Emergency and Fire Station Memories

Looking around YouTube I am amazed about what is avaliable. I used to watch Emergency every Saturday night. This was a must see because my Dad was a Fireman in Memphis. This was the next best thing to going to the Fire Station to visit him in person. Sometimes my Mom would take us up to the Fire Station on Sunday afternoons to visit for a little while before church. I remember being little maybe 4 or so and I was standing by the dispatch desk and the alarm bell went off. The bell seemed like it was 24 inches in diameter and it was really loud. I froze scared to death. Firemen started running past me to get on the trucks to go out on a call. In the middle of all that chaos my Dad picked me up and sat me on the desk and told me to stay put that everything was going to be alright. He then told me to push one of the buttons on that console and when I did the giant garage doors started going up and the street light changed to Red for the traffic and green for the Fire Trucks to leave. My dad kissed me on top of my head and he ran and jumped into the drivers seat of Engine 44 and started it up flipped on the lights and drove off to the fire. I knew at that moment that I had the coolest Dad in the entire world. Other Fire Station memories include station number 10 because it had a pole you could slide down. When I was in 2nd grade the Fire Department was having a coloring contest and the color page had the Seal of the Fire Department. I really was excited and I got busy coloring it the best I could. Dad came in while I was coloring with his jacket that had that patch so I could see what colors to use. It was too late I was too far gone. Looking back I see now that he was disappointed but I remember him putting his jacket down and laying on the bed beside me and telling me I was doing a great job( I really did have a cool Dad). A few times my Dad worked at the Mid South Fair in Memphis and we would go and meet him at the Fair when he got off and that was always fun. Sometimes at night before he worked I would help him get his uniform ready by pinning the badge and name plate on and putting his Cross pen and pencil set in the pocket. I always liked how those gold pens matched his badge. One afternoon Dad and Mr. Aires a fireman that lived across the street put out a grease fire in the house next door before the Fire Department got there. I couldn't believe he ran into that house with all the smoke that was coming out the front door. The last day my Dad worked before he retired we went up to the station and had a party with a cake and as a surprise gag my Mom hired a Belly Dancer to come and Dance for my Dad. He was so embarrassed as she started to dance and the guys at the station were heckling him and all of the sudden the alarm sounded and he jumped up and ran jumped on the Fire Truck and responded to a car fire. I took photos of that last fire call as the truck pulled out of the station. I wish I could remember who put my Mom up to getting that Belly Dancer.

Update

That was a neat story Jeff. Kind of swelled my head but it will go down. I think Sue Cochran was to blame for the belly dancer. Also the alarm didn't go off until she left. I was praying for an earlier one. I also want to know where the pictures are. Probably in one of Mom's photo album here.
Love
Dad