A day in the life of a firefighter

Once upon a time firefighters were hailed as heroes. The ones you turned to when all else failed.

Men and women you could always rely on in your time of need. Being a firefighter was a path young men admired and aspired to.

Images spring to mind of red lights and wailing sirens, of sure-footed firefighters holding their own against a raging blaze as lives hang in the balance. Keeping a level head, fighting back emotion as they painstakingly pry their way through blood-stained wreckages.

In today’s world, these heroes trudge along unsung. Only the shell of their former glory remains visible, now only recognised by the red truck appearing wherever there’s a problem.
Receiving no word of praise as their work goes largely unnoticed.

How many have stopped to wonder who they are? How many have stopped to thank the men and women in whose hands their lives might one day rest?

A day in the life of a firefighter starts just same as yours or mine might; the difference is a firefighter never truly knows what that day has in store for him.

Regardless, he or she will arrive at the station and prepare for any eventuality, checking and double checking equipment, ensuring every tool at their disposal meets stringent life-saving standards.

To fill the time between emergencies, firefighters receive lectures from their team’s leading firefighter, participate in training drills and take time to keep fit.

Four teams consisting of three members each, rotate the workload. Working in 12-hour shifts, a firefighter is either on duty, standby or resting for the next shift. At every phase, a firefighter is one call away from his next assignment.

Often firefighters are rudely awakened on a day or night off, summoned to help under circumstances beyond available manpower.

Under the heavy suits and behind the oxygen masks they are only human. When faced by grisly scenes, raging fires and burdened by a conscience that counts every second wasted if another life is lost, the firefighter starts to consider the blissful ignorance of leading an ordinary life.

Grossly understaffed with no clear date of relief, leading firefighters have to take matters into their own hands to ensure the morale of their crew is maintained.

There are many other jobs these able-bodied men and women could be doing. Yet they choose to serve, they choose to do the jobs that would leave normal people waking up in the middle of the night screaming ‘nightmare’.

Day after day, sure as dawn, firefighters prepare their equipment, shouldering the burden one more time.