The best way to deal with exhaustion is, of course, to get the right amount of rest. But for this team of firefighters, sitting down to ease their tired bodies isn’t enough. To them, belting out a good song with their entire crew is the best way to cap a tiring workday!
That’s exactly what this team of Oregon firefighters did after a long day of fighting fires. The group just finished a 14-hour long shift battling wildfires in the area, and to say that they’re exhausted is an understatement. With sweat dripping all over their bodies and ashes covering them from head to toe, these heroes are bone-weary.
But they didn’t let the fatigue affect their spirits.
Lying down on an ashy street, these men found the perfect way to end a long workday – by singing their hearts out.
With their self-titled “Take Me Out To The Fire Line,” a play on the official anthem of North American baseball, the firefighters sang:
“Take me out to the fire, take me out to the line. Bring me some sawyers and hazel hose. I don’t care if I ever get home,” they began the song. “Root, root, root for the red crew. You know we want the most days. For it’s 1, 2, 3 tool types out at the old fire line.”
According to crew boss Theodore Hiner, the Grizzly Firefighters had just finished battling the aggressive Lionshead Fire on Monday near Detroit.
Even after a taxing day, he felt proud of his crew for keeping their cheerful attitude going. So, he decided to share a video of them belting out the song on Facebook.
“Exhausted but still excellent. Busted their butts today. And still make me laugh. My crew. My guys,” he captioned the video.
Hiner said they spent the day “cutting line,” or creating a boundary of mineral soil to keep the fire from expanding.
Yet, amid hosing down the blazes and cutting down limbs, the team still had it in them to create a parody of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and switching a few of its lyrics to firefighting terms.
One line said, “Bring me some sawyers and hazel hose.” For those who might not be familiar, a sawyer is a person assigned to cut down trees and limbs during wildfires, while a hazel hoe is a tool used to trench and clear the area during firefighting.
Gov. Kate Brown said that fires consume about 500,000 acres a year in Oregon. But in just a week, the wildfires have burned over a million acres in the state.
The 20-person firefighting crew has been in the area for 10 days, according to Hiner.
The team leader, who is from Sweet Home, Oregon, has been a firefighter since 1996. He said he’s “never missed a season.”
While their crew was battling the Lionshead Fire, his family was compelled to evacuate their home.
“Yes my house was in danger,” he told CNN. “Thankfully, we made it out OK.”
His wife, kids, and dogs left their home for four days. Luckily, they’re all safe.
Hear these brave heroes singing their song in the video below.
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