Croatian Firefighters Show the Heart of First Responders as Duty Calls Even During the World Cup

As the 2018 World Cup draws to a close, we often realize that the heart of a champion often doesn't just reside in the realm of sports. Some Zagreb, Croatia firefighters demonstrated this first hand as they were watching the penalty kick to see whether their home country of Croatia would be able to advance to the final match last week. The tension was palpable in the air as these men cheered on their home team. However, as they were enmeshed in the football match, the fire siren went off and no one even hesitated: they all bolted right out of their chairs and immediately sprang to action and rushed to the call, regardless of how the penalty-kick went. At the end, there was only a small handful of people to see that Croatia made a game-winning kick and was able to advance to play against France. There is no questioning the fact this tells us something really interesting about the mindset of first-responders the world over. Here are some points to consider:

They take “to Serve and Protect” seriously.

Whether you are a police officer, paramedic, firefighter, or even the most junior volunteer first responder in a rural area, this is your motto. Throughout the world, that motto—or some variation of it—is present for first responders. As can be seen in the video, they treated a call that came in during the World Cup no different than any other call on any other normal day. They sprang right into action and quickly put on their uniforms and they were out the door in about 30 seconds flat. The fact these men did not even hesitate leads us to our next point.

Although the World Cup is a big deal in Croatia and throughout the continent of Europe as well as most other parts of the world, the duties of these men are much, much more important.

For Croatia, the World Cup is much like the Superbowl or the World Series in the United States or the Stanley Cup in Canada. It's an extremely important event.. However, keeping people safe is something these men take very seriously. These individuals are based and the Croatian city of Zagreb, which has a population of just over 800,000 people. These are all living, breathing Souls who need someone to look after them at times. This is why these first responders exist. They are happy to take this sacrifice, which leads us to our final point about this video.

These individuals make this sacrifice so the lives of the rest of us can continue to be as normal as possible.

It doesn't matter whether you are into coin collecting or stamp collecting, or sporting events such as the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup, or Stanley Cup, these first responders exist to make your life as easy as possible. Thanks to them, we are able to enjoy these big events and know that there are dedicated individuals working behind the scenes to make sure we continue to be safe even on major sporting days like this one. Even though this event happened last week, and even though Croatia went on to lose to France this week, we see in this video a microcosm of what first responders are willing to do on a daily basis. Even though these men are extremely proud of their country, and their football team, they are even more proud of the uniform they wear to a multitude of calls day in and day out. Thank God for these types of individuals! There is just no other way to put it.