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Best regards, Rant Boss.
We're discussing times have changed for the better
i came aboard in 1979 when the shit was really hitting the fan here in freeport.the town was burning and being young in the fd at that time was just crazy.partying like there was no tomorrow,living in the fire house for 3 years and calls out the ass.when i look back at the fires we fought and the condition we were in some times i can only say by the grace of god.my company only had 4 scotts at that time,the 4.5s were just coming around.you were lucky if you had gloves,no bunkers,boots never pulled up,and we would wonder why we got burned all the time.the shit we did on the fire ground and in the firehouse would get you tossed out now.the fire load was at its highest in freeport from 77-87.in january 1981 we had 32 sig.10s.that year we were in the area of 125 for the calender year.back than we also had boxes in town and would run all the time for box calls.folks would pull them for everything,wrecks,stabbings,family fights ,pranks or a drunk looking for a ride.still alarms back in those days would average about 75 per.month.dumpstres,brush,garbage,cars.rehab at a fire back in those days consisted of cold beer on the fireground,or the cold weather meant breaking out the booze from the glove box.my how times have changed,and certainlly for the better.we do less fires in a year now than we did in 1 month in 81, we have as many car fires in a year that we would do in a month,no more call boxes just automatic alarms now.everyone has a mask that goes in,everyone has proper gear,no more drunken fools(i was one of them,trust me)accountabilitty system,proper rehab and a much safer working attitude.with all of the advances in technology and safety improvements things are better now for the troops.there is however a trade off.the members,esspecially the folks with less than 10 years in just havent had the same exposure to fires that we had.that hurts sometimes on the fireground.thats not their fault times have changed.so its our jobs as senior men to continue to share with them what weve learned.i thinks its harder now in our dept.with the down turn in fires to keep the newer members in the game.but for their safety and well being i welcome the change.as for us older guys we are still there,plugging away,we just arent tanked and are properlly geared now.thank god,gets old nursing burned ears,hands and knees,stay low and stay safe.
Very good story. Yeah, how did we manage to stay alive those years. Every truck in the winter had a bottle of blackberry brandy. The old turnout coats had the buckles on the outside. They would freeze when you were near water spray. You would have to pour "a little" booze on the buckles to thaw them out. Good excuse to have the stuff on board.
That has got to be one of the best posts that I think that I have seen on this Rant. Very well put without sounding obnoxious or condescending. Nice job jbone.
You are right about the lack of fire duty today and how that affects the development of newer members.
I always say that I'm glad I caught the tail end of the REAL carefree days of the Volunteer service, (I got in in 1984) like j.bone stated...there are so many little things that the newer guys will never know about....like counting the bells in the firehouse and reading the tape for the box calls, (and by the way the false alarms from auto alarms far out number the false street boxes we would get), reading the box # and heading for the box when another company would pass you going the other way cause somebodies probie read the tape backwards...was that box 214 or 412...oh, oh!!! Don't worry about putting gear on before you get on the truck, just get on, put it on while you ride.....the side or back step! Coming back from a run on a winter night at 3am and your face is numb from the cold after riding on the outside of the truck, and the opposite coming home from fire school on a warm Summer night using the spot lights on the truck back step to knock out the street light sensors on Old County Road. Pull up boots and fireball gloves, hand me down leather new yorkers that were painted over 20 times and salty as all hell....plus you didnt have to replace them every few years according to OSHA ...oh yeah what was OSHA back then? Required fire school classes were all shorter and the fire load in town was a lot bigger. Seems like rows of tax payers and commercial fires were a common thing somewhere in the county every week. Damn those sprinkler systems. It seemed like there was always a party going on at some firehouse each Sunday. You would arrive at 9 and get home at 6....back then just take the house phone off the hook....did'nt have to worry about being tracked down with cell phones, beepers and nextel chirps. Soda taps were Beer taps and the ball breaking for the rookies (me at the time) seemed a bit more breaking. Anyone remember the Bugs? and the fear you had getting sworn in??? They were gonna get you heheheheh. Dept. Physicals? "Can you see the chart?" "You feel ok?" You pass. Now I'm not saying we are not better off with alot of the stuff we have now...because we are.....but I guess the bottom line is at the time we did'nt know any better and it was a hell of lot of fun....and the fires still went out.
