HELP! VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER NEEDS HIS COMMUNITY
Donation protected
HIGHWAY TO HELL
It’s 12:03 am and you’re trying to fall asleep. All night long you toss and turn, your problems are more than you can handle right now. In just a few days your house will be foreclosed on, because you’re 3 months behind. Your wife is on oxygen and the electric company is about to shut your lights off. At this point nothing else could go wrong, right?
At 12:06 the first responder radio goes off with the words, “Code 4,” coming out of the speaker, (a code 4 is Traffic Crash.)
Without hesitation you jump up, put on
your gear and fly out the door. As you head to the accident scene your thoughts are no longer on your personal problems, but what awaits when you arrive.
You’re the first to arrive on scene, a mother is screaming, “Please save my baby,” you rush to the car, your heart is pounding as you look in the back seat that is covered in glass. At once your heart sinks, because this is not the first time you have seen a baby that has lost its life.
You quickly spring into action, maybe just maybe, this one will be different. After
all, there have been other children that you have saved. Somehow you manage to
get the child out of the back seat and start performing CPR. “Come on kid just
breath,” suddenly you feel a hand on your shoulder, you look back and then slide to
the side, EMS has arrived, but no matter how hard they try this child has gone to
heaven.
Right now, is not the time to break down, so without hesitation you start with the
next plan, and that is to make sure no idiot comes flying into the area and causing more mayhem. You put out flares, direct traffic, give FHP the rundown on what you know so far. 3 hours later you walk back to your vehicle.
Sitting in your truck you start to turn the key and then the whole night comes
rushing back. You see the lifeless child’s eyes, you hear the mother’s cries of pain,
and your breath seems to escape you.
Now you sit back as it plays over and over in your mind and heart. “What could I have done differently? Why couldn’t I save this little baby? Yet nothing you could have done would have prevented anything, but somehow you feel to blame, so you break down and cry.
Now, I want you to imagine that you’re back in your bed and all the above hits you at one time. You’re losing your house, your wife has COPD and is on oxygen, your property taxes are behind, and you just witnessed something that can never be erased from your mind. All because your business has gone in the tank and you make $8.00 a call as a volunteer firefighter.
Sounds like something from a movie huh, but the fact is, this is the story one of our
very own volunteer firefighters right here in south Putnam County.
Now, before I introduce this man and his wife to you, I want to make something
very clear; this man has been a volunteer firefighter for over 25 years, 19 of which
has been dedicated to serving south Putnam County.
If I see one bashing comment like, “He brought this upon himself,” I am going to go ballistic on your ass, and I promise you that I will dig up every bit of dirt I can on you then make it public, period!
I met Melvin Asher quite a few years ago when I was covering a house fire. I was
the second person on scene, Melvin was first. Because of him, the house was not a
complete loss and the people all lived, including a dog. Over the years I have
watched Melvin at hundreds of fires and accident scenes, hell Melvin is responsible for me not being fried in a fire a few years ago.
Please allow me to give you the short version of what happened there. About three years ago, there were some dumb-asses setting fires around Putnam
County. While driving down the road to the scene I heard a few firefighters asking
for water, that they had run out. No, not water to put out the fire, but water to
drink. I pulled over at the next store, purchased 15 cases then headed to the
scene. When I say scene, I mean woods that are on fire, and not just a small camp
fire, but a fire that was out of control and threatening to burn down hundreds of
homes.
After delivering the water back in the woods I decided to get some action shots, so you could see exactly what was happening and the hero’s that protect our lives and property. Now let me put you in the place where Melvin kept me from becoming an over cooked pop tart.
Okay, so I’m a few hundred yards from the raging fire and decide I’m going to get
some photos of where the fire just went through. I walk into this small clearing, it
was almost the size of your average high school football field. I take out my camera
and start looking around. All around me are little fires, oh about the size of your
average campfire, so I move to those spots. I see a few larger spots in the woods and decide to get some even better shots.
Mind you, I know where I’m at and I know the road is only a few hundred yards
away, what I didn’t know is the fire had turned on me and was heading back. Plus,
it had started back up from where I had just come from. Okay now I’m at the road
and heading back to my truck. With a water-soaked tee shirt over my face, like a western bank robber, I was moving at a good pace.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a fire like that, but I have, and one thing you
rely on when the smoke is thick is your hearing. When the fire is approaching you, it sounds like millions of firecrackers going off. The wind becomes the hot breath of hell on your skin, and your heart starts pounding in your ears.
