Now that more and more women are entering the fire service, officers are scratching their heads on how to handle new situations that are arising around the firehouse! One fire department decided to give the female firefighters their own room with a locking door and their own bathroom and shower. Another fire department felt that separating male and female firefighters was segregation, so they all sleep in the same room with a curtain for privacy and take turns using the shower. Some male firefighters feel that giving females private rooms and bathrooms is being bias and giving special treatment. I could care less either way, but for those guys use to walking around in their boxers and God forbid naked(we all have that one crazy nudist in our dept), it might pose a problem! Should male and female firefighters be separated in the firehouse?
Hello all, in our station we have 4 seperate small rooms - 1 for each firefighter. Its the best thing we ever did. We have our own tv, small ac, and heater. We eat together, bond over tv in the day room recliners, and train together.Get with the program folks, who wants to sleep with someone who is sick or snoring/coughing,kicking their feet, drooling, farting, muttering in their sleep, ot just plain stinky? the ones not wanting to have seperate quarters are the ones that are doing the snoring, etc. they don't care because they're the only ones getting good sleep. Look at all the sleep deprivation studies and the affects on health, heart, etc from having the "brotherhood" sleeping quarters. A little alone time in the firehouse goes along way towards harmony. so, a little privacy for everybody regardless of gender seems to be a good thing. I don't care what gender you are if I can't sleep because of you. It certainly didn't cost millions for the 4 small rooms. They all lock if you want to-I don't think anyone does except for changing clothes, etc. While I'm at it our testing is exactly the same for both genders. Oh, and the guys like to use the girls shower because it is cleaner and smells nicer than theirs.
Hey Jake, they ask me if they can use our shower. The guys shower is right off the day-room, the girls shower is more private which proves that guys like some privacy as much as us girls. And I bet my shampoo smells better than theirs. They like to use the bathroom, too for the same reason-and believe it or not most of them put the toilet seat down- better than at home! Itf that ain't respect I don't know what is.
Oh and while we're on the subject of respect- no-one is allowed to screw with people's gear, we all share one fridge-nobody steals each others food- and we share groceries. Nirvana, huh?
I look at it this way, Sleeping arrangments can be coed in the bunk room. It is not like anyone can do anything in there anyway with a full staff. When you sleep (or should i say when I sleep) I have a minimum of running shorts on. The tones drop, i slip right into my gear and it is not a problem. As for the shower and bathroom issues, i can see those being seperate. If i was a women, i would not want to go pee where a bunch of guys where, god knows that 1/2 of them cant hit the toliet anyway, esp in the mornings.
I think women in the stations is a good idea and as long as people use there think bucket then there really is not an issue.
Wives, girl friends, husbands etc have to understand and trust their other 1/2 in this industry. It is not going to change things by worrying about what he/she is going to do while at work. If they worry that much then i highly suggest finding a new soul mate.
We have fun at our station and everything is Coed with the exception of the potty and shower. It works and thus far event free.
At our department the chief is a woman, and we have 1 female firefighter on our crew. There is a women's bathroom with a shower stall in it, and of course we have the men's lockeroom/showers that much larger. As for the bunks, we have one big bedroom thats separated into 9x9 "dorms" with a curtain for a door. Everyone respects their own privacy, although on the shift with the female the "tomfoolery" isn't as severe with the other shifts. Like Jake said, no its not fair, it cuts into the budget for things we really need, but of course there is the issue of the law suits. Its going to be done one way or the other, best thing we can do is just sit and complain about it while it still goes on. My $0.02.
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