Fire Chief for a Day

Each year on the first weekend in December, the community of Kokomo tunes into the “We Care” radio telethon auction. All the money raised during the 48 hour telethon goes to help those in need during the Christmas season.

Each year the Kokomo Fire Department donates a “Fire Chief for a Day” where the highest bidder wins a real-deal, white, Fire Chief’s helmet and the opportunity to be Chief for a day with the department. When it is auctioned off, it’s always on a Continuous Bid lot that runs for two hours. Each year it goes for $500+.

This year I had told my mother how neat it would be if I were able to bid on it and be Chief for a day. I knew that we didn’t have the money to be able to do it and was okay with it. It was all just talk. She then said to me,

“Wouldn’t it be something if either someone you or we knew, bided on and won it and then gave it to you?”

I told her that it would be awesome but we both knew that it wasn’t going to happen. We didn’t expect it or anything, and was just talking/joking around, like people do about winning the lottery.

The last I knew, a Kokomo firefighter hada $500-something bid on it. I never heard what it finally went for or who got it. Then at around 5:30 on Sunday night, a fire truck pulls up in front of our house. I went into the front room to see and sure enough, there was a truck out front. The boys walked up to the door and we let them in. It was three guys that I knew from Station 4, the station down the street from our house. The guys and I chatted for a few minutes and then my buddy, Firefighter Kevin Cox, told me that they had a question to ask me. He said,

“We were wanting to know, if you’re interested, if you would like to be ‘Fire Chief for a Day?’”

I was absolutely thrown for a loop and was shocked. I told the guys that they were crazy. I told them that I had heard that a fellow firefighter of their’s had bided on it. They told me that they had to use someone’s name.

Yesterday, I went down to Station 4 so that the guys could present me with helmet and letter stating that I was going to be Chief for a day. The local newspapers were on hand to take pictures of the presentation. One was published in today’s Kokomo Tribune.

I will go and be “Chief for a Day” one day this spring or summer. They tell me that when I am “Chief for a Day” that I will be able to do anything that I want (within reason of course). They will also put me in a fire truck and take me for a ride around town.

I am really excited and cannot wait to spend a day with the guys and gals at the downtown fire station. It will be an unbelievable and unforgettable day.