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First interior attack in awhile. At 55 and outa shape, realizing I'm getting too old for this kinda stuff. The fires I like to respond to are the ones you don't have to roll out any hose for. The young ones we have (thank god) seem to get all jazzed up for them. I hate'em, just kidding. I'm guessing this is the natural progression for volunteer firefighters coming to the end of their firefighting days.
This comes to every one over time, especially in this profession, gone are the days of rising from bed,running to a veh (with a memory of the pager info),starting and running an established distance with or with out own turn out gear,try to make an engine or a veh as dependent on Co policy as to POVs at scenes of any type of alarm..and then preforming your duty as assigned or as what position u end up on a particular rig..every one trains for this. its not something which is even completed under probie status.. plus today requirements are tougher,more wide spread as diverse.. 20 yrs ago we did not have to be EMTs.but today...20 yrs ago we were still riding tail boards..dressing on hosebeds, laying some cases only 3" lines over todays 5"....using ground ladders as lack of time frame for a truck company..and so forth.. I was lucky to had to leave by medical reasons,those who continue may find themselves carried away...its a shame but its part of life as a fire fighter...even devoted Drivers/Pump Ops can end up the above way.. its your life...too..
It's not necessarily an end to your days as volunteer fire fighter. Oh sure doing an interior attack isn't as easy as it used to be but there are still things you can do, like teach those younger members some of the things you learned over the years.
I just turned 46, and like you I feel like I am getting to old for it but there are still a few good runs in me. Not many but still a few.
I may be the exception, and I am by no means belittling either of you guys, but DAMN, I still love dragging that hose down that hallway and facing the dragon and kicking its ***. I am 50 and while sometimes I suffer those aches and pains, the satisfaction of doing the job still does it for me.
I can see a time when it will be over and it may be that I wrap it all up when I retire from the career job in 5 years. Or I may stay a few years more as a volly if I am still feeling it. Time will tell.
Not necessarily time to hang it up, just time to move up. Get up in the ranks and bit and take care of more management/administrative stuff. On the scene, do command roles (even on the interior if you've got multiple teams), safety officer, things like that.
As you get more experience (not older ;) ) you start to realize a fire is 20 minutes of fun followed by 2 hours of work. :D
Toby Keith was right. "Not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was!" Still loving dragging the line in, just hate having my a** dragging when I come out.;)
Well I have a little update to this thread. 30 hours after the successful save of the structure, got siren-ed and toned out again to the same location. This time at 1:30am and the structure wholly involved. First arriving units remarked that the fire had started in the center of the house this time instead of the north kitchen wall as was last time. Fire inspector/marshal returned and requested the dog this time. Still no determination. Suspicious to us however.
After the overhaul and return to the station which of course means wash-downs and refills, the usual, I stepped into my home at 5:30am and my wife yells up that we had got toned again. Fire call again. This time I felt almost righteous after our 20-30 year old young firefighters were bitchin' about how this was getting a little too much, hated fires and were dragging ***.
Guess I'm not so bad off as I thought. Well I was one tired bastardo yesterday, but I did sleep happily though.
Didn't feel belittled one bit. As far as steppin up in administation, already been there and even though they keep asking me to take office, I plan to stay as grants administrator, as 'Catch 22' knows. I keep trying to manuver our younger FF's to accept office and mold them to that position. The real kicker is to get them to lead properly at the fire scene. Not get on a nozzle, but to delegate who gets on the nozzle and who does what. Important that I do not become a leader behind the officer. I feel its important that membership now look to the future and if that occurs I will not feel I left them hanging if and when I decide to stand aside.Quote:
Originally Posted by FyredUp
As someone who has been a firefighter for over thirty years I'm still involved. Only now I'm a Fire Commissioner. I feel I can help out more there than I can beating my self up in the hallway pulling an 1 3/4 with all those kids. LOL
Yep my father is in the same boat as many of yall that have responded to the OP. He will turn 50 and retire after 30+ yrs with the Georgia Forestry Commission next June (he was a volly with our county FD for about 10 yrs until wonderful me came along lol). He laughs at me constantly for running out the house (missing the last 3 steps as I hit the ground running) heading to a call. Sure he still gets excited on a good wildland fire, but that S*** eating grin on his face is a little harder to catch now lol.
In my Department I guess I'm the most senior person in the jumpseat. I have been in my dept for 27 years mostly in the jumpseat. My age is 49 and I'm getting a few ache and pains. But I still get up at three in the morning for a structure fire and make the first engine out. It's in my blood. I don't know how else to explain it. I still love fighting the red dragon but don't get that excited. I also love teaching the younger firefighters a few tricks if they want to learn. I still would rather pack two sets of three inch hose then one set of 5 inch. Also there was nothing like riding the back of a engine to a working fire. but times change for the good and safty of the members. To all the seniors members don't fade away there is alot you can teach. Also If thing go bad your experience will pay off. Because What makes a good firefighter but years of experience. So stay safe out there!
Well, I try to do what I can at incidents. Sometimes it kicks my *****, sometimes it doesn't. I guess that's the adrenaline. If it lasts a long time then I usually can do things including interior attack. If it doesn't well, I just slow down a bit.
There are good days and there are bad ones. Of course if I lost a little bit a weight, it might help me last a bit longer.
Keep your heads up!!! When I joined at age 24 I can only tell you how intimidated I was by the older members pulling those lines seemingly without breaking a sweat and making things look easy. I kept wondering how these guys were doing it when I was giving it everything I could just to keep up and I consider myself to be in fairly good shape. Never let up... it really does make us younger guys push harder and we need it!!!!! :)
Just turned 48 a couple of weeks ago. Work as a career Asst. Chief in a small combination dept. This usually puts only 2 of us on the truck and volunteers and off duty personnel respond from home, etc., so even as a chief officer, if I'm on duty I usually am on a line or in the woods on a wildfire. If I'm off and respond I may do overhead duties, Ops, IC, etc. , just depends on everyone's arrival on scene and what needs to be done. Either way I still enjoy the hell out of it and yes, I do ache more than 10 years ago, but its worth it.
You guys are making me feel bad about how long I might be able to serve as a volunteer after joining at age 39....Hope I hold up at least 10 years.
just watch and smile to yourself as you watch the pups go. i started in this dept in 1972 at the old age of 17. know have been chief 7 mo shy of 20 yrs. still make first round of rigs out on fires. but as said above little more tired at the end and sore in the morning but i love the service and the look on the youg ff faces when we make a good save, guess ill last a little longer. be safe old men and teach what we leared the hard way.
Here I am getting hooked on posting again. I made one post yesterday and now I can't keep my eyes off the forums.
I hope you guys don't mind me lumping myself in with the ones that see that I am not as good as I once was. I am only 38 but diabetes and surgeries have gotten me slowing down. I am Deputy Chief now so my place is obviously not inside but when ever an alarm drops I still feel that race of adrenaline. I want so bad to go in or do the extrication work on a vehicle and it is so hard to hold back. That little command circle I am suppose to stay in gets stretched often. But, there is a role for me on the FD and I will do it to the best of my ability.