SO YOU WANT TO BE A FIREFIGHTER     M.W. Moorhead Ohio Fire Marshal Newsletter 12/91 So you want to be a firefighter? Maybe not. Before you become one of us, we want you to know what we are not. We cannot offer you the pay or benefit packages of more typical employers. You should also know that you “volunteer” to join… everything else in the fire service is mandatory. It must be. The services we provide quite literally involve life and death; including your own. Buildings burn with more intensity, contain hazardous materials and have a greater risk of collapse than ever before. Belonging will be time consuming. Training, more training, always training. Firefighting is a gamble. The only way we can increase our odds is by educating ourselves. Knowing how a fire burns, clues from the color of flames and smoke, building construction knowledge and all other things you will learn may save not only your life but the lives of others as well. It also takes time to respond to alarms, do your duty, and then get all the equipment and “tools of the trade” back in service. The work doesn’t end once the fire is out. Time is needed for station and vehicle maintenance, prevention, inspection, investigations, record keeping, parades and fundraisers. There is never enough money. Time. The fire service requires lots of time. Firefighting is also physically demanding. Not all of the time… just each time you step foot on the truck to answer a call. Your heart pounds, adrenalin flows, and if you are sane; you are scared. You’ll wear almost 50 pounds of protective equipment. While wearing this you will pull, push, climb, stretch, carry, lift, crouch, crawl and breath harder than you ever thought possible. Smoke and soot will be your new cologne. You will learn a new meaning of what it really is to be truly “cold’, “hot”, “sore” and “tired”. You may bleed or bruise, you will sweat, and sometimes you will shed a tear. Firefighting can be ugly. It can be blinding bright or blinding dark. It can be deadly silent or have a deafening roar. You will see suffering and carnage in the future like you never have before. So you still want to be a firefighter? Then you “might” make it; many have. The “bad’ in firefighting is part of the “good”. It is what makes us different. We do what others can’t. If you become one of us, you will share in our challenges, comradery, and when we are successful, a sense of accomplishment that is second to none. Your family becomes ours; and ours become yours. In our breed, you will experience an often strange sense of humor, and you will develop pride. Not a boastful, bragging, cocky pride; but rather an inner pride known only to those who have come before you and worn the gear. You will develop a respect for your co-workers nation wide that exists in no other profession. It is often said that “firefighting gets in your blood’. That is not true. If you become one of us, it gets in your heart. Download our application in either Microsoft Word document or as a PDF document.