• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

When Flagler’s Firefighters Are A Lot More Than First Responders

December 23, 2012 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

Flagler County Fire Rescue’s Dennis Kline.

A few days after Thanksgiving two years ago, my step-father died in an assisted living facility in Palm Coast. It was not unexpected. He’d been in bad health for years, and assisted living facilities, those hothouses of wilted lives, accelerate death as efficiently as any lethal disease.

pierre tristam column flaglerlive.com flaglerlive What stands out about that day for me isn’t his death. It’s the moving response of paramedics we had to call in for my father’s sister. She reacted traumatically and looked as if she might have a life-threatening shock of her own. It wasn’t just that her older brother had died, but that, like a sibling’s final slight, he had done so right after she’d decided to take a break from his bedside vigil. I had as well, taking my son to a park nearby, leaving my wife to be my father’s only companion in his last moments, just as she had been his only true affection in his last years.

Pierre's Recent Columns:


  • Grace from the Crime of Punishment
  • Liberals Must See Past the No-Exit Calvinism of Critical Race Theory
  • Flagler School Libraries Face Chilling Dangers Beyond Book Bans
  • Why All Boys Aren’t Blue Belongs in High School Libraries: A Response to Brian McMillan
  • The County Commission’s Choice: Filth or Statesmanship
  • The Flagler School Board’s Shameless War on Equity
  • Corporal Punishment Is Child Abuse. Florida Law Must Stop Protecting It.
  • Why is the Flagler County Commission Holding New School Construction Hostage?
  • Palm Coast Survives Its Own Big Lies. For Now.
  • The Sleaziest Generation
  • Palm Coast at a Crossroad: Assassins of Civility or Governance
  • A Qualified Defense of Trump Supporters’ Obscenities in Flagler Beach
  • ‘Enough’ Is Not Enough: Flagler’s Dangerous Leer at Extremism
  • What Stolen Election Diehards Owe Holocaust Deniers
  • Heroes
  • Pierre's Column Archive
  • Follow Pierre on Twitter.





The scene that followed was more Dali than death. My aunt had collapsed in my father’s wheelchair in his small room, sobbing and hyperventilating. My wife was between the deathbed and the wheelchair, her own shock of grief shoved aside by the unexpected emergency. I was between summoning 911 and a facility nurse, patting shoulders or attempting embraces in that moronic way of males with nothing left to control. My son, my 6-year-old son, was next to my father, more composed than anyone in the room, nuzzling his teddy bear next to his grandfather’s face, unafraid by his sudden stillness or his still-open mouth and eyes, and speaking with him in words sweet enough to steal the hereafter’s thunder.

And it was into that scene that Dennis Kline and his team from Flagler County Fire Rescue walked in.

We think of firefighters as the princes of fire scenes. They are. But fires are a fraction of the calls they answer, and most of those are wasted on impulsive fire alarms. It’s in the daily routine of medical calls around town, the routine of private calamities we care about only when they hit us personally—strokes, heart attacks, falls, diabetic shock, attempted suicides, wrecks, deaths—that firefighters earn their keep. It’s not glamorous, it never gets them in the news or earn them acclaim. But it’s where they shine most brightly, where they are first to revive, to reassure, to restore and often save. They are a lot more than first responders.

And so they were that day at the assisted living facility.

Kline is a big guy, even beefy. That’s not an offense. It’s part of his strengths. He is known locally as the leader of a team of firefighter-EMTs who’ve made a routine of winning international paramedic competitions for the past four years, most notably the Czech Republic’s Rallye Rejviz, an annual boot camp of simulated gore and infinite brawn.


Klein had seen far worse than he was seeing that late November afternoon in my father’s last room. But he got to work, stabilizing my aunt enough that she stubbornly refused his very strong advice to go to the ER next door.

As it turned out she wasn’t the one who needed care most. Adults can get carried away by their own drama. Somewhere along that muddle of pain and grief Klein had noticed my son, who between his grandfather’s immobility and his great aunt’s panic attack had reason to be the most confused soul in the room. Klein’s work with my aunt done, he approached my son, kneeled to his level, asked him how he was, and immediately gained his confidence.

Then he took him outside where the big fire truck was snoring, opened the cab’s door, helped my son climb in and sit there for a moment as Klein showed him a few controls and gave him a helmet to try on. With that, Klein had transformed what had been the most disturbing event in my son’s life until then into a diversion worthy of every boy’s fantasy.

