I’ve noticed lately some viral videos of firefighters being accosted while at grocery stores and such. I’m mystified by this.
Let’s review our basic need for food scientifically. Eating is a complex process of digestion, absorption, assimilation and excretion. Food provides calories, which are metabolized into energy.
There are a host of other things that our bodies pull from food: amino acids, sugars, carbohydrates and lots of stuff I don’t understand. Basically, you eat when you are hungry and the food maintains your body systems. I think we can all agree on that.
The need for food comes routinely every few hours. Some people have the need a lot more often.
Have you ever noticed those who eat nonstop are typically the thin people? I once worked with a guy who cooked himself a full-course breakfast when he arrived in the morning, ate breakfast with the shift, ate lunch, ate dinner with the group, and then ate the leftovers for a late-night snack.
He couldn’t have had more than a 30-inch waist. If I ate like that, children upon seeing me would yell to their parents, “Look mommy, the blimp landed!”
Even drawbridge operators do it
I just don’t see the problem with fire personnel going to the store or a restaurant to eat. Rational people cannot expect them to go 24 hours without eating. Now, with the 48/96 schedule gaining popularity, 48 hours is a little long without food.
I cannot think of many occupations that don’t allow people to eat during the course of the workday — mind you, an eight-hour workday. One that comes to mind would be the drawbridge operator. You know, the guy who sits in the little house by a bridge. His absence could be disastrous.
Start observing the parking lot at any fast food restaurant in your community. Who hasn’t seen a police car or two there? I could go for a cheap doughnut joke here, but I won’t. A police officer is in a car for eight hours and is allowed to get out to eat during the shift.
We are on duty for 24 hours. In those 24 hours we are always ready to spring into action. Showers, meals, bowel movements or sleep — it doesn’t matter — we are always ready to go.
We have to be smart about it. Driving two towns away for “all you can eat” rib night is not smart. We have a rule, if we are eating in the far reaches of the district we don’t all go at once. Some stay back to respond in a timely manner.
Management by walking around
In fact, a group outing to a grocery store or restaurant can be a very positive fire department contact. I have never understood why some people think we should hide from the public. At a fire department where I once worked we had a standing chief’s order that if we were in the station, the bay doors were to be up so people knew we were there.
I work with a captain who always grabs a roll of stickers when we enter the grocery store. The stickers are 911 or home fire drills or whatever.
When we encounter a small child or two in the store, with parental permission, he plasters a sticker on them. The kids love it and they get a fire safety message to look at.
As the driver for many years, I usually stayed with the apparatus. I can’t imagine how many times I turned on the LED orchestra for some small onlookers in a grocery store parking lot.
Countless times I have dismounted the red chariot and opened a few compartments and let them try on a fire helmet. The kids “ooh” and “ah” over it all. It is a great opportunity for the public to see us in a non-disaster situation.
Where there’s smoke …
On rare occasions I have encountered a questioning person who makes a remark about how nice it is we can go shopping. I usually smile and ask them what they are doing there? They are usually taken back and answer, “Well, I’m getting food.” I usually answer, “So are we.”
And maybe, just maybe you can be at the right place at the right time. We initiated care on an elderly male who fell in the baking aisle the other day. He was stabilized until the ambulance arrived.
The all-time classic involved myself and a coworker having lunch at a national hamburger chain. I was sitting with my back to the counter when I noticed my coworker suddenly had a look of total bewilderment on his face.
I turned around expecting to see a masked gunman at the counter, but instead saw smoke fogging out from behind the menu area above the counter. I, hamburger in hand, sprinted to the breaker box while my associate retrieved a dry chemical extinguisher.
The manager told us how glad she was we were there. Oh well, we were just in the neighborhood.
Let me hear from you.
