Trending Topics

Top 5 complaints firefighters have about the other unit

It seems that no matter what unit you’re on, the other is worse

ft-45.jpg

Photo/City of Portland

By Scott Ziegler

While bouncing around a few different departments before finally landing a spot at the one I always wanted, I noticed a trend ... well, several trends (including politicians that see very little value in their firefighters). But that’s not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the other unit — yep, those guys you see coming and going in the morning.

What’s up with those guys? It’s like they work for a different department. Here are the top five complaints I have about the other unit:

1) They never clean anything

Everyday we have to pick up after them, like they’re a bunch of children. It’s like they come to work and make the station a flop house for the day, because they know that we’ll clean it up later.

2) They can’t put out a fire

How many times have you had to go put out a rekindle that the other unit failed to extinguish the first time? I mean, come on. Put the wet stuff on the red stuff. How hard is that?! Did they even do overhaul? Did they even use any water?

It’s as if they stood around when the fire was half way out and said “the other unit will get this.” I shake my head. Don’t worry about it guys, we will take care of it for you. Glad I work on the good unit.

3) They never leave food

Do they even eat? Or do they just order out everyday? I don’t know about your department, but we make soup every morning out of the leftovers from the other unit. But for some reason, they rarely leave anything good. It’s like they take it all home with them or something.

4) They never do the “extra” stuff

We all know that there are side projects that need to be tackled around the fire house. And we all know that the other unit will never be the one to do it.

5) And finally, they never, EVER put fuel in the rigs

I don’t know why anyone would want to work on the other unit. For a couple years, I actually had to work on the other unit. And the craziest part about my time with the other unit was ... we were way better than the other one.

It seems that no matter what unit you’re on, the other is worse. I always found it to be kind of funny the way we talked about the other unit, because they were saying the same things about us. Only difference is, it’s the truth when we said it about them.

Uniform Stories features a variety of contributors. These sources are experts and educators within their profession. Uniform Stories covers an array of subjects like field stories, entertaining anecdotes, and expert opinions.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU