"Stop calling firefighters 'heroes.' " (A cush job most of the time)

Slate ^ | Oct. 31, 03 | Douglas Gantenbein

[John H K]

An interesting aside, having done a bit of research on arson-caused wildfires in the last week it's shocking how many are started by firefighters.

[cyborg]

Hardest thing for this 'author' to lift is his own limp wrist.

[So Cal Rocket]

Forgive me if I mangle the quote, but it seems to me that firefighting is much like being in the infantry:

99% of the time it's utter boredom, 1% of the time it's shear terror.

[nicmarlo]

[SF Republican]

I ain't never heard a reporter called a hero.

[Pukin Dog]

Firemen are no more "heros" than police or sanitation workers.

Funny, I dont know any sanitation workers who know upon hire, that they could actually be killed, just doing their jobs. Why you would place them in the same category as Firemen or Police, I dont really understand.

Were you ever in the Military?

If so, then you would know that most of our jobs consisted of a lot of waiting around doing nothing while still being paid. Would you deny hero status to our young men in Baghdad right now, due to the fact that most of the time, they are not doing much?

[dead]

An interesting aside, having done a bit of research on arson-caused wildfires in the last week it's shocking how many are started by firefighters.

Well obviously those firefighters aren't heros, they're assholes.

They also comprise less than one percent of one percent of all firefighters.

[Nonstatist]

too unionized to fire.

Unionized or not, do you want somebody ready on call to put out a fire, or not? The pay is not usually all that great; I'm sure a "journalist" wouldnt trade jobs in a million years, though.

[TalBlack]

"If a man or woman sits on their duff most of the time, but tomorrow they might die while trying to pull me out of my burning house"

That is if a woman CAN pull you out of a fire after they get done dumbing down the standards to "let" her get into the dept in the first place.

It's nice to hear of that Boston Dept "bitterly resisting" "reform".

[jjm2111]

OMG Bad Word Alert! Be careful, your post might vanish.

[nj_pilot]

"And it's for the ability to handle those situations--rare though they may be--that the transcontinental pilots get the big bucks. "

the "senior" pilots get the big bucks because of a strong union and a nonsensical seniority system. To follow your logic, the short-haul or commuter pilot should be at the top of the scale since their trips are shorter with less time en-route and more spend during the higher-workload takeoff and landing phase.

[Travis McGee]

You'll have to get in the back of a long line to punch this journo!

[mhking]

Perhaps if/when the time comes that this author needs the services of the Bravest, he can look to one of his writer friends to help him...

Feh....

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Tijeras_Slim]

I'm patient when it counts. :)

[Poohbah]

You'll have to get in the back of a long line to punch this journo!

I'm afraid what kind of cooties might jump off of his face onto my fist. (Yuck.)

[Pukin Dog]

Fine, I'll hold him, and you hit him twice.

[Travis McGee]

Better wear double gloves and a face shield.

I'd hate to think of what would be spraying back off this mutt's face after taking a few hundred punches.

(And at the end of it all, a fireman/paramedic would have to treat him. Yuck.)

[Pahuanui]

Firefighting is a cushy job. Firefighters may have the best work schedule in the United States—24 hours on, 48 hours off. And those 24 hours are usually not terribly onerous. While a few big-city fire stations may have four, five, six calls, or more during a shift, most aren't nearly that busy, giving firefighters time to give tours to school kids, barbecue hamburgers, wash fire engines, sleep, and pose for "The Firefighters of [Your City Here], 2004" calendars.

What crap.

My best friend is a FF in San Jose, CA (Station 8) and they usually work 24 on/24 off/24 on/24 off/24 on/72 off. However, they also routinely get 25+ calls a shift.

On top of that, FFs are usually the first responders for everything that's not directly law enforcement-oriented. Bums passed out? Car accident (and in SJ there are at least 5 freeways)? Chest pains? You-name-it, they're there.

Does he make great dough? You bet, over 100K. Does he work his ass off, and did he just go through double hernia surgery from work-related injuries? Yep. Are they routinely exposed to AIDS, Hep C, etc...? Yep.

[Dan from Michigan]

I think this author needs to spend two months at the Detroit Fire Dept. Perferably on the SW end, and while there's a chemical fire in an industrial area in one of the roughest areas of the city.