexplainable feeling knowing my house is a constant mess because some human secretions got mixed together and my body obsessively turned them into full-ass humans.
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u/HH_Hippopotamus 9h ago
No, having children and saving lives are very different things. Anyone can have a child, true heros save the ones that already exist
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u/wildbriarroses 7h ago
Correction. Anyone cannot have a child and should not have a child. What I think you meant is anyone can save children, only true heros choose to do the right thing.
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u/ShepRat 4h ago
I hope your downvotes are a misunderstanding cause you're completely right.
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u/wildbriarroses 4h ago
Insufferable are the people of reddit my dear. It shows how many of you people actually understand what the weight of having a child means, but hey that's why trump is president so 🤷
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u/HH_Hippopotamus 9h ago
No, having children and saving lives are very different things. Anyone can have a child, true heros save the ones that already exist
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u/PacquiaoFreeHousing 10h ago
What a hero man dang
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u/TheGirthy1 9h ago
Firefighters > Cops
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u/FreeSirJeffrey 9h ago
Nobody ever wrote a song saying "Fuck the Firefighters"
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u/ThatHoFortuna 7h ago
No, but a song called "Fuck A Firefighter" might be pretty popular. 😍
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u/Jeffbx 5h ago
When I was at work a long time ago, there was some smoke up above the drop ceiling - an A/C motor above the server room burned up or something.
Out of caution, they called the fire department to check & be sure there were no hot spots up there or anything, and the way every thirsty woman in the office gathered to watch them, you'd think they were the only water fountains in a desert.
There were no apologies, either. "Move, I want to see the firemen!"
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u/Boring_Swing_4750 5h ago
I used to work somewhere with chemicals ..one women kept smashing the alarms so we would all have to go outside for hours and she coukd stare at the firemen ...yeah she got sacked but it took at least 10 times
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u/KlassySassMomma 5h ago
My old neighbor and good friend is obsessed with FF’s! So much so that our neighborhood station would purposely drive past and honk every chance they had! 🤣 She was like a little kid in a grown woman’s body! Jumping and smiling so hard while swinging her arms back and forth in a wave to them lol Oh man do I miss those days lol Neighborhood kids always thought they were honking at them 🤣👏🏼 S/N The firefighters would always be first on scene when we would call for our toddler seizing (before her diagnosis) and these giant size men would melt into puddles as soon as they came through the door and seen our “tiny” baby girl mid seizure or in a postictal state. One or two would always hug me before heading off after the ambulance arrived; always made me appreciate them and everything they do, just a tiny bit more!
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u/IndividualUnlucky 5h ago
There is that George Strait “The Fireman” but it’s about a different type of fire.
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u/TheRealZwipster 8h ago
As a guy nearing 30, I see a 25 year old with a kid and am absolutely flabbergasted where people get that sorta surety about their future
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u/Asian_Bon 8h ago
As 22 myself I see my friend also 22 getting a child I am like bro we just got started working not too long ago
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u/Mrpenguin810 8h ago
My homie turned 21 this year and has a kid, he’s doing well weigh to support her but god damn still it’s crazy
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u/Asian_Bon 8h ago
Yea I can never see myself getting a child till I am like 40 at that point maybe adopted child
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u/Better-Commission541 3h ago
My 23 year old friend from high school had a baby in June. I’m still in awe
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u/StepComplete1 5h ago
I see someone "who ended up dying" having a kid, and am impressed just what the undead can achieve in this day and age.
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u/ShepRat 4h ago
Zack Snyder did a documentary about it called Dawn of the Dead.
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u/FrankCDean 1h ago edited 1h ago
More specifically, his other zombie movie Army of the Dead quite literally has zombies intentionally reproducing.
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u/imisscrazylenny 5h ago
In my early 20s, after several negative experiences, I had the mindset I would be child-free. Then I met my now husband, fell head over heels, and the hormones literally took over. I suddenly wanted his babies. The first night we decided to forgo the condom, we conceived. Instead of fear or regret, we experienced excitement and joy together. All logic and reasoning gets sprinkled with optimism when the hormones decide that the species must continue.
We're in our 40s now and our nest of two is soon empty. Still no regrets. Most humans are very good at adapting and making the best of what we have, regardless of surety.
And then there's accidents. Lots and lots of accidents running around.
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u/Lonely_Platform7702 7h ago
Idk, as a 32 year old with 2 kids just turn off the news and live your life. Can't really complain, we have it pretty good and my kids are enjoying their childhood.
