Firefighters serve with compassion, deserve respect Part 2

My Day as a Part of the Crew

My morning started bright and early with the Huber, Steve Miner and Captain Lane Halverson.

During my ride-along I was able to see the importance of the day-to-day duties as fires can be few and far between.

The morning started with basic “housekeeping” tasks of cleaning up the hall, but also making sure all equipment on the truck was cleaned and ready to go in case of an emergency.

Miner and Huber make sure that the truck is cleaned and ready to go for the day. A clean fire truck, is a happy fire truck and helps ensure everything is in working order in case of emergencies. 

Little things like making sure there’s enough gas in the truck can be the difference between life and death in a tricky situation.

Making sure all the equipment is clean and rust-free can make it more efficient when the time to use it arrives.

Within the first 90 minutes of my day, Huber showed me the importance of keeping the jaws of life in working order and Miner took me through the walk through of checking the operation of the truck and even having me double check with him that the water was full.

The crew also has to make sure that their station is in proper living conditions as it is their home away from home. Halverson mowed the lawn and Huber cleaned the bathroom, just as they would for their family at home.

Some days can be very slow, some are filled with trainings and others will send the crew out from call to call, never getting time to even sit down for lunch.

The day I rode along with the men from Superior, we had three medical calls.

Every time the call went out, I got excited to see the men I was spending the day with spring into action. One time we even went from eating lunch to in the truck and ready to roll out in less than 30 seconds.

It was impressive the way they were able to switch gears from telling a story over a plate of spaghetti (which was incredible by the way) to potential life saving mode.

Miner was the driver, Halverson, as Captain, sat shotgun and I sat in the back with Huber. We were able to communicate through headsets. They spoke instructions to each other, answered my questions and also joked when the time was right.

I was unable to go into medical calls and inspections, so I had some time in the truck by myself. Here is a shameless selfie of me with my headset while waiting during an inspection.

We went to a number of buildings for inspections – and although inspecting work might be tedious it’s also key in fire prevention. Some businesses were open and easily accessible for the firefighters and others weren’t. Local businesses have to be inspected on a regular basis, some monthly, some twice a year and sometimes once a year. In Superior, lists are split up by location and crews are given a month to complete the list.

In order to keep up to date on new medical techniques and new technologies, the crew often attends training sessions during the days, and still answers a call if one comes in.

The Superior Fire Department recently went through tourniquet training and even mayday drills.

A few photos of views from my seat in the fire truck. 

They are given time to workout as being in good physical condition is crucial to their success.

On the day I spent with the crew, all three men had family members visit or at least attempt to. Calls foiled some of the attempts to say hi to dad, but that’s the nature of the business. Wives understand and kids try their best to as the dad’s quickly sprung into action.

After 5 p.m. the crew is given more leeway on what to do with their day. At that time, they often are able to do a little more relaxing and what they want. They listen to music, watch movies, bake, just about anything that they’d do at home, even though it is typically without their family.

This photo was taken near the end of my day with the Superior Fire Department. They were sure to give me proper equipment in case we were called out to a fire that day.

Forming a Work Family

The Superior Fire Department has less than 40 crew members and each individual crew has 3-4 people on at a time. Their schedule is a work one day and then have two days off type of schedule, but schedules can vary from city to city.

“I look at every day like it’s already Friday,” said Miner of going into work.

He said sometimes that makes it easier if you have to miss something important.

Joe Tribbey is a father of five and just recently was able to take the truck and his crew to his son’s baseball game, but it doesn’t always work that way.

Christmas’ and other holidays can be spent away from loved ones and some miss their child’s first words or first steps.

But the crew tries to be fair and to take care of each other when time off is needed.

As the every third day working schedule is pretty easy to follow. Trades are allowed as long as they’re scheduled in advance if possible. As long as all people are in position, there are generally no problems.

Filling in on a crew can be fun, but being part of your own crew is even better.

Getting to know each other’s personalities and what makes people tick can be fun (too much butter being left out of the fridge for example). Pranks can be played and the crew enjoys evenings together watching movies and eating pizza.

“If we’re not joking and laughing, something is wrong,” Huber said.

All the other men I talked to said the same thing, a happy go-lucky crew that gets their job done is the best kind as it means morale is high.

They crew knows each other’s families and keeps tabs on how each other’s kids are doing in  school and in sports.

One of the favorite pranks I heard about was filling one man’s food cabinet with peanut butter puff cereal. As payback, he put one piece of peanut butter cereal into every container possible in the other’s food cabinet.

The pranks are never destructive or dangerous, just good natured, fun.