I hate a 4am call

From the sheriff. "Is this blah blah? You have cows out on the highway."

It's amazing how fast you can throw bibs and a coat on over your undies and get to the pickup. Good thing they taste good...

When I was field service. I would get those early morning calls. First thing most would ask. Is this going to be overtime. I wanted to say. At 2am what do you think.

Be glad when the calls at 2:00 AM are wrong numbers

I didn't mind the 4 am calls, almost time to get up, it was the ones at 11 pm that I hated, probably had just gotten to sleep.

Yep, I'm so relieved that nothing bad happened I'm not mad at the 2 AM call.

KEH

being a volunteer fireman i get calls at all times of the night--sometimes multiples--yep with the Adrenalin going you can get dressed and out real quick

I have been a vol fireman for 38 years. I have been accused of sleeping with my clothes on due to the fact I sign on the air before anyone.LOL

I am always on call to the township I take care of. Trees,snow, washed out roads, etc. Usually know when to expect a call and go to bed early.

Ross

I love it when they say "Sorry to bother you...BUT blah blah." There's always that BUT.

I was a vol. fireman for 25 years. I woke up one morning to hear my neighbor clearing my driveway with his snowblower. When I went to thank hom, he said "If you can fight fires, I can clear your driveway". It's really nice to be woken at 6 AM to hear your neighbor at work, rolling over and ZZZZZ.

I got a call Thursday night at 11:00 pm that some young people were in a bad accident. One got the helicopter ride to the big city. No problem, I am ready to help any time of day or night. Jump in the car and away we go. Got to see the sun come up. Then surgery at noon. Back again all day today. Over the years, I have been called at 10:30 at night that a 10 year old had a bicycle wreck and was being airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital. We got to the hospital 65 miles away as the chopper was landing. And I never got over the speed limit. Another was a young man, 31, had a seizure and crashed. 2:00 am wake-up call. Another that comes to mind was actually in mid afternoon, but someone ran a red light and hit him in the door. But all my friends know we are available without question when needed. Hopefully, I will never need the assistance and encouragement but if so, maybe return the favor.

For many years I was on call from the plant, 24 hours, Mon-Fri. 4 am, not so bad, I get up in 45 minut5es. Midnite, only been asleep for an hour, OK. But 2-3am was bad. Get up go to the plant, fix the problem in 1-2 hours, then what? Go home, try to sleep for an hour, or just stay at work and try to make it until afternoon. I usually just stayed and worked.

We panic when we hear cars blowing their horns when driving by. Almost always this means livestock, or one of dogs has made it into the road again.

I'm in my 53 rd year--but close to the firehouse so i am first one their and get the first due engine out on the ramp before anyone else arrives

I was a volunteer for 35 years. I got up at all hours. It
was routine without thinking except what the address was because I usually went direct. Most of the guys just reset it and rolled over.

My son is a volunteer fireman. The early evening calls are hardest on him because he might not get home till midnight and normally he gets up at 3:00 am and has the truck rolling by 3:30 am. For me it is late evening calls from dad telling me he can't get out of the chair, or it's a night call from an emt telling me he is on the way to ER. That usually means five hours sitting around in ER and getting to bed at 3 or 4:00.

25 years ago those calls happened when dad would call at 2:00 am telling me a calf needs to be pulled. He bought 32 bred angus heifers bred to a black bull for easy calving but strangely enough the 22 calves we pulled had white faces. Hmmmm!

A special thanks to all the volunteer first responders on here.

got a call 2am this winter, your cows were out. we just has fresh snow, about 6", the cattle had everything in the yard trampled down, down the lane out the driveway , onto the state road. by the time i got dressed and out there, the cop had all of them back in the barnyard. couldnt believe it! usually they wouldnt know how to herd cattle, this one mustve been farm boy. he pointed to 3 head and said them 3 are itching to get back out!

My hat is off to all of you 'on call' guys.If I get woken up out my sleep I am ruined for 2 days.I don't need a lot-maybe 7 hrs,but if it is interrupted,then I am groggy feeling for 2 days.Mark

When I was a kid lived along US 12 in SD. When I heard the phone ring in the middle of the night, then dad get up, then the door on my brothers and my room opened, I knew the cow were out. The thing that got me was how tired and sluggish I was but how frisky the dog was when we woke him to help.

I had a cow right down town one morning about 3 am she was caught looking inside the furniture store

btdt ,worst story of all ,.25 yrs ago ,. my b-I-l delivered aload to bourbon stock yds Louisville ky ,,. they were having labor troubles, somehow someone left a gate unlatched in the holding pen and all the rattling around opened the gate wide onto main street , as joel was followinging them down like he had been asked many times ,he heard the guy on the other end cussin and hollering ,and heard horns honking , about that time he saw about 10 steers weighing around 800lbs were running around the intersection under the stop lites ,..this began at noon , and by dark all were safely rounded up ,,.joel said , the cops had some of the cows cornered into a u shaped 2 car lot of a shotgun style house and pulled their cars so they could not get away,,. Everything could a been ok ,,if they would had only started acting like good ol country boys instead of barneys shouting and screaming orders ,those 6 0r 7 steers wanted badly to get away from all that and got up on the wood deck patio and probably saw their reflection in the patio door glass , instantly the glass smashed and they were in the house,,. the lady was in her house coat holding her baby and all were squalling the best they ever did ,.the steers were stomping all over her new couch and carpets,when they tired of that they exited thru the other glass door that until now was not broken ,,.jumped over the hoods of the crown vics ,ruining their hoods lites and fenders ..but they were still runnable to continue the chase ,.which then went to the L and N tracks , where they ultimately ended up at the university of Louisville campus ,, when they were captured .That was the last time joel saw those cows , and that poor guy that was trying to run the stock yards,..after the couch incident with the poor girl and the baby , Joel said he was looking for a trash can or a manhole cover to climb into ,,.