Anti-Firefighter Mentality: Simple Truths from a Firefighter's Wife

Us at Matt's academy graduation.

I was home with my children one afternoon while my husband was at work.  We were outside playing when suddenly the quiet of the afternoon in our small town was broken with the sound of sirens on emergency vehicles sounding the alarm.  There must have been a fire or serious accident to have that many vehicles and sirens going, I thought to myself.  My toddler interrupts my thoughts; he recognizes the sounds of the sirens too.  "Is that daddy," he asks me.  "I don't know, it could be daddy," I replied.  He works part-time locally in a neighboring town that sometimes helps cover emergency services where we live.  "He's going to come home, right mommy?" my son asks casually.  My son's question is so nonchalant because he literally means to ask if his daddy is on his way home or not.  He doesn't see the irony in his words because he is not yet old enough to understand how dangerous daddy's job really is.  "Yeah, buddy," I reply.  "He always comes home."  Considering the dangerous nature of my husband's job and the fact that he and so many of his co-workers serve so willingly and gladly, the politics surrounding agencies that provide emergency services recently have been infuriating to me.  

Some recent online news articles, and the negative comments made on them, have left me frustrated and infuriated.  I see politicians making poor choices for fire departments for selfish political gain.  Yet then it is convenient to blame the fire department and fire unions for budgeting problems after bickering over something as small as a 1% pay increase so the firefighters can afford to feed their families.  It seems so unfortunately easy for this to be done when you consider that there are so many people who have a bad perception of fire services to begin with.   In the media people complain that fire services are a waste of money--something they do not want their tax dollars to go toward. Yet in an article on a subscription-based fire service, the firefighters were personally blamed and vilified for the lack of available services (subscription-based services allow community members to refuse to contribute financially to the fire department in return for agreeing to opt out of receiving services. Though firefighters often want to respond to the fires anyway, they may be threatened with the loss of their jobs, their livelihoods, if they do so).  The perceptions of firefighters and how these perceptions are used impacts my husband, his safety, our livelihood, and our precious community.  I will use every platform I have to combat this misconception--my blog is no exception.

Firefighters are lazy underachievers who get paid taxpayer dollars to sit around all day and watch TV and sleep in recliners.  There aren't very many fires any more, fire departments are a waste of money, and firefighters are just taking advantage.

Firefighters are not lazy or under-achieving

Firefighters are highly skilled professionals.  In addition to requiring that firefighters demonstrate physical fitness, maintain detailed knowledge of the streets and major buildings within a city or community,  master complicated equipment and vehicles, and be educated in fire science, many fire departments also require that firefighters double as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).  This means not only meeting the EMT requirements for a local community or city but the national requirements as well--the national EMT test is no walk in the park.  Can you imagine being skilled as a caretaker and nurturer as a medical professional but also having to have the bravery and skills to run into burning buildings?  Can you imagine being drawn to the physical work of firefighting but also needing to possess the gentleness and medical knowledge of an EMT?  How common do you think it is that those two qualities of both caretaker and what I would certainly dare to call the qualify of a warrior, in the personality of the same individual?  Competent firefighter/EMTs are not your everyday people.

I am a nurturer.  I know for a fact that I could do the EMT part of the job.  My first two years in college were in nursing school, I have been employed as an Emergency Department Technician, and I have ridden in ambulances.  But I will tell you I know without a doubt that I could not do the job of a firefighter/EMT because I do not have what it takes to fight fires.  I cannot walk into a room so hot that the tops of my ears immediately singe and my helmet starts melting.  I do not have what it takes to scale the side of a building using a hook and some window ledges to save someone.  Memorizing building layouts, maps, and backstreets and having to safely navigate to an emergency in a matter of minutes in an enormous, expensive, vehicle?  I'd be lost.  It takes someone really special to do this job.

Firefighters are highly knowledgeable professionals.  In addition to all of the knowledge and skills required to be a firefighter and an EMT, many firefighters are also college students or college graduates.  Many firefighters are also paramedics.  Firefighters in larger cities are required to attend and pass fire academies and training exams.  They also may encourage and reward firefighters for achieving higher education by giving them additional points for having a college degree or serving in the military.  Many of my husband's peers are veterans or reserve military personnel.

