Life Matters: A Thank You to the Fire Service

The recent fire at Grenfell Tower in London put the fire service in the spotlight but many of us forgot the tremendous work they do 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Today I took my family for a tour around a fire station and talking with the firefighters gave me an appreciation for them on a new level. This isn't just about the tour but also (and more importantly) a chance to take some time and think about the work they do and what they go through.

Prologue

You can skip this part if you don’t want the background to how we arranged a visit to the fire station. After a morning out at the Modified Car Show in Pickering we were heading home to Wakefield and discussing if there was anything else we could do for the afternoon. Given that the temperature was a scorching 28 degrees and that we’d already been out in the sun for more than two hours with our two young boys anything outside didn’t seem appealing. We also preferred something with little to no expense which ruled out most places in York which we were approaching en route to Wakefield. A couple of weeks ago the fire service came to our house to check our smoke detectors and our eldest son, who is four in July, loved being shown briefly around the fire engine. He is obsessed with two things at the moment – trains and fire engines – so he was delighted by their visit. Unfortunately, I was at work and missed it and most of all I missed seeing how much he enjoyed it. The firemen that came out however said that we could visit the station in Ossett some time if we called to book or check it was okay. I suggested the visit to my wife (being careful to describe it as a tour of the FS so as not to give the game away) thinking of calling in to the Ossett station if we could but as we were near York she called the station there. She spoke to a fireman called Tez who said we could go that afternoon.

The Tour

When we got there Tez (I’m guessing it’s short for Terry/Terrence) couldn’t be more helpful and he was so good with the boys. We first looked around the changing room where all the jackets, helmets, overalls etc were and of course one of the highlights for any child – the fireman’s pole. He then showed us around the vehicles which comprised of one Volvo fire engine, one Land Rover and one rescue boat on a trailer. Tez took time to show us around all the equipment and the boys got to sit in all three vehicles which made them very giddy. My eldest got to hold a fire hose and Tez showed us the jaws of life and many other pieces of essential equipment on the engine, all of which will need specialist training to use.

It was when he showed us the breathing apparatus (BA) that I suddenly had a better picture of what these heroes (I tried to find a word that didn’t sound like a platitude but it’s what they are) may or may not have to go through on a daily basis. The weight of the BA was astonishing. I have a degenerative back problem so could not lift it on my own but Tez did help me take some of the weight so that I could see how heavy it was. I can’t remember the actual weight but it felt as bad as a sack of potatoes or a sack of coal and if these guys go into a burning building they’ve got that on their back constantly. They must be able to go up and down stairs with it on, manoeuvre around rooms and corridors with it on and then still be able to fight fires and help rescue people with it on. Not only that but they have the weight of their jacket too which is thickly lined with fireproofing and a heavy helmet with a torch on.

The guys that went into the Grenfell Tower fire went up the stairs for over twenty floors like that. Throw in the scorching heat from the inferno they’re facing and you start to reel off the attributes it must take to be a firefighter. We all think of bravery and courage when we think of firefighters but do we really take the time to comprehend what that entails? We also say how they are the ones running into the burning building when everyone else is running out but have you ever really considered that thought? There’s no way that we will ever know unless it’s your job but I know I would not have the balls to charge into a building that is on fire and not know whether I would be coming out again at the end of it. If it was my family it would be a different family but these men and women aren’t doing it for their families. They're doing it for someone else’s family. They could be doing it for your family. God forbid they could be doing it for my family.

I said to Tez that at some point as a firefighter you must be in a situation where the percentages are not in your favour but you still carry on regardless. They don’t do this because they’re paid to do it, they do it because it’s their vocation; it’s their calling. Most of my writing is based around motorsport and in a very similar way the riders and drivers don’t race for the money (in fact it costs more than they make sometimes) but they do it because it’s their passion and in a similar way it’s their calling. I guess the difference is that in motorsport the calling is for yourself in the most part whereas in the fire service it’s for others. Personally, I don’t have that gene or that mental switch that could make me do that but I’m damn sure I’m happy that there are people in the world who do.

Speaking to Tez I was initially surprised to hear of the amount of the public that have a negative view of firefighters. After I thought about it though the surprise disappeared because as a society in the UK we have a habit of criticising something until we need it the most. Anyone badmouthing the fire service would soon change their tune when it’s their family that they’re charging in to rescue. Some people feel that they are well paid but it really isn’t that grand and you’d have to pay me one hundred times what they get paid to do that job and it still wouldn’t be enough. People think they spend a lot of time doing nothing in the station while they wait for fires, playing pool, relaxing, watching TV. While there will be some downtime for them to do that there is still work to do in the station and a lot of training and practice involved.

We were later joined by another firefighter, John, who seemed as happy to see us as Tez. I think he’d come down to see what all the noise was as my eldest was rather giddy and running around shouting a lot by that point. Like me, John has suffered from a disc problem in his back and had a prolapsed disc one up from where my issue is. He still manages to do his job and has strengthened the muscles around the damaged area to try and prevent it from happening again. It must still cause a considerable amount of pain though as I know that mine debilitates me some days.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking you knew all of this already and I’ve not said anything new. I’m sure we all consider the job they do and think we’re glad it’s them and not us. I know before I visited the station I thought the same but taking the time to do that, to talk to them and as I said before just testing the weight of that BA increased the depth of that thought.

I really would recommend taking the time to contact and visit your local fire station. If you have children they’re bound to enjoy it and if like mine they’re already mad about Fireman Sam then they’re going to be over the moon. More than anything though I think it’s nice to thank the men and women who work for the fire service for the work that they do. I don’t think I properly did that when I was there which is one of the reasons for this blog. I thanked them for their time and for showing us around for sure but I wish I’d also said thank you for the work you do.

I’m not writing this article for page visits or self-promotion. This isn’t my main site so there is no self interest in writing this. What I would like is for me friends and contacts to read and share this article so that everyone can maybe take some time out of their day to think about the work that these guys do. Tez said that they were like an insurance policy – they’re always there for when you need them but you hope you will never need them. If you ever do (and I hope that everyone who reads this never has to) then they will be there for you. It doesn’t matter if it’s a road traffic accident where someone needs help, a forest fire, the classic chip pan fire or the horrendous inferno of Grenfell Tower – the fire service will always be there for you.

If you made it to the end then I thank you for your time reading this. This is my thank you to the men and women of the fire service.