Blue-Light Special

When you join the fire department, you get a surprising amount of cool free stuff. Granted, most of it is used in fighting actual fires, but still, who would mind having around a fire-proof coat and pants? There was also a helmet, a couple pairs of gloves, and a pager. I even got a set of red suspenders. [This reminded me of the old joke: Why do firemen wear red suspenders? To hold up their pants.]

But the one thing most of us need to buy is the blue light, the kind that attaches to your car's roof with a strong magnet. It doesn't allow us to go thru red lights or drive faster than the speed limit, but...well, ok, maybe it does, as long as we're careful and don't get caught, and as long as we're responding to an actual emergency rather than one of the daily false alarms that we get from a local university. I believe it's referred to as a courtesy light. In any case, I really wanted one.

I checked out the Galls catalog, but then it turned out that the local Autozone shop was even cheaper. I had to show proof that I work for a local fire company, so I proudly displayed my card and ordered a blue light; it arrived today.

Once on my private road, I tried it out. It's pretty bright, tho apparently it's not too noticeable during daylight hours. A fellow firefighter told me that once the sun sets, it's visible about a half-mile away.

The next items on my list of firefighter must-haves are a patch from the company (occasionally available on eBay for under $10) and a New Paltz Fire Department jacket. But that one is going to have to wait -- it's only for people who've worked for the department for 30 months. I have 29 to go. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to using my blue light while I race, carefully, to a call.