Firefighters put out fire, return with turkey dinner

The Boston Herald ^ | November 29, 2008 | Eva Wolchover

[buccaneer81]

Firefighters put out fire, return with turkey dinner The firehouse special By Eva Wolchover Saturday, November 29, 2008 - Updated 16h ago

A Brighton family whose turkey dinner went up in flames Thursday morning learned the true meaning of Thanksgiving when the big-hearted jakes who put out their kitchen fire returned to their home with a scrumptuous holiday meal.

“What do you say to someone who saves your life and then brings you dinner?” asked Alyson Georgopoulos, 23, who was visiting her parents at their Faneuil Gardens apartment in Brighton when the oven caught fire, charring the turkey and much of the kitchen.

After putting out the blaze, firefighters from Engine 29, Ladder 11 returned bearing their own Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing and eight pies - prepared by jakes Yuji Hairston and Tim Goddard back at the Chestnut Hill Avenue station.

“It was just the nicest thing in the world,” said Georgopoulos, who said her mother was moved to tears by the jakes’ generosity.

“My little brother is only 10 and how do you explain to a 10-year-old that we’re not going to have Thanksgiving? It’s good for him to see that there are actually people who care and that are going above and beyond their jobs. It wasn’t their job yesterday to cook us dinner.”

But Boston Fire Chief Dennis Keeley of Ladder 11 said he wasn’t at all surprised by the gesture.

“They’re very giving guys, and they care an awful lot,” he said. “They felt really bad for the family. It really touched them and they wanted to do something about it.”

Keeley said he was proud of the firefighters, who “felt really good about it. It made the guys really happy.”

Firefighter Marco Molina, one of the jakes who responded to the fire, said sharing their meal “was the right thing to do.”

“One of the guys suggested we should give up the turkey, and we all said, ‘Yeah we should.’ ”

Georgopoulos’ mother, Kathy Woods-Georgopoulos, 46, said she and her family plan to do something nice for the firefighters of Ladder 11.

“I cried yesterday, I cried this morning,” she said. “They went out of their way and showed my kids a good lesson. I wish to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I guess that’s what Thanksgiving’s all about. It was a selfless act.”

[buccaneer81]

Some good news for a change. Great example of what the Holidays should be about.

[humblegunner]

Firefighter Marco Molina, one of the jakes who responded to the fire, said sharing their meal “was the right thing to do.”

The author refers to the firefighters as "jakes" at least three times.

That is a very odd writing style.

What the hell does it mean?

[buccaneer81]

Definition as per the Firefighter Terms website.

Jake - A term used to refer to a good firefighter. One story has the term originating from the corruption of the phrase “J-Key”. Years ago, the bed was the most expensive piece of furniture in a dwelling. Since firefighters were not as good at stopping fire as they are today, they would attempt to remove as many belongings as possible. The bed was too large to carry out in once piece and had to be disassembled using a bed key. The key was shaped like the letter J and was called a J-key

[hoagy62]

I just looked up the word in some slang dictionaries I found online.

NONE of the definitions are complimentary.

I have a feeling this is a personal nickname uswed by the author which has a different meaning that usual.

[hoagy62]

Well...there you go.

[B4Ranch]

The term “Jake”, when referenced to firefighting originated in Boston and came from the term “J” Key which came from the shape of the key carried by Fire Dept. members to open the Fire Boxes at street corners, When a fire was detected there was a cry for the “J-Key” which over time got shortened to Jake. Firefighters in Boston are still known as Jakes and the highest form of compliment is to be called a “ Good Jake”.

http://www.firehall.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-3046.html

[Jonx6]

ping

[Sparky1776]

Jake = firefighter, very common term used in Boston.

[nothingnew]

Thank you for posting this. It helps me remember God's gift of grace through people like these "jakes".

FMCDH(BITS)

[Churchillspirit]

Very interesting.

So much to learn at Free Republic!

[6SJ7]

Thanks for posting this story. Nice for a change with all the bad news in the world.

[buffyt]

I think the English language varies a lot across the USA and also varies a lot from USA to England to Australia. Hugh Jackman was on tv and he was giving the names of several food dishes and the words are totally different from USA words.