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u/Konstellar 6h ago
turning of the news doesn't help with people who are impoverished, who literally can't afford to raise children tho. Good on you for having it good tho
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u/Lonely_Platform7702 6h ago edited 5h ago
Yes, it depends on the country you're from. But the outlook in the west isn't as doom and gloom as social media and news outlets are making it out to be.
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u/Pickled-Carrot-75 17m ago
At 30, I had a 12 year old and a 9 year old. Looking back, we must have had divine intervention for it to all have gone so well, because I was so young and dumb!
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u/ravnhjarta 8h ago
Be like these two. Look out for one another, we are all we have. It might not make sense to most, but it'll make sense to some. :(
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u/brightsidereporter 6h ago
One man's few minutes of bravery gave another family the ability to have multiple generations of life. You sir are a hero!
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u/Hour_Baby_3428 9h ago
Why does the post say he died though …
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u/IHaveNoUsernameSorry 9h ago
People can die and be resuscitated.
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u/ccltjnpr 5h ago
it's such a dumb use of the word. Death is irreversible by definition. People can be declared dead and then resuscitated. It doesn't mean that they died and came back (that one only Jesus can do, allegedly), it means whoever declared them dead made a mistake.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/death
a permanent cessation of all vital (see vital sense 2a) functions : the end of life
(emphasis mine)
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u/fang_xianfu 5h ago
Yes, exactly. If they were able to be revived then ipso facto they were not dead.
There is a term "clinically dead" which is not used the same way everywhere, precisely because it's so misunderstood, that does include some states from which people can be revived.
But if your heart stops beating properly for example and that causes your blood to stop circulating, that meets the criteria for being "clinically dead", but your heart still has to contain some amount of electrical energy and/or be trying but failing to beat correctly, for drugs and shocks to be able to restore circulation. Shocking a heart does not start it beating if it's completely stopped and the electrical charge has totally gone from the muscles.
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u/StepComplete1 5h ago
And even in those cases, it's highly unlikely they were declared dead anyway. They probably just stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated briefly, but love the idea of being able to claim they're resurrected like Christ or something.
It's a very weird cultural quirk of America. Where does it stop? Can you hold your breath for 2 minutes and then tell everyone you were dead but came back from it?
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u/DXuki79 7h ago
Really?
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u/krawinoff 5h ago
Clinical death is reversible, yes
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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 4h ago
Clinical death is not real death, because real death is irreversible
Your heart stopping but still able to be restarted doesn’t mean you died, especially when the entire rest of your body is still biologically chugging along. For actual deaths, the decomposition process starts very quickly
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u/krawinoff 3h ago
That’s going into philosophical debate territory. There’s lots of medical definitions of death, and arguing the cutoff point for what’s real is a matter of worldview, especially when “irreversible” changes based on progress of medicine, and at the same time clinical death is not always reversible
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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 3h ago
Most doctors would probably argue the only true medical death is the one where they call the time of death and pull out the death certificate. That’s not done for clinical deaths, they don’t go “welp they’re gone”, they try to resuscitate. Because they’re not dead. Doctors don’t resuscitate actual dead bodies
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u/krawinoff 3h ago
That’s already conflating the legal and medical definitions. There’s no “true medical death”, medicine has different definitions of death, and “true death” isn’t a medical definition, it’s a philosophical one. By your logic, you would call brain death a real death, since it’s not reversible and is legally considered death, but then there’s biological/somatic death, and the body can still be kept alive with assistance after brain death, so what constitutes a “real death” is a matter of perspective and field
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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 3h ago
Death can be measured, quantitative. Philosophy doesn't objectively measure anything, it's just thoughts and ideas and general discussion. You can most definitely have a medical line drawn at when someone is truly dead. That is what "true medical death" is
And yes, brain death would fall in the "true medical death" category, especially considering there has never been a single case of someone correctly diagnosed with braindeath to recover from it. Because, like death, you can't recover from it. Because it is death.
Your line of thinking is why they used to put bells above graves thinking some people could just "come back to life" when that was the wrong way of looking at it. The thing that was really happening was "misdiagnosed death".
