Firefighters are compassionate, caring people who will do anything to help someone in need. In August 2018, a group of firefighters at Richburg Fire Rescue in South Carolina showed that they have compassion for all living things, big and small.
When a dehydrated, exhausted hummingbird fell onto the ground outside the fire station, three firefighters dropped everything to save her.
On Facebook, the firefighters explained what happened the morning the little hummingbird appeared:
“We found a hummingbird laying on the floor in the engine bay this morning that was exhausted and dehydrated.”
Three firefighters—Chief John Agee, Fire Marshal David McCain, and firefighter Jobeth Holmes—came to the bird’s aid.
One of the firefighters poured a little water in a cap. Then, they mixed in some sugar. They gave the bird the mixture, and she quickly drank it up. She seemed to realize the firefighters were trying to help her.
Once the bird was feeling better, she flew off. The firefighters watched, happy they were able to save this tiny life.
“You can teach almost anyone how to be a firefighter, a medic or just about anything imaginable,” the fire department wrote on Facebook. “What is virtually impossible to teach is compassion. We are fortunate that we have a tremendous group in our department that has passion and desire to help, regardless of the situation.”
This isn’t the first time a hummingbird has flown into the station and been unable to find its ways out.
Hummingbirds typically migrate to North and South Carolina in spring and summer. In midsummer, thousands of new hummingbirds come into the area.
Hummingbirds love sugar, and they consume about 50 percent of their body weight in sugar each day. Usually, they get this sugar from nectar and tree sap. To help keep the birds hydrated and healthy, many people in the Carolinas put up hummingbird feeders. In this feeder, they’ll put a solution that’s one part sugar to four parts water.
Because so many hummingbirds migrate to their area, the firefighters are thinking of putting up a hummingbird feeder in their station.
“I think we are going to have to,” T. Melton, the fire station’s assistant, told The Charlotte Observer. “They are finding their way in, but can’t figure out how to exit. They never attended any of our fire prevention programs about having an exit plan.”
These compassionate firefighters quickly dropped everything they were doing to help a tiny little bird that wouldn’t have survived on its own. These firefighters are true heroes!
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