Within seconds my feet started moving like a crackhead, with a pocket full of drugs and I was being chased by the police. At one point I thought, “Man I am so screwed,” because now the fire was only 50 yards away and was starting to close in on me. Up ahead, I could hear people yelling to each other and I knew it was the volunteer firefighters, so my butt was moving mach 10 in that direction.
With flames on both sides of the road and closing, that being the only possible
opening, I saw the smoke rolling down towards the ground and the fire being
depressed. Seconds later, I saw a stream of water and ran under it, then bam just
like that I was in the clear with the flames behind me and to my right I saw Melvin
sitting on top of a fire truck with a water cannon. I yelled, “Hey, thanks!” to which
he replied, “I thought you might be coming out this way,” then he turned his head and without missing a lick, kept fighting the fire.
At the end of four long days the fire was completely snuffed out and amazing as our volunteer firefighters are, not one house was lost and not one life was lost.
Over the years I have asked Melvin if I could feature him in an article and he always declines, and this is not how I want to feature Melvin!
Last night as I sat down with Melvin, and it made me realize just how lucky we are
to have a man like this in our community. A man that, for 19 years, has put his life
on the line to not only rescue us from danger, but save our homes and
environment. Melvin has tried other avenues to get help, but nothing has worked, and the last thing he wants is to ask for help.
Tonight, we need to do something to help Melvin and his wife out because he only
has till 5pm Monday (tomorrow) to come up with the money to save his house or
he and his wife will be homeless. By 5pm tomorrow we need to come up with
$8,123.00 to get Melvin and his wife out of hot water, so I need your help. Look if
each person that reads this site will give one dollar, we can bail this man out of
trouble. If you can’t donate, then please share this article, we need all the help we
can give this man.
In closing let me say this, our first responders both men and women, especially our volunteer fire fighters should not have to worry about losing their homes, going without food or paying their property taxes. This man has given up 19 years of his life to protect and serve us and has not asked for anything in return. What a sad day it will be if he is made homeless when there is something, we can do about it.
If tomorrow this man is homeless then how many lives will be lost because he is no longer around. Don’t forget to leave a comment thanking this man for his service.
Thank you for reading this article and please donate and share, we have less than
24 hours.
Be Safe,
Travis
The Putnam Way & IITW Radio
iitwradio.com
(See us on Facebook)
It’s 12:03 am and you’re trying to fall asleep. All night long you toss and turn, your problems are more than you can handle right now. In just a few days your house will be foreclosed on, because you’re 3 months behind. Your wife is on oxygen and the electric company is about to shut your lights off. At this point nothing else could go wrong, right?
At 12:06 the first responder radio goes off with the words, “Code 4,” coming out of the speaker, (a code 4 is Traffic Crash.)
Without hesitation you jump up, put on
your gear and fly out the door. As you head to the accident scene your thoughts are no longer on your personal problems, but what awaits when you arrive.
You’re the first to arrive on scene, a mother is screaming, “Please save my baby,” you rush to the car, your heart is pounding as you look in the back seat that is covered in glass. At once your heart sinks, because this is not the first time you have seen a baby that has lost its life.
You quickly spring into action, maybe just maybe, this one will be different. After
all, there have been other children that you have saved. Somehow you manage to
get the child out of the back seat and start performing CPR. “Come on kid just
breath,” suddenly you feel a hand on your shoulder, you look back and then slide to
the side, EMS has arrived, but no matter how hard they try this child has gone to
heaven.
Right now, is not the time to break down, so without hesitation you start with the
next plan, and that is to make sure no idiot comes flying into the area and causing more mayhem. You put out flares, direct traffic, give FHP the rundown on what you know so far. 3 hours later you walk back to your vehicle.
Sitting in your truck you start to turn the key and then the whole night comes
rushing back. You see the lifeless child’s eyes, you hear the mother’s cries of pain,
and your breath seems to escape you.
Now you sit back as it plays over and over in your mind and heart. “What could I have done differently? Why couldn’t I save this little baby? Yet nothing you could have done would have prevented anything, but somehow you feel to blame, so you break down and cry.
Now, I want you to imagine that you’re back in your bed and all the above hits you at one time. You’re losing your house, your wife has COPD and is on oxygen, your property taxes are behind, and you just witnessed something that can never be erased from your mind. All because your business has gone in the tank and you make $8.00 a call as a volunteer firefighter.
Sounds like something from a movie huh, but the fact is, this is the story one of our
very own volunteer firefighters right here in south Putnam County.
