KILTED FIREFIGHTER FIGHTS FIRE

LONGMEADOW, Mass.- Motorists stuck in traffic stared in disbelief as an off-duty firefighter in a kilt rushed to help a police trooper douse a car fire.

"I looked up and saw this guy running toward me carrying a fire extinguisher," said state Trooper David Prussman. "At first, I thought he was some kind of freak."

Pat Gallo, an Enfield, Conn., firefighter, takes part in a bagpipe band and was on his way to a Veterans Day parade last Wednesday morning. He said he didn't think twice about his getup as he saw the trooper in trouble on Interstate 91.

"You don't think about it. You do what you were trained to do," he said. "The officer was trying to put out the fire by himself. No one else was around."

The three people in the two cars that crashed weren't seriously injured. After helping them, the skirted Samaritan was gone.

After all, Gallo had an appointment. At 11 a.m. he was banging on his bass drum as he marched with the Springfield Kiltie bagpipe band in the Springfield Veterans Day Parade.