Firefighters do not "sit around" all day

Busy, busy, busy.  Washington D.C. is one particular fire department which seems to always be under attack in the local media.  One firehouse in the District of Colombia, lovingly nicknamed "The House of Pain," averages about 700 calls per month and in 2009, they totaled nearly 10,000 (that's an average of nearly 27 per day, folks.  That's no less than one emergency responded to per hour).  Officially reported fire calls are hard to come by but in a big city fire department, I wouldn't at all feel like I was exaggerating to say that an average of 15-20 calls per fire station per day was accurate.

There's more to firefighting than you think.  Being a firefighter not only entails firefighting responsibilities as well as emergency service responsibilities, often times firefighters inspect buildings, provide CPR and first aid training to the community, install and provide smoke detectors for free, inspect fire hydrants, provide protection and rescue to various waterfronts, as well as provide staffing to things like sports and entertainment events.

"First Responder" means more than you think.  We live in a society that really doesn't take care of our vulnerable populations as well as we think we do.  Sitting in nice, comfortable homes, we don't see the things that firefighters and EMTs see or see what they do and never get credit for.  The lack of access to affordable health care and, lets face it, accessible health care and health education means overflow in emergency rooms and that emergency personnel are very busy.  One fire department I know of sends a firefighter to carry a child with a disability up the stairs of his home twice a day just so that he can sleep in his own bed.  His mother's insurance did not cover a private medical company to come do this and no one would help her...except the firefighters.  Additionally, people get sick, they get scared, they are tired or desperate or without resources--they may call 911 for things you and I think are silly.  In fact, a great deal of fire/EMS calls fall into this category.  Fire, EMS, and police are there for these individuals in their time of need.  Fire, police, and EMS have fallen into this "catch all" category that is literally holding our society together in some ways, to the point that some emergency services are now hiring EMS social workers to alleviate some of this burden.

Firefighters are not "living it up" on our tax dollars

Health risks.  The longer a firefighter stays in duty, their risk of developing a fatal cancer grows.  A recent study (2006) discovered that firefighters who have been on the job for many years were at significant risk for cancers such as brain cancer, kidney cancer, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, colon cancer, bladder cancer and Leukemia.  Continuing on this career track year after year increases the risk of mortality among firefighters from these illnesses.  Firefighters are also at risk for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Ever thought about how stressful it is to work long hours, be alarmed constantly by loud bells and sirens, and not always have time for a healthy meal?  Firefighters are also at an increased risk of Cardiovascular disease (CVD).  CVD is the leading cause of on-duty firefighter fatalities.  Firefighters are at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals, bio-hazardous substances, and hearing loss.  I have not even covered the cap of the iceberg as far as illnesses go--you get the idea.  Firefighters and EMTs put themselves at significant health risk to save the lives of others, they deserve every benefit they receive and then some.

Let's talk about pay.  Firefighters who work in large cities are often not paid enough to live within the cities they serve.  Firefighters who are required to live within city limits may struggle to find a safe neighborhood with a good school district that they can afford, especially if they do not benefit from coupled or married privilege with an additional income earner in the household.  Despite this obvious catch-22, many news sources and even political leaders love to demonize and humiliate firefighters who have to commute to work.  It is an enormously hot political topic surrounding our community.  These politicians secure votes by blaming the fire department for not being 100% staffed by residents and claiming that commuting firefighters are selfishly removing employment and money from local residents.  People cheer along with them and develop a poor image of Fire and EMS services, cheering "reformation" of these departments heralded by this prospective political leader.  These politicians and bureaucrats conveniently forget to mention that fire departments often have to recruit far and wide in order to find enough of the needed specialized help to fill their enormous staffing needs--and that there are already often programs in place to help locals obtain the necessary education and skills to apply for the job.  They also forget to mention that they don't pay firefighters enough to live within the city, nor do they intend to.  Reporters in one neighboring city of mine have all but stalked firefighters, videotaping them and violating their privacy and the privacy of their spouses and children, outside of their homes to report on their residency.  The starting pay for a Philadelphia firefighter is about $40,000.  In Baltimore, starting pay is about $33,000.  For FDNY it's almost $40,000 starting pay.  Yet firefighters are expected to find affordable homes in safe neighborhoods with good school districts within the limits of major cities?

