A Christmas saved, thanks to Fort Worth firefighters

In the days leading up to Christmas, Fort Worth fire crews were busy in more ways than one, battling blazes, and beating Santa to deliver presents.

On Sunday, Dec. 22, firefighters responded to a house fire off Weber Street at 4:45 a.m.

"We arrived and found a one-story wood frame house that had fire pretty much coming out of the roof the windows the doors," said Captain Cleve Brunson of Fire Station 12.

They met the family — safe — in the front yard before entering to put the fire out.

"I noticed in the corner of the living room a wire frame that was once a Christmas tree and all of my guys pointed it out, and it kind of touched us that they’d just lost everything so close to Christmas," Brunson said.

So, when they got back to the fire station, his team decided to pool their money together.

“Our wives got involved and they wanted to help and so they did most of the shopping and wrapping," he said.

They were able to get everything together before their next shift: Christmas Eve.

Brunson said they loaded up their trucks and dropped off gifts to the parents and their two little girls.

“We all have families, and we were all planning on coming home today and celebrating with our families," Brunson said. "It just meant a lot for us to be able to try to help a family that just lost everything out a little bit."

At the same time, another crew was helping another Fort Worth family whose house was badly burned a couple of days before, on Friday, Dec. 20, around 4 a.m.

"One of our firefighters there reached out to some local businesses and then was able to get some donations through them and then our charity, as well," said Mike Drivdahl, president of the Fort Worth Firefighter Charities.

The group was established about 10 years ago, said Drivdahl, to make official what first responders had always been doing: Helping the community out of their own pockets.

“The firefighters would come back to the station, they’d put a coffee can in the middle of the table and they’d all reach into their pockets and collect money," Drivdahl said.

Now, they contribute to the charity, which does A/C giveaways, backpack giveaways, and help for families affected by fires.

“It’s not for our firefighters, it’s not for fire department equipment or anything like that, it’s for our communities," he said.

The group helped families of both fires.

“We know the pain that they’re going through and we want to be able to just say ‘Hey, we’re not only here to respond to your emergency, but we’re here to respond afterwards, as well,'" Drivdahl said.

Brunson said that's because it's not just the spirit of Christmas that drives them, it's the spirit of their jobs.

"Pretty proud of my crew specifically for stepping up, but I think there's 45, 46 stations in the city of Fort Worth, and I think that if that scenario would have played out any one of them they had done very similar things, so it's a great fire department and a great group of guys," he said.

You can contribute to Fort Worth Firefighter Charities here.