Fire Fighter Helmet

"The firefighters profiled in ["Medal of Valor Firefighters] are all heroes, although most of them would never describe themselves that way. They know, as I do, that every firefighter across this great nation of ours is a hero whose story remains untold." --Harold Schaitberger, General President, International Association of Fire Fighters Since September 11, 2001, the nation's firefighters have been lauded for their courage and selflessness, yet many of their tales remain untold. "Medal of Valor Firefighters recounts numerous stories of grace under fire in the words of decorated heroes themselves. The men and women in this engrossing work, who unflinchingly risked their lives against impossible odds, relate their tales with striking humility. The portraits of courage in this gripping work are fitting tributes to America's bravest. You'll read heroic, true stories from around the nation such as: San Francisco: Beneath a house toppled by the earthquake of 1989, firefighter Gerald Shannon uses a chainsaw to cut his way through a maze of burning rubble and volatile gas lines to rescue a trapped woman. Brooklyn: With his faceplate melting and helmet blistering, Captain John Pritchard finds a child in a burning bedroom and grasps her plastic crib--which melts at his touch and cascades down around his arm. Atlanta: Dangling under a helicopter on a one-inch nylon rope, firefighter Matthew Moseley performs a daring rescue of a man stranded 225 feet above a burning mill on a crane so hot it has melted the soles of his shoes.

A playful new take on the old rhyme. It's raining, it's pouring, The Old Man is snoring, He went to bed with a cold in his head, And he didn't get up in the morning. Rain, rain, go away, Little Girl wants to play. Little Girl means what she says and has the resources to get results. Not one to mope away the day watching the rain pour down, Little Girl struggles into her boots, raincoat and fire fighter's helmet, gets out the ladder and heads for the clouds. Old Man lives in the clouds and controls the weather. He does, indeed, have "a cold in his head." Worse, he has no loving person to tend to him. Little Girl knows just how to set things right. Back at home, with a little help from her mom, she gathers together her very own cure for the common cold. Now all that remains is to get Old Man out of bed and the sun back into the sky.