FireLink

My brother is a firefighter. I used to say that a lot. Somebody would ask about my family at a social gathering, and I'd go down the list: my dad's in the travel industry, my youngest siblings are still in high school, and my brother is a firefighter. No big deal, everybody does SOMETHING with their lives, but to me my ...

Every new recruit looks forward to their first day of training with eager anticipation. I know that for me, there were hundreds of images flying through my head. Big trucks, flashing lights, sharp axes - this was going to be way too cool for words. All the other recruits in my class were equally pumped-up, and when we sat down in ...

If you don’t have bunker gear you don’t have anything. That’s why, as a probie, being issued a set of bunker gear was the first step in equipping me with the tools that probies want and firefighters need. Before you can learn to handle a hose, force a door, or carry a victim, you have to be able to put on ...

Firefighters are more than simple friends. Friends go out for pizza on Friday nights. Friends come over to watch the game on your television. “Friends” also have a tendency of disappearing when times get tough. You can't fight fires with friends. To fight fires you need the brotherhood. Last week I asked my biological brother, a firefighter on the department I'm ...

If you're in the fire service, you're going to be yelled at from time to time. I don't care how tough and talented you are, I don't care if you were the student body president or you dated the homecoming queen. The simple truth is that you will be screamed at. I admit that I haven‚t met you, but I know ...

On day number one we all have it beat into our heads that the primary killer of firefighters is heart attacks. But as probies, we feel that we're invincible, at least for a while. After all, we're young and tough, years away from having to worry about our health…. Or are we? As young firefighters, our hearts may not be at ...