Firehouse Forums Sparks International Association Of Crusty Old Jakes

What started out as a single post on the Firehouse.com forums has grown into an international organization of diverse, yet likeminded firefighters striving for the same goal - to make their job a little easier and a little safer by sharing their experience and camaraderie.

The International Association of Crusty Old Jakes was born in 1999 after Firehouse.com forum user Capt. Gonzo, also known as Capt. Ron Ayotte, saw too much disrespect and dishonesty among the anonymous firefighters online. After one particular discussion thread got out of hand and was shut down, "I said maybe it's time for a new organization," Ayotte said. "I just threw this out on a whim."

Ayotte suggested an online organization of firefighters who would respect one another's opinions, hold themselves to higher standards as firefighters, and communicate in order to make things better for firefighters rather than to attack one another.

He posted the membership requirements as follows:

* An appreciation of the job, respect for those who did the job while you were still in diapers and the sacrifices made by those who preceeded us.

* A willingness to honor the past, think outside of the box, challenge the future, train and learn new stuff (in other words....building more crust! )

* A willingness to take the next generation under your wing and show them the true path to firefighting enlightenment...making them "pup proof"

* A dislike for "mutts".

* A love of leather helmets! (it's okay if you don't have one, ya just gotta love them! )

* Doing your time as a "lower than whale scat probie" without complaints or regrets.

* Crawling down a long, smokey hallway with zero visibility.

* Knowing what it's like to be on the other side of an opposing hose stream.

* Working together to make the job better rather than fight among each other!

* Respecting each other in the true spirit of brotherhood/sisterhood.

* PS: you don't have to be crusty and old to join...just be willing to make the transformation!

Ayotte was surprised when after his post, "All of a sudden there were answers to my post saying where do I sign up. It just snowballed from there," he said.

The group soon started an official website and has grown to 212 members, both career and volunteer, and ranging from cadets to chiefs to firefighter support staff. Members come from all across the U.S. and countries including New Zealand, England and Australia.

"It's truly an international association of crusty old jakes," Ayotte said.

One night they even held elections to choose officers for the organization. "They call me the president because it was my idea," Ayotte said. Ayotte has been in the fire service for 22 years and serves as a captain at the Marlborough Fire Department in Massachusetts.

In addition to communicating over their forums, IACOJ members hold Sunday night chat room meetings. "We talk about things that happened during the week, and it's all the same," he said. Whether career or volunteer, he said, firefighters are looking for solutions to the same basic problems such as staffing and funding shortages.

IACOJ members share advice and discuss news, scenarios and strategies. Ayotte said the sharing of everyone's experience is extremely valuable regardless of rank.

"Some say you don't know anything if you're not a chief, but who's doing all the work? It's the grunts," Ayotte said.

"Our entire site, our organization, it's an education process," he said. "We make mistakes and we learn from them."

Ayotte said most members discover the IACOJ through the Firehouse.com forums or by word of mouth, so many of the members are already familiar with each other from the Firehouse forums or the Firefighterclosecalls website.