Even on Halloween, it’s not ghosts or ghouls that make firefighters flinch — it’s a few perfectly chosen words that can chill them to the bone. In the spirit of spooky season, we’re taking a lighthearted (and occasionally all-too-real) look at the phrases that send shivers through the station.
Check out the most fear-inducing submissions from firefighters. A tip of the helmet to the crew over at Bay Area Firefighter for sparking this idea with their viral Instagram post. Read on — if you dare.
The scariest four words:
- Off-going crew: “We slept all night”
- “5 station tours today”
- “Chief’s on the way”
- “Have a quiet shift!”
- “The overtime dried up”
- “Your relief called out”
- “Get your union rep”
- “That’s not duty approved”
- “Go to the ambulance”
- “You’re on the spare”
- “Your time to cook”
- “Guess who just promoted”
- “Wash the chief’s car”
- “You have been mando’d”
- “Euro helmets coming soon”
- “The rookie’s cooking dinner”
- “It’s a hoarder house”
- “City can’t pay pensions”
- “We’re out of water”
What four words scare you at the station?
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