Florida firefighters' good deed for member of 'greatest generation' goes viral

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. (FOX 13) - The fire department in a small Florida town is getting some big attention for a good deed.

Thursday afternoon, firefighters in High Springs, Florida - a town of 6,000 people north of Gainesville - responded to an elderly woman's home because her Life Alert emergency alarm had been activated. It turned out to be an accident and she was fine, but the firefighters didn't leave right away.

One of the crews noticed that the woman - whom they pointed out was a "member of 'The Greatest Generation'" - lived alone and often received meals from the Meals on Wheels program, which arrive frozen. But her microwave was broken, leaving her no way to heat them up.

"After learning this, the crew of Squad 29 reported directly to Lowe's Home Improvement and purchased this young lady a new microwave, promptly returned to her residence, installed it, and cooked her dinner," the department explained in a Facebook post. "In Small Town USA, neighbors help neighbors."

The department's post has since gone viral, shared over 16,000 times and earning over 45,000 'likes' at the time of writing.

Many of the hundreds of Facebook commenters were chuckling at the note appended to the end of the post, pointing out that the strapping firefighter seen in the photo is actually engaged - "sorry ladies!"

"All the guys working tonight are spoken for," the department added in response to comments. "Try tomorrow."

LINK: See the full post

FOX 13 reported this story from Tampa.