I walked into shift this morning and was met by my LT at the bay door telling me I had a letter waiting for me at his desk. I was assuming it was going to be some HR bullshit or maybe some random old folks home thanking us for our service. But as I opened the envelope and read the letter, it was a thank you from one of the daughters of the family.

For context, we had a nasty fatality fire back in January of this year. It was a shit sandwich stuffed into a shit storm. Windy conditions, old side of town, old two story home that had been remodeled who knows how many times, and it was below freezing. I was the first engine on and was met with the fire which I won’t forget for the rest of my life. It was how they described in academy. Mom was screaming that her youngest daughter was stuck on the second floor while the cops dragged a man from a wheelchair who’s got stuck on the porch, and his legs sluffed as the cops drag him right by me. Long story short, the back of the house collapsed and interior operations were ceased for the remainder of the fire. This girl’s body wasn’t found till the cadaver dogs came out the next morning. There’s not a day that passes where I don’t think about it. I always wonder if it could’ve played out differently if I had done certain things different. Reading through the letter made me cry. I couldn’t help it. It was a note telling me how appreciative she was for the effort taken to try and save her sister. At the end, she leaves her number for us to reach out if we’d like to talk. I was wondering if it would be okay to send a text thanking her for the letter because it truly gave me peace of mind. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries by texting her, so I wanted to ask what you guys would do.