What is Success in the Fire Service?
Everyone has their reasons for joining the fire service. Whether it be from family members who are in the fire service already or an experience that the fire service helped you when you were in need, everyone has their reasons. What you have to realize is this job isn’t for everyone. I have been told this too many times to count. It takes a special kind of person to be able to get up in the middle of the night, with only an hour of two of sleep, and having to work at the best of your ability in the most stressful situations for hours; Not ever knowing when that call is going to come in. It could be a medical call for someone who is having chest pain to a raging fire with a family trapped inside. It could even be that kitten stuck in tree. You never know, but this will really take a toll on your body and your mind, and you have to be ready for it.
As well as the reasons, everyone has their own opinions of what success means to them in the fire service. It can mean a lot of different things but everyone has their own opinions on it. I talked to a few different people about what their opinions are and I was astonished at what they had to say. Some of them I know pretty well and some I don’t know as well, but I learned more about them by just asking what success in the fire service was to them. Asking myself the same question made me think and learned something about myself as well.
Wanting to get further insight into what my peers define as success when it comes to our line of work, I went to fellow members of my department. Kelly, a firefighter of one year on Union, told me she defines fire service success as, “Being there for our community when we are needed. The whole purpose of our job is to respond to any and all emergencies that we are called to. I define our success by knowing that the community that we serve is confident in our abilities, and knows that we will always be there for them when needed”. Kelly went on to tell me her story of how she joined the department, how a tragic car accident “fueled her inner fire” and was the driving factor behind her making the switch from becoming a cop to becoming a firefighter. Hearing her story was just another eye-opening reminder as to why we do what we do, and why I myself have chosen the life I have thus far.
Another firefighter at my department had somewhat of the same view. A friend of mine, Zach, who is on my department gave me his opinion, and he didn’t exactly know what to say at first. Being you don’t get asked this very often, or at all, you don’t really know what to say. Some people may know off the top of their head, but many don’t. Zach told me, “The biggest success in the fire service for me is helping someone make their worst day into a better one! Because everyone’s life matters and everyone’s life falls apart sometimes but god made us first responders to come and try to make it better!” This goes back to what I had said earlier, that being a firefighter takes a special person to be able to work at 100% of your ability for hours.
My lieutenant had a different view. He knew exactly what he wanted to say the minute I asked the question. Having been around for a little while now, I can see that lieutenant Dan is very hardworking and I can tell he is passionate about the service. I respect him a lot, and probably more than he knows. When I asked him what he thought success was, he told me this, “Success to me in the fire service is going home everyday with everything you came with. 10 fingers, 10 toes. I want the respect of my peers, but i’m not going to beg for it. I feel i’ve earned my spot and i’m going to keep earning it everyday.” When he says coming home with what he left with leaves a very good point. Not only are you there to keep those who called 911 safe, but you also need to keep yourself safe. This should be the plan of every first responder.
After asking them what success is, made me really think to myself what I really think success is. When I think about success in the fire service, I think about helping those people who are having their worst days. People don’t normally like calling 911, so when they do, it is people that are having one of the worst days of their lives. Success is doing the job right and doing it to the best of my ability. Being able to make that difference in someone’s lives and leaving an impression. But at the same time, success is making sure that I am safe in the process. Success is knowing everything I need to know in order to do my job, my duty. Success is being the best first responder I can possibly be. That is what success means to me.
I have always been helping people and going out of my way to help those in need. That is my big reason for joining the fire service. Everyone has their own reasons, but mine is to help those who are in dire need of it. To help those who feel that their lives are breaking down at that moment. Everyone has their own opinion of what success is, and I feel that is what drives them to be the best they can be. Not everyone can do this job, But I feel I am more than capable.
