Get The Book That Reveals What It's Really Like To Be A Volunteer Firefighter

"He was pretty sure he wanted to someday become a firefighter the night that he ran through a window while trying to catch a glimpse of a passing fire truck. He survived the incident with a few minor cuts and his grandmother continued to take him to the local fire station where his imagination ran wild. He had pretty much forgotten about firefighting during his teenage years until one day a fire truck passed by the open window of his English class. He was once again mesmerized. He badgered his physics teacher to get him an application to his fire hall and the next month he was a volunteer. Walking into his first firefighting class, he is bombarded by a series of four letter words that are being hurled at him by the class instructor. He learns the basics of firefighting hoping not to get hurt or killed along the way. He has heard rumors of career firefighters hating the volunteers. He gets along with most of them until he finds himself in the middle of an argument with one of them at the scene of a car accident. He gets suckered into coming down to the hall to work bingo one night and soon becomes a bingo chairman. A mistake in bingo calling one night leaves him wondering if the angry bingo mob will let him make it out of the hall alive. He can't believe a fellow firefighter's method of drug enforcement when a beer tent patron is caught smoking mother nature in a portable toilet. Underage drinking is the norm when he is out with his firefighting buddies and he takes second place in a bar contest - one whose contestants were supposed to be women. The smoke divers class he takes makes him question his ultimate abilities as a firefighter. A good friend tells him about the best job on the fire ground. He doubts his friend's proclamation until one morning he has to perform the job at the scene of a hot structure fire. Paramedics in the hall tell horror stories of calamities in the streets and he immediately signs up for an EMT class.

Soon he is practicing his skills with the fire department and he starts his own collection of stories of street medicine. An explosion at a working fire occurs in a nearby village and he must face his own mortality as a brother firefighter has made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. In his spare time he calls for a special meeting to try to secure an important piece of the fire company's history. City politicians are badgered by angry firefighters who want to know why the city is planning on permanently closing fire stations. His fire company throws some wild parties and his special act tends to leave him a bit richer than when he arrived at the party. He meets many new and strange people in his hall. Some amaze him and others terrify him, but he calls them all brothers." 

 At a landing, the stairs made a one hundred and eighty turn up to the second floor of the house. I remained on the landing feeding hose up to Duncan and Fred who had both disappeared into the darkness of the upper floor. I struggled to catch my breath as I was feeding hose, wondering what had ever made me become a volunteer firefighter. Twenty minutes earlier I had been dozing off in front of a Saturday afternoon sports show. Now I was in an unfamiliar building that was on fire, doing a job that usually claimed the lives of just over one hundred firefighters in the United States each year, and I was volunteering to do it. My mind raced as my task of feeding hose had ended. What would I do next? Did I have something to do right now? Were Fred and Duncan alright?

The sound of two ringing bells interrupted my chaotic thoughts. Fred and Duncan appeared at the top of the stairs, their low pressure air alarms still ringing. Fred pulled me over as he walked down the stairs. “Follow the hose up to the nozzle and wait there,” he said. I nodded my understanding and crawled on the floor, gripping the hose as if it might be my only chance of getting out of the house alive if something bad happened. I heard new muffled voices of firefighters about twenty feet behind me. They were searching for fire at the front of the house. I reached the nozzle and gazed at the back of the house. Blackened walls released steam upwards and it felt very hot where I was sitting. Duncan and Fred had found the fire.

As I stared at the walls, two small orange embers fell to the floor beside me and caught my eye. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was an eerie orange color. I heard the unmistakable sound of crackling wood above me. Then it appeared. A ball of fire that had been hiding in the attic raced to the back of the house. Half frozen from fear, I shouted at the top of my lungs, “I’ve got fire back here!”

Someone must have heard the desperation in my voice as a hand touched my shoulder within seconds.

“What’s the matter?” the calm voice questioned.

“I’ve got a lot of fire up above me.” I replied.

“Calm down and take a deep breath. It’s a simple concept and you can do it. Put the wet stuff on the red stuff, that’s all.” He said.

“OK, thanks.” I said as I regained my lost composure.

I felt the power of the hose press into my body as I opened the nozzle. I directed the water straight up to cool down the ceiling over my head. As that cooled down I shot the water right into the center of the fireball. Within seconds the fire had disappeared and it was replaced by a scorching blanket of steam that enveloped me. I continued to spray water until I was confident that I would not see the menacing face of the fire again. The ringing of my breathing apparatus low pressure alarm startled me and I shut down the hose. I left the nozzle behind me and walked towards the stairs. The group of firefighters that were at the front of the house had just pulled down a part of the ceiling with a pike pole. Looking up into the attic I saw nothing but a sea of arrange flame. I stared at it for a second and felt that I had somehow conquered fire that day, even if conquered only meant being able to control it for a short while.