Life Of A Fire-Fighter

What are the most satisfying parts of your job?

The most satisfying part to a firefighter's job is helping people in times of need. That's what I really get out of being a firefighter; certainly now since I've done the youth training as well, is to help some of these young people and perhaps push them in the right direction for their future life. To give them a head start in life is also a fantastic feeling, and very rewarding; very satisfying.

What are the hardest parts of the job?

The hardest part of being a fire-fighter is probably the traumatic situations that we have to deal with sometimes. These can be quite stressful.

What was the most difficult call-out that you've had to deal with?

The most difficult call-out I've had to deal with--there's a number of call-outs I've had to deal with which have been difficult. In fact, every call-out where someone is killed is a difficult call-out. The most call-outs I've been to where I've seen people die are in road traffic crashes and these can be quite horrific sometimes and they are the hardest to deal with especially when young people are involved. You realize that it's just a complete waste of life because they've been driving too fast or they've been drinking. Probably the worst thing I've had to deal with was a mother and daughter wiped out by a drunk driver.

How do you deal with the traumatic situations you witness?

Some of the things that we can witness can be really traumatic. We deal with it in a number of ways. We do have counseling available at work. There's a counselor available 24 hours. But normally once we've attended the incident, we'll all go back to the station, our officer in charge will sit down with us and we'll talk about the incident. And normally that is where it stops. We sit there and have a chat with each other. We talk about what we've seen and that normally helps the situation immensely.But if we do need to have counseling and go further, that is available to us.

Does being a Fire-Fighter make you more paranoid about fire safety?

I wouldn't say it makes me paranoid. But it certainly, I always make sure that I unplug my electrical appliances and make sure doors are shut. So that when I go on holiday and if I'm staying in a hotel and I take my children with me, I make sure I know where the fire exits are. I often walk through my exit routes so I know I can get out of the building. I also drive a lot slower as a result of being a fire-fighter.

Is being a Fire-Fighter a glamorous job?

I certainly wouldn't say being a firefighter is a glamorous job, and we certainly do have a stigma attached to being in the fire service. Being a firefighter is a great job, and I certainly wouldn't say it's glamorous. Some of the things we firefighters have to see and deal with, there's certainly no glamour involved in that whatsoever.

Do you find that people treat you differently when you're in uniform?

Certainly when we're in uniform, people do treat us differently-we can be driving around in our fire engine through housing estates and children come out and wave at us, mums often wave at us, and people talk to us, come up to us in the street when we're in uniform and chat to us, and we can normally get away with a lot of things, raising money for charity and stuff. We can walk into a shop walk in uniform and blag prizes and stuff like that to help raise money, and certainly I do find people are different when we're in uniform.

Is being a Fire-Fighter a hit with the opposite sex?

Being a Fire-Fighter is certainly a hit with the opposite sex and sometimes the same sex as well. It's a uniform thing. Women for some reason love a man in uniform and, for some reason, they love a Fire-Fighter uniform better than anything else.

Have you ever been asked to appear in a calendar?

I have been asked to appear in a calendar. I was Mr. July 23 of the firefighters' calendar. Very proud moment in my life.

What's the funniest thing that's happened during a call-out?

The funniest thing. There's loads of things that happen on call outs which are funny. Probably the funniest thing that happened to was when I first joined the fire service we went down to Lee Wharf to practice digging someone out from mud. I was the new boy at the time, so they dug a hole, buried me in it up to my waist, and then left me. They all drove off and left me there for about a half-hour, standing in the mud up to my waist. People were coming up to me asking if I was all right. That's probably the funniest thing that's happened to me.

What's the most unusual thing you've had to do as a Fire-Fighter?

There's numerous, numerous things I've been asked to do as a fire-fighter that were unusual. Probably the most unusual call-out was to attend to a fish that was drowning. An angler had caught a fish and got it stuck in a lily pad and we had to go out and try and rescue it.

Do you get many hoax call-outs?

We get lots of hoax call-outs. Sometimes we have spates of hoax call-outs. I was on duty one night when we had 12 in one evening and were running around from phonebox to phonebox to phonebox. And yes, different areas have different problems with hoax calls.

What are the consequences of hoax call-outs?

The consequences of hoax calls are quite serious, really, because while we're running around attending the hoax call, which normally is just from a pay phone, if someone was to have a real fire, they may be three or four minutes down the road from our station, and we're the other side of town. And they then have to wait for the next appliance to return, to attend the incident, which could be ten minutes away. So the consequences are very serious indeed.

Have you ever been attacked while trying to do your job?

I personally have never been attacked by the general public while attending a job. But there are certain areas in Essex where we have had trouble with youths throwing stones; setting fires to attract a fire engine to turn up, and then they will ambush with stones, bricks. But now, what's happening is we're dealing with this by going down, talking to the youths, getting them to come and visit the station, involving the police as well, and situations have calmed down a lot.

Do you form a close bond with the other members of your brigade?

The bond between other members of a fire brigade is certainly strong, especially in the area where I work. We work very close with three or four stations in my area, and we know everyone by first name, we know all the members by first name. We often go out drinking together. The members of my watch, we have a very big bond, and it's like a family, really. We will talk to each other about problems in our lives. We can all help each other. It's one of the good parts of being in the fire brigade.