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Andrew Kuiken

by Claire from Loveland

The Berthoud Recorder
The Berthoud Recorder

  Heroes are everywhere, any person, even you can be a hero to someone. What makes a hero truly a hero? Some say that it is courage, kindness, bravery, or selflessness, but I say it is all in the heart of the hero and what he is called to do. Although there are many known heroes, my hero is my dad, Andrew J. Kuiken.

   Bravery is a big part of heroism, everyone has bravery bestowed in them. Andrew has to have a large amount of bravery to do his job, fire fighting. For example, in the middle of the night they ran a call, they were second to the scene. He and his crew heard over their radios that the seconded floor was burning out, the stairs were gone, and there might have been someone trapped on the second floor of the house. He was a lieutenant at the time, he and his firefighter through a ladder up to the second floor and they climbed up through a bedroom window. In the building it was about 900 degrees Fahrenheit they ducked and dived into several rooms, then got onto the roof. As they got onto the roof the whole second floor flashed over.  They could have died in that situation, leaving me and my mom behind, but he had to do his job, make sure no one was trapped and to put the fire out. 

One time was when he was in training everything inside of him was telling him to get out of the flashover simulator. It was so hot it started to melt my grandpa's face mask, he too was inside the simulator training my dad. If they had opened the door to get out they could have hurt the whole crew, but they didn't. He had to go against his instincts to train, to keep people safe, and to get to a higher level of bravery. 

Another time was when he and one of his firefighters were inside a building and they were going up the stairs to stop the fire up there. Andrew felt something wasn't right, he told his firefighter to come down right now. As they got down to the main level, and got outside, and then the whole second story exploded, it had been arson
.

Slurry plane (Facebook. Andrew Kuiken)
Slurry plane (Facebook. Andrew Kuiken)

Selflessness, a characteristic a hero must have as many people say. To be selfless you need to know your passion, like Andrew.  Risking his life for others is the main part of his job. The best examples I can think of was High Park Fire in Estes Park Colorado and Reservoir Road. During Reservoir Road he was recruited to fight the wild land fire. His small crew from Berthoud Fire was at the doorstep of a really big house. The fire was very close. They had made the house as fire resistant as they could, chopping down trees, clearing away brush, and digging fire trenches. The fire roared closer every minute that passed, then they heard a different roar, the roar of engines on a slurry plane. As the plane passed by it dropped bright red slurry all over the fire and firefighters, the fire was gone from that small area around the house. During that fire he had to put himself in danger, and his crew. Though that is a big part of his job, he does it courageously at every turn ready to serve. At that time he had to put himself in danger just by going to fight. He did it anyways. During High Park, my dad helped many many people. One time he was just outside of Estes in Colorado and the fire was on the other side of the road from businesses and my dad was having to strain to get the fire away from the businesses. He had help those business owners keep their storefronts, he had to take the chance to save the businesses.

Determination a huge part of heroism. A wild land fire was roaring through the area, my dad had been called to the scene the fire was heading towards a huge, couple hundred thousand dollar house. His crew and him were unsure of whether or not to try to save the house. They were apprehensive at first, but they decided to go for it. The fire was roaring closer with every minute passing. Andrew was on his radio calling in all available aircraft to come and help them. Finally the fire had reached the doorstep of the house. They were about to give up but then they heard a plane. It was a slurry plane. The plane dumped a huge amount of slurry on the fire and the fire went out.

Andrew trains and trains for all scenarios all the time. Then one type of training was put to use, a guy had rolled his truck 8 times and was pinned underneath it. Their crew trains all the time for these scenarios. The training really paid off on this call, they were there, rescuing, and loading the patient in just 11 minutes.

Facebook (Andrew Kuiken)
Facebook (Andrew Kuiken)

Things can get pretty rough on scene, everything goes by fast. Who knows where Andrew will go in the future but wherever he goes he will still be my hero, still be my dad, and still be a great parent. This is my hero, now who is yours?

Page created on 3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

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