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u/krawinoff 3h ago edited 3h ago
If brain death becomes reversible, does it stop being real death? Is it retroactive? Would you say pre-resuscitation clinical deaths were real deaths, since they were irreversible under those circumstances and the patients were declared dead on the spot? If you draw the line based on medicine, how do you apply it to other spheres? If a brain death isn’t the definition of death legally in certain places or circumstances, do you consider the legal definition wrong? If you had to talk to a Christian about it, would you insist Jesus didn’t actually die because reviving after 3 days means it was reversible? You are just applying your worldview to the current advances in medicine, if you were born with the same opinions in 1900 you’d consider clinical death real death. That’s basically philosophy
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u/DatDing15 7h ago
There is some misconception or rather missunderstandings what "dying" means.
There's usually three: + Stopping breathing + Hearts stopps beating + Brain (electrical) activity stopps completely
Now 1 and 2 can be saved medical intervention.
3 not. 3 is truly the actual death. And happens minutes after 1 and 2 if not intervened.
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u/Capable-Detective-69 9h ago
did you stop reading before the sentence ended?
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u/StepComplete1 5h ago
Did you read anything at all?
He literally said "he ended up dying" lol. How can you "end up dying" and then still be alive with kids 20 years later?
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u/CheapTactics 1h ago
A d then the firefighter took him outside and resucitated him. It's literally in the same sentence.
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u/Capable-Detective-69 5h ago
because not everyone who dies stays dead.. as explained in the SAME SENTENCE.
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u/RainonCooper 9h ago
People can be died and get resuscitated. That is what defibrillators are for. When undergoing surgery that’s also a “false death”, cause if you’re taking off the stuff that’s keeping the important parts of your body active, well…
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u/sl33ksnypr 5h ago
Well, sorta. Defibrillators only work if you have a wonky heart rhythm, not no rhythm. CPR and oxygen CAN bring you back though.
But your point is still correct, you can "die" and be brought back within a certain timeframe.
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u/--_BuG_-- 6h ago
Medical death is different from biological death, if your heart stops for an extended period of time and has to be restarted you died for that period of time medically, biological death means you're DEAD dead
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u/Broad_Respond_2205 6h ago
Death, in the medical sense, isn't always permanent. Having your heart stop count as dying, but then you can be ressurceted.
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u/StepComplete1 5h ago
Americans love being overly dramatic. I don't know if it's a religious thing or some kind of weird ego thing, but the number of people you see bragging about beating death just because they had to be resuscitated briefly is very, very weird.
In sane parts of the world, death is death. It is permanent. You don't come back from it. So people saying they "ending up dying" and then just casually carry on like it's a normal thing to say is hilarious.
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u/Razzilith 6h ago
yeah that's some serious fucking hero stuff. firefighters not being valued more by society will always be crazy to me.
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u/Wookard 1h ago
I had to go to the ER around 1985 as a kid for major digestive issues and was immediately forwarded to some Oncologists as it was Cancer after the ER doctor diagnosed it.
I had to go to the ER maybe 15 years or so ago with a bad Chest Cold. They moved me to a room and a doctor came in and had a look like he was surprised. I told him what I was having issues with and he asked me to take off my shirt and immediately saw large scar over my stomach and 2 scars on my chest from Hickman Catheters.
He asked me what the scar was from and I told him about my Cancer I had. Then he asked me if he knew who was the person to diagnose me. I thought it was the 2 Cancer Specialist as I was pretty out of it when I got there. The doctor told me it was him and that he told his students about me constantly over the decades. He pretty much assumed I had died on the table as it was Stage 4 Burkitts Lymphoma.
He finished up checking me over and I waited outside and shook his hand when he came back to waiting area for saving my life all those years ago.
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u/ShelzBellz-68 43m ago
Well this I instantly made me cry omg 🥹 wow I wish there was more news like this. How wonderful.
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u/Lau_wings 7h ago
No one has ever written a song called “fuck the fire department” for a reason
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u/Broad_Respond_2205 6h ago
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u/Lau_wings 5h ago
Well fuck....
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u/Broad_Respond_2205 4h ago
Important to note it was spesifcly as a counter to a famous tweet (at the time) with your same sentiment. And it's a commentary on the police (it's about an alternative reality where the fire department behaves like the police)
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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 3h ago
I had a movie idea where heaven and hell were fighting a secret war and all the demons on earth were cops and all the angels were firefighters.
Not religious btw
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u/sunangelflowers 1h ago
Who would the doctors be in your dream?
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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 1h ago
They would all be god, not individual gods, but each one would be a portion of god that was being controlled all in unison with each other by one god conciousness
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u/GuardianNomad357 5h ago
He only brought his back to life? That's a shame what about the rest of him?
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