FireLink

Why do firefighters wear badges?

Ok just a question .... Are you wanting to know fire fighter history and such ? Becasue I answered one of your other questions the other day and it was a history type question.

Ok there are several reasons for the use of badges. For firefighters and law enforcement it’s a ceremonial thing and between the LEO and FF’s it’s often referred to as a “shield”.  Often it is worn over your left side as the guardian or protector of the heart. Now some departments actually use the Maltese Cross as their departments shield. This is strewn in greater depths of history and goes back to the days of the Knights of St. John and the holy where they fought the Saracens. The Saracens used a “Molotov Cocktail” like device loaded with naphtha, but were not lit on fire yet. The Saracens then would shoot flaming arrows at the knights and set them ablaze.



These guys were basically the first firefighters and lived on the Island of Malta for a long time so the crest or cross they wore on their tabards was called the Maltese Cross.  The cross itself has its own little history as well with each of the eight points being a strong character trait of a “firefighter”.  Starting from the top left { Gallantry, Perseverance, Loyalty, Dexterity, Explicitness, Observation, Tact, and Sympathy}.

Badges or shields also help us identify a person in a position. Officers are often in gold and non officers in silver. Badges can also hold the number and department identification of an individual. There are just a ton of separate little reason why a LOE or FF wears a badge, but I think most of them boil down to the time of knights and was a symbol of the armor that protected the warriors body and heart. 

 

Fun Note.

FDNY when it was a Vollie Dept had badges. When FDNY was formed they stop wearing badges except EMS and the Fire Marshals