I'm a Firefighter... Ama

[VioletPickles]

Have been a fire Fighter for 7 years now. Any questions, feel free to ask.. 🔥

Do you have DC's?

Sorry for delay!
I joined when i was 30, most people were around that age.
RatRoly, cutting people out of cars is really common. probably daily. Often though people aren't physically trapped, as in stuck by legs or similar, but medically trapped which is because they are complaining of backpain or similar. Both have to be cut out. Words of wisdom?? Please please wear seatbelts, if at all possible dont ride a motorcycle. Drive to the road conditions.

Oh and several times we have had well meaning members of the public put people who have been in a crash in their car to keep warm or whatever. Then, they complain of neck or back pin later on, whilst sitting in your car. We then have to cut up your, perfectly good vehicle to get the person out on a stretcher...

Newmeplease

Tell him to stay in his room. You go to him if you can. Do not tell him to come you. Tell him to put blankets at the bottom of his door, anything and open window if he can. or just shout his head off. and to sit on the floor.

Best to all congregate in one room (at the front of the house of possible)

Clionba, Thank you! much appreciated

Grim
in terms of preventing a fire, things like not cooking late at night, particularly after alcohol, no chip pans, don't overload extension cables and use those anti surge ones. put candles on proper holders.
unplug chargers and the like before bed,
test your smoke alarms
Get into the habit of closing all the doors to prevent fire spread. A normal household door should be able to withhold fire for at least 20 minutes.
And keep your keys near the door. casualties are often found behind their doors, overcome by fumes in their confusion, trying to open doors etc.
Not trying to scare anyone, just be vigilant!

Worriesome, I have 4 children. Actually the shift patterns are ok, it s 2 days on (12 hours), 2 nights ( 14 hours), then four off. We do this 7 times then have 18 days off, although you are sometimes called in. So you do get a lot of time off, but coordinating everything with schools, nurseries, activities etc etc is quite the minefield. To be fair I probably couldn't do it without help from my parents.

In addition to whole time Firefighting in the city, I also run retained in my local town. So on a pager, if it goes I have to go down station any time of the day or night (if signed on, and its a minimum of 80 hours a week)

I don't see my partner very much as he does shifts too, but things work out. Its extremely demanding physically, but worth it . He is retained too, so he knows what its like. He knows how rewarding / draining/ emotional the job can be. Its probably not something you can just go home from and shut off.

nervyuyt - yes 4!!

This thread has come at perfect timing. Dh has just passed the recruitment process and is due to start his training very soon.

What will his medical entail?

What should he expect in his training?
Anything I can do to help him?
Do you know anyone who has day crewing and day crewing plus as their shift pattern? How the heck will that work with a young family?

The medical is eyes, ears, breathing, and the usual blood pressure and urine stuff. It's pretty thorough. His trading will depend on where he is in the country, pm me if you like! Needless to say it's very tough, very physical, and more military than he probably expects!

Hope you don't mind this one!

Do firefighters like the Police? Why don't you wave back at us??

What is the best way to store liquid Oxidizing agents?

lol Basil we do! Well I do. There's often a bit of toing and froing over road closures etc. I think some fire service think that they do all the hard / manual /heavy work and police control the traffic
Im sure the police have their opinions of fire service too! I will be sure to wave from now on

Can I ask about recruitment into the fire service - do college leavers ever join like they would with the police (though I think police need degrees now) etc? I read about it a bit and each county / area seems to have its own recruitment - is that right? Would a sort of central training hub work for recruitment? Sorry if I have misunderstood, am just interested for a young person I know

Just want to say I love this thread and I'm in awe of the fire service. I wanted to become a firefighter but when I wanted to join there was a height limit and I wasn't tall enough.
I'm also asthmatic, so I doubt that would help!

Anyhoo, if you're still answering questions- is the reduction in fire stations putting people at risk in your opinion? There used to be one at the end of my road and it feels to me that the other stations on the city are very far away

Hi @VioletPickles I've been retained for just over a year. Had a few long jobs lately that got me thinking, how do you manage going to the toilet when you really need to go? Lol.

I've been lucky that we had portaloos at one place, another place was next door to an ambulance station and another had an office where I popped in. It's so much easier for the men who can just go anywhere!