Newsflash to the politicians, firefighters do not drive 2-4 hours to work because being paid pennies for dangerous work in the name of "robbing" the local residents of employment and job opportunities is just oh-so-much-fun.  Even the meanest people I've met in my life weren't that dedicated to making other people miserable.  They do it because the larger cities, that they can't always afford to live in, offered them a job and it's a job that allows them to use a specific skill set in a way that is useful and beneficial to others.  No conspiracy involved, I promise.

Family life.  Long shifts, inadequate pay that leads to needing overtime or more jobs, stress and danger on the job, and illness have lead to higher divorce rates among couples in the firefighter community.  One source went as far as to say that firefighters are three times more likely than non-firefighters to get divorced.  If you think being a firefighter is a tough job (and it is), try being married to one.  Long hours and working on holidays means that spouses and families have to adapt.  It is no easy talk watching your partner experience having his (or her) hearing destroyed, his/her sleep constantly disturbed, and knowing that every time they go to work they could be exposed to any number of dangers or health risks.

An interdependent community that's not looking to "take advantage" of anyone.  In the almost 10 years that I have had the privilege of having a firefighter as a life partner, I have witnessed the most amazing displays of concern for others that I have ever seen.  I have personally witnessed my husband and his friends, many who weren't even on duty at the time, bring a friend whose heart had stopped back to life.  One afternoon, my husband jumped right in and saved the life of a child on a call that wasn't even his when a co-worker went down on the job.  I have seen firefighters travel over a hundred miles to attend the funeral of a fallen brother or sister they had never met out of respect.  I have seen my husband's peers donate their sick time to an ill firefighter in need and take collections out of their own pockets to give to the family.  I have seen them use their days off to make repairs to the home of a hospitalized firefighter and attend to his or her family.  I have seen firefighters work extra shifts for no compensation so that a firefighter missing work for a serious illness could have their shifts covered and receive a paycheck.  Selfish people hoarding your tax money (and you know I don't speak about anyone that way)?  I think not.

Why treat public servants this way?

Perfection
Of course, no fire department, no firefighter, is perfect.  Continued changes and improvements are needed as times change and people's needs change.  I have long since critiqued the patriarchal aspects of our 9-5 world and work week.  Businesses and places of employment tend to be open and operate at times that are not convenient for individuals with child care responsibilities.  Often times this translates to men working, women staying home, people rearranging their lives to fit into a routine that doesn't entirely fit their needs, and children end up in daycare.  I see jobs that provide 24 hour service (especially those traditionally male dominated), like firefighting, as a perfect opportunity to trail blaze the way for the formation of convenient schedules that benefit women and families that both serve the public and employees who have child care responsibilities.  The continued reduction of occupational segregation in professions like firefighting is something I look forward to seeing--yet one heatedly debated topic is firefighter schedules and many people believe in the 9-5 schedule for a firefighter or something similar such as a series of 12 hour shifts.  The lack of understanding of what firefighters (and those in like professions) need is an enormous blockade to this change.

What I want you to understand
The fact of the matter is, my husband and his co-workers, through their occupation are at risk for hearing loss, mental and physical health problems, heart disease, exposure to toxic chemicals and bio hazardous materials, injury, and a host of other issues, which places their families at risk of divorce or losing them, all to work to save people they have never so much as met.  They deserve good pay and good benefits--why that ever comes into question is beyond me.  If I could implore anything of anyone reading this, it would be to stand up for what's right for your community fire department. Support them, find out their needs, bring them a plate of cookies from time to time, and call politicians out on using our women and men who serve us daily as pawns.  Their safety is that important, and so is yours.

References:
GAGLIANO, A. (2009). What Every Firefighter's Spouse Should Know. Fire Engineering,162(12), 89-92.

Del Ben, K. S., Scotti, J. R., Yi-Chuen, C., & Fortson, B. L. (2006). Prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in firefighters. Work & Stress, 20(1), 37-48.

Soteriades, E., Smith, D., Tsismenakis, A., Baur, D., & Kales, S. (2011). Cardiovascular disease in US firefighters: a systematic review.Cardiology In Review, 19(4), 202-215.

Youakim, S2006). Risk of Cancer Among Firefighters: A Quantitative Review of Selected Malignancies. Archives Of Environmental & Occupational Health, 61(5), 223-231.