Does anyone remember the proby course at the training center in the 70's. Everyone had a small card that was punched everytime you completed a course? The thing ended up black with soot after you finished. On the bottom of the card the Treasurer named Howard Sessler was on it. He was a member from my Co.
yeah, the good old days, the kids that got in after 90 will never know what it's like getting on the backstep in the middle of rush hour and having a psycho driver going to a job and holding on for dearlife. now, it wasnt the safest, but, we got there safe, the fire was warm and we all went home afterwards.
The first call after being sworn in I ever went to was a BS brush fire at the other end of town from our old Station 2. I was on the back step of our 1957 Ward La France pumper in the middle of two other guys. I was holding on for dear life!! :help: I don't know if I was more scared of the ride or what I was going to do when we got to the scene. The other two guys were laughing their asses off at me the whole way there and back. When we got back to quarters it was "open season on the probie."
Does anyone remember the proby course at the training center in the 70's. Everyone had a small card that was punched everytime you completed a course? The thing ended up black with soot after you finished. On the bottom of the card the Treasurer named Howard Sessler was on it. He was a member from my Co.
Still have that card, and believe it or not...... every course, every dues card and every certificate since I got in.....
Oh man, you guys are bringing back memories for me too. I got into a very busy department back in the mid 80's and remember alot of the things you guys brought up. Riding the back step in all kinds of weather, coming back from fire school while all sweaty and cruising at 65 mph on the Southern State (froze our you know whats off!), Having only 3 or 4 air packs on the truck. Oh and the "gatherings" at the firehouse....you could go down there any night of the week and hang out with the gang to the wee hours of the morning. Today, I pass my firehouse and there is almost NEVER anyone hanging out there. My wife still tells me when I'm bored to go down to the firehouse. I have to remind her that this isn't like the old days.
Did somebody mention the bugs!!!!!! Oh man, I remember once where we heard they were going to be "out" that night. My buddies and I went to a movie theater and watched the same movie 3 or 4 times until we got thrown out just so they couldn't find us!!!!
Same thing with the fire load. We ran about 40 signal 10's a year on average. Not counting all the vehicles, trash, etc.... We didn't need to have our weekly drills back then, we were too busy putting out the real fires. Helped the new guys get aclimated right away. You could respond to a job and not worry about ANYBODY on the rig with you. Even the newest rookie had tons of experience. My first fire was about 3 hours after I was sworn in. A raging car fire, I got the knob too! No such thing as masks back then. Today, a probie has to wait a LONG TIME to even ride the rig much less touch a nozzle. Man how things have changed!
I have to agree with this post, things were a lot different back when I fisrt joined. My first day in the Jr's was the day Joseph Dunn and robert Hassett died in the Brothers 3 fire in Bethpage.That incident made a big impression on me and I worked in ESU with a former Bethpage member who was at the fire that night, the way he described his rememberances of it would make the hair on your neck stand up. I graduated High School and became a full member of my Dept. shortly after the deaths of Michael Moran and John Tate in Valley Stream. I also remember the day George Grant died in Point Lookout. I remember the story of a firefighter named Mott who jumped out of a building in Hempstead to save his life as well. There were other funerals I attended as well. I know each of the deaths I mentuoned involved large fires, and interior attacks. I know there have been other deaths in the years since and I am not slighting anyone, but I think that firefighting will always be a dangerous job. I don't have statistics or figures to back me up on this but I just feel that maybe technology and experience and lessons learned have made it just a little safer. Never forget those who died doing the same things we do.
times have changed for the better
