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Why are U.S. fire trucks always so well-polished?

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A question posted recently on Quora asked, “Why are U.S. fire trucks always so well-polished?” in reference to tax money being spent. Mick Mayers, a chief fire officer and instructor-trainer, gave his opinion on the topic below. Check it out and add your own thoughts in the comments.

I’m amazed by the number of haters on Quora, or maybe its just the same one posting often. If I were to go into my local fire station and see it a mess, I’d assume the firefighters weren’t very good stewards of the tools my tax dollars paid for. If I saw them just throw equipment on the ground, or if it were in disrepair, I’d probably assume they take my efforts for granted. We keep the trucks shiny in our department because they don’t belong to us, they belong to you.

Except like in my community, where I AM a resident and a taxpayer and a firefighter. In which case, they are mine too and I want people to take care of the things my tax dollars pay for.

As far as being worried about your precious tax dollars, I’ll bet that you pay more for garbage collection and cable TV per year than you do for fire protection. Yet neither of those things (nor any other you probably spend a lot more for) are going to come get you off the floor at four in the morning or keep the fire at your neighbors house from spreading to yours. We take helping you seriously and while there are costs for fire protection, we are very careful to not waste a dime, because it’s our money too.

“The Question” section brings together user-generated articles from our Facebook page based on questions we pose to our followers, as well as some of the best content we find on Quora, a question-and-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of users who are often experts in their field. The site aggregates questions and answers for a range of topics, including public safety. The questions and answers featured here on FR1 are posted directly from Quora, and the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of FR1.

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