Now, before I introduce this man and his wife to you, I want to make something
very clear; this man has been a volunteer firefighter for over 25 years, 19 of which
has been dedicated to serving south Putnam County.
If I see one bashing comment like, “He brought this upon himself,” I am going to go ballistic on your ass, and I promise you that I will dig up every bit of dirt I can on you then make it public, period!
I met Melvin Asher quite a few years ago when I was covering a house fire. I was
the second person on scene, Melvin was first. Because of him, the house was not a
complete loss and the people all lived, including a dog. Over the years I have
watched Melvin at hundreds of fires and accident scenes, hell Melvin is responsible for me not being fried in a fire a few years ago.
Please allow me to give you the short version of what happened there. About three years ago, there were some dumb-asses setting fires around Putnam
County. While driving down the road to the scene I heard a few firefighters asking
for water, that they had run out. No, not water to put out the fire, but water to
drink. I pulled over at the next store, purchased 15 cases then headed to the
scene. When I say scene, I mean woods that are on fire, and not just a small camp
fire, but a fire that was out of control and threatening to burn down hundreds of
homes.
After delivering the water back in the woods I decided to get some action shots, so you could see exactly what was happening and the hero’s that protect our lives and property. Now let me put you in the place where Melvin kept me from becoming an over cooked pop tart.
Okay, so I’m a few hundred yards from the raging fire and decide I’m going to get
some photos of where the fire just went through. I walk into this small clearing, it
was almost the size of your average high school football field. I take out my camera
and start looking around. All around me are little fires, oh about the size of your
average campfire, so I move to those spots. I see a few larger spots in the woods and decide to get some even better shots.
Mind you, I know where I’m at and I know the road is only a few hundred yards
away, what I didn’t know is the fire had turned on me and was heading back. Plus,
it had started back up from where I had just come from. Okay now I’m at the road
and heading back to my truck. With a water-soaked tee shirt over my face, like a western bank robber, I was moving at a good pace.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a fire like that, but I have, and one thing you
rely on when the smoke is thick is your hearing. When the fire is approaching you, it sounds like millions of firecrackers going off. The wind becomes the hot breath of hell on your skin, and your heart starts pounding in your ears.
Within seconds my feet started moving like a crackhead, with a pocket full of drugs and I was being chased by the police. At one point I thought, “Man I am so screwed,” because now the fire was only 50 yards away and was starting to close in on me. Up ahead, I could hear people yelling to each other and I knew it was the volunteer firefighters, so my butt was moving mach 10 in that direction.
With flames on both sides of the road and closing, that being the only possible
opening, I saw the smoke rolling down towards the ground and the fire being
depressed. Seconds later, I saw a stream of water and ran under it, then bam just
like that I was in the clear with the flames behind me and to my right I saw Melvin
sitting on top of a fire truck with a water cannon. I yelled, “Hey, thanks!” to which
he replied, “I thought you might be coming out this way,” then he turned his head and without missing a lick, kept fighting the fire.
At the end of four long days the fire was completely snuffed out and amazing as our volunteer firefighters are, not one house was lost and not one life was lost.
Over the years I have asked Melvin if I could feature him in an article and he always declines, and this is not how I want to feature Melvin!
Last night as I sat down with Melvin, and it made me realize just how lucky we are
to have a man like this in our community. A man that, for 19 years, has put his life
on the line to not only rescue us from danger, but save our homes and
environment. Melvin has tried other avenues to get help, but nothing has worked, and the last thing he wants is to ask for help.
Tonight, we need to do something to help Melvin and his wife out because he only
has till 5pm Monday (tomorrow) to come up with the money to save his house or
he and his wife will be homeless. By 5pm tomorrow we need to come up with
$8,123.00 to get Melvin and his wife out of hot water, so I need your help. Look if
each person that reads this site will give one dollar, we can bail this man out of
trouble. If you can’t donate, then please share this article, we need all the help we
can give this man.
In closing let me say this, our first responders both men and women, especially our volunteer fire fighters should not have to worry about losing their homes, going without food or paying their property taxes. This man has given up 19 years of his life to protect and serve us and has not asked for anything in return. What a sad day it will be if he is made homeless when there is something, we can do about it.
If tomorrow this man is homeless then how many lives will be lost because he is no longer around. Don’t forget to leave a comment thanking this man for his service.
Thank you for reading this article and please donate and share, we have less than
24 hours.
Be Safe,
Travis
The Putnam Way & IITW Radio
iitwradio.com
(See us on Facebook)
Organizer
Melvin Asher
Organizer
Pomona Park, FL
