Fire service, EMS, rescue good luck charms, signs of bad luck, superstitions and traditions

As part of my MS degree in emergency services, I am writing a book on emergency services superstitions, luck charms, things that are believed to bring disaster, etc. I'd love to hear what you have to share. For me, even though its a police thing, I carry the St. Michael's medal that my father wore during 37 years as a sheriff's deputy/detective.

So, share away...

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My Daughter gave me a FD medal when she was young i never take it off( never)
i have a coin with a maltese cross on it. and on the back it has a prayer on the back. my girlfriend got it for me. its actually split in half so she has half and i have half. i never take it off.
I know this is wrong but I NEVER wash my helmet, and when I first washed it I missed a major structure fire, never again.
Our department has noticed that if we have more than one call, they'll come in threes. That just seems to be how it happens. It almost never stays at two. Another strange thing that I notice as well is that when the two departments that ours goes AMA with to structure fires, get pounded with calls all day, we get one and usually only one. I don't know if it's really a superstition, but if it keeps going that way, it might turn into one later on down the road.
I'm the same way. My turnout gear gets washed for health reasons and to protect the integrity of the gear itself, but never the helmet.
I wish I had noticed your "fires happen in 3s" comment before I posted mine. Well, I guess it adds another persons confirmation to to it.
While it's been mentioned before, we have a firm belief in black sheep.
I joined a second fire department and my first call with them was a working house fire. YTD we've had about 20 structure fires. (that's way above average for us.)

Also we just got a new weekend BC and it seems like whenever he's working as a BC, we get something big.
in my neck of the woods back home the one superstition is that holidays bring codes, either on the holiday its self or the ever or the day after is always a code
Being inherently lazy, I've not read the preceeding posts.

About our only superstitions are that if we get a second job in a day, then we'll get a third. (Around 300 calls a year, volunteer) And that if we have reports to call in, then one must be left on the stack or we'll get more that day. Nothing about disasters though!
Dunno if anyone has posted but things always come in 3's. Another thing is there is a house in our JD that everytime their dogs has puppies, something bad happens to it. The first time she had pups, their house caught on fire. The second time, a large tree fell on top of the dog house and on their house.
Good luck: when one is eating it is always advisable to "feed the radio" ( place a fry or piece of bread on the radio) i have never gotten dispatched while eating when we feed the radio. (sounds stupid but true)

Bad luck: never leave the clip board in the back of the truck when you are done with a job( especially not on the stretcher) it means youll get another call before the end of your shift. dumb but something my partner started a long time ago and it stuck.
Never let your new rookie talk about how they have never had a working code just not fun ( especailly when the freeze up and your doing cpr by yourself for 20 mins on the way to the hospital)
another true thing people tend to die at the change of seasons, and right after the holidays because alot of them "just hold on for one more..." ( christmas, summer, spring ect.)

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