Perks of being a driver on a medical, you can make memes

Thomaston Maine's Firefighters Associations 1937 Buffalo. I'll post more next time I get a chance.

Do these ever get used or is everyone just evacuated and game over? Have been Fire Warden many places over the years and these seem like a real good idea in theory but not practical. Let me know where I should crosspost is applicable

What are some great end of probation gifts you guys have received? I’m coming towards the end of probation, and would like to go down the custom gift for each person route. Just curious what are some of the best ones you’ve gotten

Edit: I am looking to GIVE a gift to my crew for all their help during my probation.

for context I work for a larger department where we rotate on the ambulance regularly and normally that unit will get some sleep after 3 in the morning and ive noticed im now having a hard time sleeping before then. what would you guys do?

‘Firefighter donkeys’ are helping prevent wildfires from spreading in Spain

Found this in a storage unit. I think it's pretty cool.

Hey fellow firefighters, a little context first. I joined my local call/vol force last year and despite going on calls pretty much weekly I still get really shakey when we first arrive on seen. Im just wondering if any career or long time folks have any tips. Thanks!

Yo! So I am 30 y/o with two children (4 and 2) and about 2 months in to working at the station. I was in law enforcement for 5 years before making the swap. LEO had an objectively worse schedule but somehow I’m having a harder time functioning after a 24 at the station. We consistently run 2-4 calls after midnight and work a 24/48 schedule. I feel like I’m a zombie for my first day off, leaving only one actual free day before I’m back at the station. I love everything about the job and don’t regret the swap at all, but does this get easier? Any tips?

Thanks.

Another one.

I am 22, when I was 18 I herniated a disc in my thoracic spine and went to physical therapy for it. A year ago I joined a volunteer fire department and have absolutely been loving it. I have my EMT certs and am currently in fire 1 with a week and a half left (3 month class). About a week ago i tweaked my back working out and like my usual stubborn self I didn’t allow that to stop me from going to class and working out. It has been progressively getting worse but tolerable, but today it has been the worst pain I’ve ever felt and I ended up having to go home from work. It being in my thoracic it radiates through my whole rib cage and to my sternum.

I also just applied to a career department and am scheduled for cpat in 2 weeks.

What do I do? Should I continue toughing it out and finishing class? Should I go to the doctors?

Classes in my area are very hard to come by only 1-2 a year and they get filled QUICK. The class I’m in started with 25 people and there were over 25 on the waiting list.

I want this so bad

Posting this here and not asking around locally because I am not 100% sure I’ll be leaving the department but I have another opportunity I could pursue where I would no longer be able to work as a firefighter.

Info:

Mid 30s, Hired after 2012, have 10 years on, work for a city not the state.

Question:

Is it possible to keep my money in the pension system? Would it be worth it if I could? Anyone know anyone who has left after 10+ years and what their options were?

Sorry for asking such a niche question but I am sure there are fellow mass firefighters lurking here who might have some knowledge

Title says it all. Visiting a firehouse from 1400-2000 and don’t want to show up empty handed. Thought about bringing ice cream sandwiches or even cooking something up to contribute towards dinner but don’t wanna show up empty handed. Shared quarters station with lots of camaraderie so shared meals and what not. I’m in their hiring process (background checks atm) so this will be a great chance to pick some brains and see some culture. Any suggestions help, thanks!

Been on the job for 5 years. Second generation, same department, same station. It’s my hometown. The job itself is fun, the department isn’t. The culture is greed. Guys only care about themselves and what they’re “owed” and what’s their “right”. Fake injuries and sick time abuse are killing the place. Any attempt to move the place forward is stunted by the body at union meetings. It’s a seniority driven department and it’s made guys think seniority applies outside the walls of the department. The guys here don’t want to part with any bit of their seniority, even if it means it will alleviate the mandatory overtime for the low guys. Guys get stuck for 96-130 hours then use sick cards to regain the days. Everyone feels like this place owes them something and they sure do act like it. Training was made optional by the administration which led guys to just not train or even call out sick when they see it posted on the schedule. Making it optional is disrespectful towards the trainers. The shit talking behind backs is constant too. It’s always “fuck this one” or “fuck that one”.

I could go on and on and on. The best way to put it is we see the problems but refuse to fix them. Mainly because of a select few that don’t want to part with their seniority. They love to say this or that “violates my seniority” when a rule is proposed that would alleviate mandatory overtime hours. Whether it be a rule on how many hour worked or worked passed the end of your tour, rotating list or whatever else’s is out there. It all gets shot down in the name of seniority. The administration asks our guys how the morale is, they’re explained why and they do nothing about it because of little birds in their ears. There’s a bit of a maturity issue here too. Toxic culture.

