City firefighters ably demonstrated on Thursday how fortunate that Franklin is to have such an efficient team to quell flames and respond to other emergency situations.

Yesterday afternoon, a fire of unknown origin began to consume the inside of a building on North Main Street. Mere minutes after the call came in, there was the team, which was soon joined by firefighters from Hunterdale and later by Boykins. The volunteers from those two departments, as well as any others who soon showed up, are also a credit to their localities. It’s a visible example of neighbors helping neighbors.

At the time of writing this editorial, there were no reported injuries from either the building occupants or the firefighters themselves.

As mentioned above, the cause of the fire was still undetermined as of this writing. But that’s largely because the teams were then still busy working to put out the blaze. We know they’ll find the cause soon enough.

We should also pass along to residents that when firefighters and other first responders are doing their jobs, don’t hang around to see what’s what.

Moving to get a closeup view is not only distracting to crews, but you’re also putting yourself at risk of injury.

Again, a tip of the fire hat to our local firefighters. They always do their part willingly and well.