I’m sure Kline forgot all about it. It was all in a day’s work. It’s what firefighters do. But when I think of my father’s death, I think of that moment, of that smile on my son’s face and what it meant for both of us. A paramedic had detected what, and who, had mattered most just then. And for father and son, his small gesture had rescued a memory.

Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. Reach him by email here or follow him on Twitter. This column is also syndicated through Florida Voices.

(© FlaglerLive)
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kendall says

    December 23, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    What a wonderful Christmas gift you gave all of us by sharing that beautiful story!

    Reply
  2. thinkforyourself says

    December 23, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Beautifully, beautifully written – thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  3. Eric says

    December 23, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    What a handsome fella!

    Reply
  4. JoJo says

    December 23, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    They are the crème de la crème of Flagler County – kudos.

    Reply
  5. Diego Miller says

    December 23, 2012 at 9:34 pm

    He is also courageous for supporting his Union, which is not popular in Florida.It takes a special person to be a Paramedic.

    Reply
  6. Katie Kline says

    December 23, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    I love you uncle Dennis keep up the good work. :)

    Reply
  7. DWFerg says

    December 24, 2012 at 5:39 am

    Heartwarming and an appropriate story for the season of PEACE !

    Reply
  8. [email protected] says

    December 24, 2012 at 7:04 am

    touching story for the christmas season. MERRY CHRISTMAS

    Reply
  9. Maria Grullon says

    December 24, 2012 at 9:23 am

    I know first hand about these dedicated, compassionate, truly caring firefighters, who have helped me over the years during my calls to 911. I have suffered with severe panic attacks and mitral valve prolapse for years, and have had a few episodes that felt more like a heart attack. I have had the privilege to be assisted by these wonderful firefighters or “angels”. My last episode, I especially recall, a young man holding my hand telling me not to worry, that his mom has these episodes, and that they are very real and frightening. He continued to encourage me to keep breathing with the assistance of oxygen and his encouraging words while being transported to the ER at the hospital kept me calm. All checked out ok at the hospital, my mitral valve causing me problems…I will never forget that young firefighter’s compassion… words go along way… God bless all of you for all you do in our county. Merry Christmas.

    Reply
  10. tulip says

    December 24, 2012 at 10:34 am

    After all the horrific news we’ve heard in the last 10 days, this story was a heartwarming pleasure to read. It also shows that Pierre is like the rest of us and has family crisis, etc. and kids to care about.

    May the coming year be more peaceful for all of us.

    Reply
  11. Robert Lewis says

    December 24, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Let us not forget to acknowledge the other first responders here in Palm Coast. The City of Palm Coast Fire Department.

    Especially in wake of that tragic shooting in Webster, NY.

    Reply
  12. Anita says

    December 25, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    Thank you for this special story, Pierre. It was balm for our weary souls. Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and yours.

    Reply
  13. Geezer says

    December 25, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    Dennis has been at my home a few times as an EMT. This fellow stands out as warm, caring, and cheerful man. I wish that we could clone this fine man. A BIG THANK YOU to Dennis and all the other “lifesavers'”
    that we have the luxury to have serving us in PC.

    This is the upside of living here–we have superb emergency services thanks to dedicated people like Dennis. Again, THANK YOU DENNIS!

    I hope that the coming year brings many rewards!

    Reply
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
  • grand living realty

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Pierre Tristam on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • blerbfamilyfive on Why Will Furry Is Demolishing the Flagler Youth Orchestra
  • We believe the girl on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • DAVE on Flagler Pride Fest Is On Despite Hostile Climate, Drag Show Included, With a Few Cautionary Tucks
  • Blame Game on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Laurel on Behind the Divorce, a Bitter, Threat-Ridden Clash Between Waste Pro and Palm Coast Over Recycling Bins
  • Deborah Coffey on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • Flatsflyer on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • Greg on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Bailey’s Mom on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later
  • jake on Flagler Pride Fest Is On Despite Hostile Climate, Drag Show Included, With a Few Cautionary Tucks
  • Dennis Clark on No, Flagler Beach Isn’t Asking for Money. It’s Asking for Cooperation from County and Cities.
  • Bryan on “A Fitting Conclusion”: Family Speaks of Pilot Ray Miller’s Life of Adventure Before Crash
  • Ray W. on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • Ray W. on The Hung Jury Got It Right in the Monserrate Teron Trial
  • Dee on Wadsworth Elementary’s Paul Peacock Is Told He’s Done in Flagler Schools; New Principal To Be Named Later

Log in