Firefighters Fan Holiday Spirit at Burn Center

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Raleigh firefighters were on a critical mission Wednesday, rushing a truckload of supplies to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

"I think this is the true meaning of Christmas," said Jan Parker, fire and life safety educator for the Raleigh Fire Department.

The department has been catering a holiday feast for burn patients and their families for the past 10 years.

"It's a way for us to give back to people who have been through an awful lot over the past year," Fire Chief John McGrath said.

"It just makes you get, you know, emotional about it because it's something (where) everybody comes together," said Bobbi Sanders, whose grandfather is in the burn center.

The firefighters sang Christmas songs and passed out stuffed stockings to young patients.

"Maybe they feel the love and concern that we have for them," Parker said.