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Why Firemen Eat Well to Protect Us

HotFiremanDips_and_SafetyTips

Venture to a firehouse and one will find a group of co-workers and friends so close they consider themselves family. They pretty much know everything about each other. They should — when they’re on shift, firefighters spend hours together at their home away from home. A typical full time firefighter works 24 hours at one time and is assigned to “A-Shift”, “B-Shift” or “C-Shift”. At some departments, firefighters on one shift work three days out of five, then have four consecutive days off. Others are at work 24 hours then off 48.[i]

While they’re working, it’s not unusual for firefighters to average anywhere from 3 to 13 calls per day. People who risk their lives to save others are as serious about their food as they are their jobs. With the communal setting and 24-hour shifts, food is baked into the firefighting culture. It feeds the soul and the mind as much as the belly.

As firefighting equipment gets more sophisticated, so does firefighter’s food. The days of four-alarm chili, BLTs and shepherd’s pie are giving way to vaca frita, fish tacos, vegan pita pizzas, baby back ribs grilled out back, brined chicken and always big pots of rice and beans. Salads — spring mix with strawberries and feta, dressed with a berry vinaigrette — and fresh fruit are de rigueur.[ii]

Firefighters need to cook meals that are healthy and economical. A common misconception is that the tax payer funds the firefighter’s meals.[iii] Not so — firemen pay into a communal budget to cover the cost of their meals. Key criteria that a firefighter’s ideal meal meets:[iv]

•Frugal — Most firefighters don’t make a lot of money and need to eat well while spending less

•Flexible — Firefighters on shift come and go during mealtime for fires and community assistance.

•Scalable — Meals need to be easily scaled up or down. A shift may have anywhere from six to 24 firefighters — a recipe needs to be able to be sized accordingly.

•Simple — No time to be elaborate when cooking for 10 hungry firefighters. The next “call for help” may come at any time. Keeping it simple is mandatory.

•Flavorful — Simple doesn’t mean boring and bland. Chili cook offs and those secret traditional recipes at various firehouses have proven the imagination of firefighting chefs around the world.

•Healthy — No one wants an unfit firefighter to come rescue them. Meals at the firehouse need to bring sustainable energy and build strength without being overly laden with fat and sugars.

•Made to be enjoyed together — The heart of any home is the kitchen and especially the dining table. The same is true for many firehouses. In what other profession do coworkers have a place to break bread together three times a day?

Recipes must be able to withstand abandonment — when an alarm sounds, everything is turned off and the crew responds to the emergency.[v] Upon return, they pick up where they left off. In some situations, like major fires, another company will cover the firehouse and if a meal is in mid-prep, those firefighters will finish cooking it — and not eat it — so it’s ready when the responders return. That behavior demonstrates fraternal courtesy.

When not responding to emergency situations, firefighters train and practice. A typical day involves maintenance of their equipment, maintenance of their firehouse and continual practice to hone their life saving skills. Added to all of those activities are shopping and cooking requirements to keep the shift well fed and healthy. Sometimes a shift has one designated “chef” who does all of the food preparation and cooking. Other arrangements call for those duties to rotate amongst the shift personnel. The firefighters charged with purchasing the food for upcoming meals go to the grocery store in their firefighting rig since they never know when an emergency may occur. They will abandon their shopping cart in mid-aisle if necessary.

The Hot Fireman Dips and Safety Tip’s Joe Russo is an excellent example of the firefighter chef! He recently competed in the MasterChef cooking competition airing June 1st on the Fox network and appears regularly in a video blog explaining how to prepare enticing dips while also sharing kitchen safety tips. His example exemplifies the firefighter’s sense of public duty with a long held tradition of eating well. You can find his latest video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK1QAyjhkgg.

The firefighter is an integral component of homeland security. Whether responding to fires, hazardous chemicals or mass casualty events — a firefighter is a front-line responder to potential homeland security threats. Ensuring that the firefighter is well conditioned, healthy and is physically fit to respond to emergencies is an important aspect of the firehouse chef. Having the physical and mental energy to respond to emergencies keeps the public secure.

Some final thoughts about what the public can do to support the firefighter: (A) firefighters are adept at making excellent meals, (B) they buy their own food and (probably) wouldn’t turn down a cake, turkey, or leftovers from a large gathering, (C ) if you have recipes that are delicious, healthy, cost efficient, foolproof or can be stopped mid-way, share them with your firehouse, and (D) bring gifts — a delicious treat is always welcome.

Finally, don’t miss our video about homeland security. Keep our firefighters and our country safe by reporting suspicious activity. You can see more on our video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLtjuC25QQ0.

[i] http://www.lifeandspaces.com/articles/view/Life-Inside-The-Firehouse

[ii] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article14059133.html

[iii] https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/meal-tips-for-healthy-firefighters/

[iv] http://eatlikeafirefighter.com/

[v] http://worththewhisk.com/2009/11/23/how-firefighters-cook-and-eat/

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