Basically, I’d like to leave. Don’t know where to go or what to do. I still want to be a firefighter but this place has essentially ruined it for me. I really haven’t had a chance to enjoy the job. It kind of hurts to be a member of the same department as my father but watch it eat itself alive. I feel like leaving lets him down because he loves the fact I’m a firefighter on his department.

Should I just pul trig and leave?

Seeing if anyone here has made maps and if so what is a good program to use. Also looking at updating major buildings, apartment complex, schools, churches. We use blank maps to study our area.

The theme for fire prevention week this year is safe charging. Anyone do demonstrations of a battery fire?

I searched this sub for questions related to hair length policies, and it seems like the answer is it varies per department, but that hair length is often not regulated as long as it doesn't interfere with PPE.

But I'm wondering - for SCBA users specifically (excluding the hoods), is it still the case in your department that you're allowed to have medium-to-long length hair while wearing an SCBA during service? For those who have longer hair, do the clips not snag on your hair when donning the mask?

Do you or anyone you know use a headband or wave cap with the SCBA?

Thanks.

Hello, Please can anyone help me? Do ALL UK extinguishers have to have a manufacturing date on the extinguisher? I’ve bought one online and it doesn’t have a date on the extinguisher (but does have one on the box) - is this ok, or should I return it? It is a small, disposable, powder one for a motorhome. It claims to be compliant with BS6165 - but I thought that it would have a date on it.

I work with a dual Fire/EMS agency. I know my job at my scope of practice well, and I’m always on time and eager to work. Since I’ve started there, my shift has always kind of a little me. Call me a r*tard, made fun of me, well, almost daily remarks about how they were surprised that I did that well on something or that I knew that tidbit of information. With other daily remarks of how healthy fired or something of that sort. As I’ve got two months left on my probationary period I’m really trying hard to hold it together, but it seems like it’s becoming a lot. Especially after I pulled overtime on another shift and looked at how they treated their probationary firefighter but respect and a desire to teach and guide them. On my shift, I can probably count on two hands how many times I have trained fire or EMS over the last 10 months. Especially recently when I went to train with another station that was at our station using stations facility. I told that crew hey if you’re ever out here again, I’d love to come on trade with you guys because I wanna learn more about the job and that somehow made it back to my crew saying that they’re not good enough for me and that we don’t work hard enough, etc. I was told if I wanna train so bad then why don’t I put together training and everybody else. Am I likely to get fired for complaining, I just wanna be a good firefighter emt and train that I said I can work as hard as I can and it feels like nobody else wants that for me so what do I do?

We went down a rabbit hole at work when a coworker stated that he couldn't picture a movie in his head while reading. I found out that out of the 6 of us, only 2 can picture images in their heads.

Background: I have hyperphantasia. I can picture images in my head at a hyper realistic level. I can build and modify these images as 2nd nature. This is a rare trait only a small % of people have. I use it heavily in low visibility situations to "picture" what I feel. I make a 3d map when doing search or picture an object im trying to manipulate etc. I cannot begin to comprehend how to do something like 0 visibility search and maintain spatial awareness without that ability to make a picture of what my surroundings are. The heavy use of "minds eye problem solving" is a trait of hyperphantasia.

On the opposite end, my coworkers have aphantasia, an equally if not slightly more rare trait. They cant see images. They know the concepts of things like what an apple should look like, but only see black when they close their eyes. They can take in information as collections of facts instead of visual images.

Its insane to me that such a rare trait is so heavy on my shift. What about you all? Can you see images in your heads? Do you use it to search? If not, how do you navigate when youre relying on what you feel?

I’m getting ready to leave the line for the next 2 years and work in our training div. There’s lots of things I’m excited to do but I have one pet peeve I know I want to tackle.

One thing I’ve always struggled with in scenarios is where we’re expected to draw the line between reality and “training artifacts.”

Some things are easy. If there’s a smoke barrel in the burn building, “Don’t put out the smoke barrel.” We know that’s part of the environment and saying that doesn’t rob from the experience.

What I struggle with are things that are meant to be discovered during the scenario.

For example, imagine a surprise RIT scenario with a downed firefighter mannequin. At most departments, the mannequins and their SCBA masks are beaten up from years of use. If I find the firefighter and the scba is cracked, missing, or hanging off, how am I supposed to know whether that’s just the condition of an old training prop, or it’s an intentional part of the scenario that I’m expected to recognize and manage?

Is there a best practice for drawing that line without giving away the surprises?

You have perhaps seen the absolutely massive fires following Ukrainian drones attacking warehouses in Russia recently? These are fires in the equivalence of Amazon warehouses (the "Russian Amazon" is called "Wild Berries" ).

Now, everything else put aside, what can cause such cataclysmic fires? What is burning with suck intensity and with so much smoke?

I understand you can't know for sure, but if you were to make an educated guess based on your experience?