Volunteer Firefighters

One dark night outside a small town, a fire started inside the local
chemical plant. Before long it exploded into flames and an alarm went
out
to fire departments from miles around. After fighting the fire for
over an
hour, the chemical company president approached the fire chief and
said,
"All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the
plant.
They must be saved! I will give $50,000 to the engine company that
brings
them out safely!"


As soon as the chief heard this, he ordered the firemen to strengthen
their attack on the blaze. After two more hours of attacking the fire,
president of the company offered $100,000 to the engine company that
could
bring out the company's secret files. From the distance a long siren
was
heard and another fire truck came into sight. It was a local volunteer
fire company composed entirely of men over 65.


To everyone's amazement the little fire engine raced through the
chemical
plant gates and drove straight into the middle of the inferno. In the
distance the other firemen watched as the old timers hopped off of
their
rig and began to fight the fire with an effort that they had never
seen
before.


After an hour of intense fighting the volunteer company had
extinguished
the fire and saved the secret formulas. Joyous, the chemical company
president announced that he would double the reward to $200,000 and
walked
over to personally thank each of the volunteers. After thanking each
of the
old men individually, the president asked the group what they intended
to
do with the reward money. The fire truck driver looked him right in
the eye
and said, "The first thing we're going to do is fix the dang brakes on
that
truck!"