Hook and Ladder Rescue

This post is out of time sequence and dates back to our visit with the kids in San Francisco. We had walked down to eat at a wonderful East Indian restaurant, my favorite cuisine, on Valencia Street and ended up walking back home in near gale force winds. We could hear emergency vehicle sirens going off all over the city. We got home to find this outside the bedroom window. There was a car right below this. The lamp fixture was clearly compromised, lights hadn't come on yet and this is a tinder dry city. Sharon called emergency services.

We were flabber-
asted when within minutes we could hear a distant siren, which then slowed to turn on 17th Street. I think this is the closest I have even been to a hook and ladder truck. What to do? Oh what to do. Grab the camera!
Up came the ladder, up came the fireman who waved to Noah, who had the best seat in the house. They were worried about spark and risk of fire - we could hear the whole conversation. He was only feet away.
We also heard him lambaste PG&E for putting in a fixture that didn't fit the base. He couldn't restore the lamp and so removed everything and secured it with duct tape. I want you to notice to color of a fireman's duct tape.
Wait, wait. The story is not over. See the tall tan house in the center of the picture? There is a cocktail party going on and the ladies, all it their black dresses, have been hooting at the firemen. They make gestures of "come on up" and the firemen make gestures of "come on down." Finally the ladder driver says, "Put me on, send me up."


And they do. Noah is enthralled. Okay, so are we. Will Noah remember this and want to be a fireman when he grows up? They are the heroes, modern days heroes, however you look at it. After returning to the other fireman, we could hear the ladder driver say - "She really wanted to kiss me." Yup.