Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Fire elves

I drew this guy for the 2004 kids Christmas card. I liked him well enough that he's made his way into every kids card since.





This is a modified version of the same elf. He was originally exhorting his viewers to test their smoke alarms.





I drew this card for fun and ended up using it as my 2003 card to firefighters and friends. It's a little goofy, but it fit my mood that year.







Saturday, December 12, 2009

Firefighters can be a superstitious lot. I wrote an article about some of these traditions and superstitions, which you may have read already. This next cartoon was intended to go with the article, but never made it to the web site.



Customer service is important, even in the fire service. The concept that firefighters need to treat people as our customers was popularized by Alan Brunacini, former chief of Phoenix Fire Department. I had my say on the subject, then drew this cartoon to make fun of the folks out there that just want to make a buck.





I think all firefighters join the service because they want to help people, and the stereotypical way to do this is to save lives and property. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out the way we'd like it to. The number of fatalities Upsala has responded to is roughly equal to the number of rescues, and the number of houses burned to the ground far exceeds the number that we've saved. It isn't because we're slow or unskilled - it's just the nature of the problem we face. I wrote an article about giving the public a dose of reality, then drew this cartoon to help us laugh at the dilemma.