Memorials ease some of the pain in dealing with the losses, but at what cost to our members? By no means am I suggesting that memorials should be banned because of how they affect first responders, but perhaps we need to consider how these shrines impact our members.
![fire officer initial sizeup fire officer initial sizeup](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TxDbwUYml2M/hqdefault.jpg)
Roadside memorials are not uncommon: families and friends place crosses, flowers and other keepsakes at crash scenes more and more often, it seems. I told her that I can still see the scene as clearly as I did the afternoon I gave the initial report. Jennifer and I travel that highway many times each week. The scene was on a busy two-lane highway that runs between Calgary and Redwood Meadows. Two local boys were in the SUV one was dead in the back seat, and the other died shortly after a lengthy extrication by our crews. My wife Jennifer, who is a captain and EMT with Redwood Meadows Emergency Services, commented that it is hard to pass the memorial without remembering the response to the call 13 years ago for a head-on collision between a tractor-trailer and an SUV.
![fire officer initial sizeup fire officer initial sizeup](https://cdn.firehouse.com/files/base/cygnus/fhc/image/2016/02/960w/SimLab1.56c7628713bcb.jpg)
Sometimes I go out by myself to shoot, other times I take the boys or the entire family for a drive.ĭuring a recent drive with the family we passed by a roadside memorial.
![fire officer initial sizeup fire officer initial sizeup](https://image3.slideserve.com/6780249/1-arrival-l.jpg)
Photography has always been relaxing for me and it has been a good release while getting stronger. – While I have been off work recovering from my heart attack I have been driving around the area a lot trying to relax, taking hundreds of pictures.