This blog will be a little more personal than the rest. If you ever thought about doing something to help the community and firefighting now interests you then do it. It was incredibly rewarding and at times tough but it pays off in the end. There is no feeling like knowing you contributed to saving somebodys house or even their life.
It is also full of excitement , one second you can be watching tv and the next you are running into a building trying to rescue a victim. You just never know what to expect but you must also be ready. It certainly isnt a job for the weak because of what we do and see every single day but that is something you must understand going into the job.
If you want to make a difference then join the department for the right reasons.
Firefighters by definition do in fact fight fire but that is not where their job stops. We as firemen must partake in rescues, car accidents, bomb threats, and even medical calls. The most terrifying for me is by far the car accidents. You just do not know what you are going to pull up too it could be brains splattered across the road or it could be a fender bender. That is why it is crucial at all times to be prepared for the worst. This is what seperates the men from boys as they say because some people realize this job is not for them when they have to encounter something like that.
Most car accidents we either respond to clean up fluid spills or to extricate someone in which case we use a tool commonly known as the jaws of life. In essence these are gigantic and extremely powerful pliers and scissors that can rip through just about anything. It is also crucial that we use stabilization tools to keep the car from moving around which ensures our safety and the patients.
BE READY FOR ANYTHING
By far car accidents are my least favorite calls to respond to for the simple reason they can rattle your emotions for weeks after or they can change you forever. Its important to put your feelings aside for a minute and do the job at hand.
Firefighting sadly is not only glory there is a lot that goes on behind closed doors that the public never sees. This blog is similiar to the Historical Fires one but a more personal look at how hard being a firefighter is some days. The hardest part may not even be building up the courage to run into a building to save someone else that is the easy and fun part. What takes the most guts is having to ability to talk to a mother while firefighters try to rescue her baby out of a second story window. Or maybe even talking to a person trapped in a car after an accident asking if his/her son in the passenger seat is alive when you know already he is not. This sends chills through your body even imagining this situation . There is no way to forget it, you will hear the voice of the person for months afterwards. Dealing with this is part of the job if you cant do it then you should look for something else because death is a huge part of this job. Whether youre seeing a person dead after a fire or accident or have to witness one of your own die, maybe even because of fault of your own. Firefighters must stay remain without emotion which is almost impossible to do with friends and families of their own. Watch this video about real life hardships that these firefighters have dealt with....
This next video is a tribute to the 9 Charleston South Carolina Firemen who died fighting a fire.
You can sit here all day saying this shouldnt have happened but in reality the only way to deal with it is acceptance and that is crucial in this line of work.
For those of you who do not know Three Rivers Fire Department is a small town volunteer department located inside of Palmer in Western Mass. We consist of about 30 firefighters ranging in age from 18-80. Many of you may not know about firefighting or maybe you have built some strong opinions because of a personal experience. I hope to help to inform you about our department as well as give you a better understanding of firefighting in general and hopefully get you on our side. We also hope to get you interested so maybe you yourself will be interested in assisting your community by firefighting or anything for that matter.
Firefighting is a very high risk occupation because our goal is to save property, life , and each other. We have countless hours of special trainings to prepare us for that one instance that one moment when we will have to make a quick decision which could mean life or death for us and the people around us. Misconception about us is we just get there and run in and start putting water on the fire or start ripping parts off of cars. In reality there is much more going on than what you see. We must first size up our situation and find out all the facts about the fires behavoir as well as the extent and severity of the situation. We are usually carrying about 75 pounds of gear around with us which makes being in shape crucial to get the job done. There is no feeling like when the tones go off and you have to leave your house and get on a fire truck and respond to a call. It makes you feel badass as well as good on the inside for knowing you helped somebody that day. Wether you helped them get a cat from a tree or pulled them from a burning building.
Heres a video showing what we do.....
Does this make us look badass?
If you have any interest in helping the community you should consider joining the local fire department...
For many reasons but most importantly the ladies love it http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_a_fire_department_do
This link is a great description of what we do as firefighters
Why join you ask check out this link http://new.hcdps.com/faq.html
Please post comments with any questions you may have about our department or our job as firefighters..
