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

Slate ^ | Oct. 31, 03 | Douglas Gantenbein

[supercat]

So do you consider commercial fisherman, or pizza delivery guys, who have a higher chance of being killed while on duty than a fireman, to be heroes too?

I would suspect that among fire fighters who have no problem risking life and limb to rescue people, the fatality rates are higher than for pizza delivery people; among those who are reluctant to enter a building if it looks like it might be burning, the fatality rates are probably much lower.

[kaktuskid]

Forest fire fighters are "heroes"...most are volunteers.

[Pukin Dog]

I'm also a former Military pilot, and I dont agree with that post at all. Especially when it involves the military. However, in defense of Commercial pilots (what I'll be doing soon) it might not be correct to call them heroes, until the very rare moment arrives when their skill and experience saves lives.

I know of two cases where a 747 Captain and a DC-10 Captain went against known procedures, to successfully bring down severly damaged craft. I know of another, where a 747 Captain brought back a fully loaded and fueled 747-400 after 3 engines quit on takeoff, again by going against procedures, and using experience to get the job done. Heroes? Maybe not to some, but to surely to me.

[Young Werther]

I don't remember any journalists rushing into the WTC!

My cousin is a Newark NJ firefighter and he and his brother firefighters spent many months digging through the rubble at Ground Zero. No exactly what one would call a "cushy job".

[Sloth]

It's been well-documented, for instance, that lousy communication was a huge reason why so many firefighters still were in the burning World Trade Center when it imploded, and well after city police and port authority police had been warned by their own commanders of an imminent collapse and cleared out.

Which explains why no policemen were killed. < /sarcasm >

[Skywalk]

There's a chance I will be in police academy in the next half year or so.

Now, I grant that I, skywalk, yearn to be a hero, but that's selfish too. There are many ways to be a hero, not all are attention grabbing and flame-defying.

Sometimes it's stopping what could turn into a deadly fight on the street by using your wits(even though you would not be involved.) Sometimes it's sending money to support a poor child overseas. Sometimes it's adopting a kid that no one else wanted.

but just because I put myself at risk being a cop does not make me a hero automatically. You need much more than that to be a hero.

[supercat]

However, in defense of Commercial pilots (what I'll be doing soon) it might not be correct to call them heroes, until the very rare moment arrives when their skill and experience saves lives.

I wasn't meaning to suggest that commercial pilots, even long-haul ones, are "heros" [except, as you note, in a few cases]. My point was simply that it's wrong to criticize those who work at a job because 95% of the time the job is routine and could be handled by just about anyone, if there are occasions when the job becomes decidedly non-routine and it becomes important to have a very skilled person there.

[Veggie Todd]

Days of boredom followed by hours of sheer terror. Anyone that would be willing to run into a burning house to save my sorry butt, I'll gladly call hero. I Hope I DON'T need them.

[Pukin Dog]

Please explain what is wrong with asking for money? Do you think that money is going directly into the pockets of fire fighters? Typically, I will recieve a call asking me to donate to a charity sponsored by the local dept, or a toy drive, or some other thing that helps society BEYOND the job that fire fighters are asked to do.

[Skywalk]

You hit on an important point--volunteers, especially those with no personal stake in the matter, ARE heroic.

[Pukin Dog]

I'm sorry. This thread has me 'fired up' a bit.

[SauronOfMordor]

Funny, I dont know any sanitation workers who know upon hire, that they could actually be killed, just doing their jobs.

As a Sanitation worker, you run the constant risk of getting hit by cars as they go around your truck, getting stuck by some HIV-infected needle in the garbage bag, or just getting caught in the compacter Per Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were only 52 occupation fatalities among fire-fighters in 2002. Versus 92 fatalities among "cleaning and building services" workers, and 840 among "farming forestry, and fishing" workers

[Toskrin]

This dorkwad must have forgotten about all the volunteer firefighters out there. Men and women who work a regular job and get paid little to nothing for risking their life.

They come home tired from their regular job and sit down to eat dinner with their family. Their pager goes off and five minutes later they may be rushing into a burning building.

Some cushy job.

[Skywalk]

Nothing is wrong with raising money for charity, but the phrasing of the calls I have received led me to believe that not all of these "fundraising drives" were about a third party charity. That some did INDEED directly benefit the firefighters themselves.

[Ann Archy]

The left DESPISES strong people because the left is one big bunch of UGLY WEAKLINGS. This article turns my stomach.

[LadyDoc]

Peggy Noonan said it right: When 300 stockbrokers lose their lives running into a burning building to save people, I'll cheer stockbrokers...

This is pure jealousy.

You see, even routine training can lead to firefighter deaths. I've known firefighters killed by cars when they were putting out flares for an accident

I've known a firefighter who was shoveling snow off an elder's house who fell off and broke his back.

I've treated firefighters many times for smoke inhalation.

And I know one who was badly burned when a live wire shocked him when he was searching a smoke filled room for a 6 year old child (the kid hid in a closet and was found dead of smoke inhalation)...

[Hildy]

I've gotta say that this guy has stated some things that I've been thinknig over the past few weeks. I dated a fireman once. He was great, a good guy, but in the whole time I dated him, over a year, I don't remember one vaguely dangerous thing he did. I'M NOT SAYING THEY DON'T DO IT, but they are trained very well and I do think there are much more dangerous jobs. There... I said it.

[Skywalk]

Why aren't fishermen heroes? They risk death on the high seas to bring us food, when it is quite possible that we could live without fish.

I'll tell you why, because everyone knows that fishermen do the job for a love of the high rate of pay, the camaderie or the love of the sea. There might also be excitement in tracking where the fish will be and bringing in a big haul.

I think the fact that firefighters sometimes save lives or property clouds people's feelings as to the motivations of many of those working in the field. No one is being "saved" by the work of the fisherman, so no one thinks him a hero.

But he and the firefighter may both be in their fields for similar reasons that have nothing to do with "rescuing," "Saving" etc.

That said, there surely are some heroic figures among firefighters.

But then, the guy who works in an office somewhere that runs into a building to save a kid is an even bigger hero, isn't he?

[glorgau]

Right on! Firefighter is a cush job. The guys I know that are firefighters (quite a few) would be doing it anyway just for the sheer kicks of putting out fires and busting open windows. In what other job can you go in and "ventilate" a house? Every one of those guys has a side job. It's a great life.

[Vinnie]

So in order to qualify as a 'hero' your job must be hazardous at all times?

I was under the impression that a 'hero' puts his life on the line for another, even once.

The job can be slow much of the time, but it's those 'busy' times that separate the men from the boys.

How many 'cushy job' men were hauling all their equipment up stairs to the 87th floor at the WTC when it came crashing down.
About 300+ of them.