For more than a decade, I have had the honor of working for the city of Fort Worth. As chief of staff and now as mayor, I have seen daily examples of our incredible employees, true public servants. In the Park Department, the Water Department or Transportation and Public Works, each person is dedicated to making our community better.

Then, there are days when I witness heroism in action — when decades of training, drills and preparation for the worst possible scenario becomes real-life in the face of an emergency.

When an explosion tore through the Sandman Signature Hotel on Monday, we all witnessed heroes take action. The Fort Worth fire and police department, the city marshal division and Medstar were on the scene within minutes. Without knowing whether they were entering a burning building, whether the explosion was intentional, or whether the structural integrity of the building was sound, these men and women jumped immediately to save lives.

People like Police Officer Joseph Ford, who was among the first to arrive and immediately conducted a radiation test to ensure there wasn’t a bomb threat. Lt. Donna York, first from the Fire Department on the scene, calmly began treating victims while relaying details to responding units on the radio. Cmdr. Chris Daniels was off duty and carpooling his kids when he heard about the blast, but he quickly dropped them off with his wife so he could rush to the site.

Countless stories like these, along with the videos and photographs we’ve seen since Monday, are a startling reminder that anything can happen at any moment. It’s first responders who run toward danger to save our lives when the moments we fear most hit in full force.

Almost as if it was a platitude, I have said over and over again that the foundation of any world-class city, one where people can live prosperously, raise their families and make a place their home, is all built on the foundation of strong public safety. But truly it is our reality. The investments made by taxpayers and the policy decisions by elected and staff leadership to support our police, fire fighters, and paramedics is what has built the success of Fort Worth. We see it especially in our most challenging times, and we should be thankful.

I’m humbled that on Saturday, I’ll ride in the lead wagon with Fire Chief Jim Davis, Police Chief Neil Noakes, and other first responders in the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo parade downtown. While crews are still working around the clock to help clear and investigate the explosion area, the parade was re-routed so we could move forward with a tradition that dates to 1896. In part, because that’s what we do in Fort Worth — we honor, adapt and press on stronger.

I am confident that our downtown will heal and rebound better than ever. I hope that you’ll help support the businesses that were affected as they are able to reopen, and please thank the many business owners who stepped up to provide meals and support for our first responders. That’s our city at its best.

In recent days, we have been able to reflect on how fortunate we are that the incident was not worse, but no doubt there have been devastating effects. We continue to pray especially for healing for the critically injured victim, Maite Karen Lopez, and her family.

Knowing that many more people were not injured in part because there were few people in the building, the hotel restaurant had not yet opened and the street was not busy with holiday visitors — these are absolutely blessings.

But sometimes, it is not enough to lean on luck. Sometimes, we also need to thank our heroes. Thank them for being there to do the hardest work. I certainly will, and I hope the almost 1 million people who call Fort Worth home today will join me.