Fire frightens me, so I’ve always kept my distance. Although you’ll find no direct fire pictures here in response to Cee’s topic this week, it has relevance for me. For over fourteen years I worked for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a non-profit organization that publishes “codes and standards intended to minimize the possibility and effects of fire and other risks.” Most of the artwork we had at the organization were pictures of famous fires! We had two antique fire trucks in our lobby! Everyone’s office and cube contained items associated with fire. Here are a few of my items.
This replica fire truck was given to me by the fire chief of Mesa, Arizona, while I was on a business trip. Mesa at one time was considered one of the best fire departments in the country, thus the commemorative fire truck.
Fire Prevention week is the middle of October every year (the week that contains October 9th). This was a big to-do at NFPA; we had a week-long “celebration” of sorts with contests and events every day. We received a commemorative tee-shirt every year; this is one of my really old ones.
Then there were the trinkets: mugs, pens, pins, etc; these are just the ones I could easily find. My favorite things in this picture are my two lead fire fighters. They were in my drawer when I started working there so I adopted them! (In case you are wondering, the one with the red hose is a haz-mat guy.)
My working there always seemed a bit ironic to me — to be surrounded by images and spend so many hours engulfed by a subject that frightened me — but at least I learned a lot of ways to prevent it from happening and to diminish the losses that can result from it.
If you want to see pictures of actual fire images or other interpretations, click on the icon below!
Last Train to QVille 