By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—There are some people in the world who brighten the day with their positive energy. This is the type of person Nick Bridges is to the Pelham Fire Department.

Nick has been a regular fixture at the Pelham YMCA and the Texas Roadhouse for the past four years, and he brings his positive attitude and friendly nature with him to work everyday.

“Nick knows everybody,” Nick’s mother, Kay Bridges said. “He loves all the people (he works with) and he enjoys meeting all of the people at the YMCA.”

Although Nick knows a lot of people, he means something special to the firemen at the Pelham Fire Department who he has befriended over the years.

“We go to the YMCA while we’re on duty to workout, and Nick is always in there” Pelham fire captain Tim Honeycutt said. “We befriended him because he is a very special young man.”

“He’s just a good kid,” Pelham fire-medic John Meredith said. “He always comes out to greet our truck.”

On April 22, the firefighters presented Nick with his own personalized fire helmet, complete with a shield bearing his name.

“We had given him a ball cap, and he wears it everyday. The hat meant a lot, I thought maybe a helmet would mean more,” Meredith said. “A helmet is the traditional symbol of firefighters, and I wanted to get him something special.”

Meredith found the helmet in storage at a small firehouse near Wetumpka, Ala. He and Honeycutt worked to clean up the helmet and order a shield for it.

Nick was given the helmet during a small ceremony with his friends from the fire department, his YMCA coworkers and his mother.

“It was very sweet,” Kay said of the ceremony, adding Nick was “thrilled to death” by the helmet.

“It was the best thing he’s ever gotten,” she said.

Since then, Nick has kept the helmet close until he and his mother can find a hook to hang it on his wall, Kay said.

“He’s such a motivation,” Meredith said of Nick. “He’s positive not matter what.”