Matthew Is A Tragic Hero

Matthew is the typical example of all American little boy. The nine-year old is proficient at all things video games and loves riding his bike. He says, “Yes, I like to ride my bike a lot, like a lot!” That’s true, says his mom Syrena Davis. He can be found wearing a t-shirt and shorts sitting atop his bike riding along his neighborhood’s dirt paths or making his way to school most anytime the weather is pretty. That’s exactly what he was doing in fact when tragedy struck.
Matthew and his friend were riding along, crossing an intersection on their way to school. According to Matthew, he didn’t see any cars in the area. Nevertheless, Matthew was struck by a car. The driver of the car said he simply didn’t see the nine-year old. Matthew’s mom says her heart dropped when she got the phone call no parent ever wants to receive, the call that says their child is hurt. She said “I don’t think any parents want to get that call. I didn’t even stop to ask him if he was okay or was anyone hurt. I just went straight over there.”

The firefighters who responded to the call of distress had much the same thoughts when first hearing about the accident.

Ben Rupert, a firefighter with Station 12, says his mind immediately went to the worse possibility when he heard a child was struck while riding a bike. Thankfully, though, Matthew wasn’t critically injured. The injuries to his body were only minor. The damage to his bike; however, was quite significant. Rupert said, “You couldn’t use the bicycle. It was damaged to the point where the tires and breaks were pretty bad.” Another fireman suggested they take Matthew’s bike back to the fire station with them in hopes of fixing it. The bike that was damaged in the accident had been a gift to Matthew at Christmas, so the young boy wanted to save his bike. He was hoping the firemen could work a miracle and repair his

bike.
Although the fire station was able to get a new bike for Matthew thanks to the donations they receive throughout the year, they knew having “his” bike back was important to the boy, so the fireman used parts from the new bike to repair Matthew’s old bike. The end result was Matthew getting his old bike back, good as new.
Matthew’s mom was more than impressed by what the firemen did to help her little boy. She said, “They understood how important it was for a little boy to have his bike. Some little boy, somewhere who got injured in an accident they had nothing to do with, and that’s just simple kindness and I appreciate that.”
Rupert says that the Reno Fire Department he belongs to is always helping out the community. They feel helping little Matthew get his bike back was just another way they could serve. He said, “I think that’s what really makes a very, very good fire department is not what gets the alarm, shows up, does what they have to do. I think the fire department that takes the time to make everyone feel special, get involved in the community; that’s what really makes a great fire department.”
Matthew is now back to being his normal, rambunctious, preaccident self and there is no one who is happier about this than the fire department that made it their goal to restore his bike to him. Matthew said, “Thank you very much!” to the firefighters who took the time to help him and went above and beyond to restore what was destroyed. Although this story started out with tragedy, thanks to the firefighters of the Reno Fire Department, it ended in triumph!