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Permalink Reply by Russ on December 21, 2010 at 10:34pm

i guess you cant see the thread because "your" mask is fogged (just kidding)...i'm a pro, my mask never foggs. i agree with jim, knowing what everyones helmet color and how many lights we have on our pov's is just more important than mask fogging-LOL...(personally)-i find those posts entertaining but they do taka away from the sprit of subjects we can discuss here. the best one this year was the "quotes about the fire service" i found them inspirational and some i have never heard before. Merry christmas or is that forbidden to say now?

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on December 22, 2010 at 9:50am

I take those discussion in the spirit of fun, and I don't see anything wrong with them as long there's still room for the discussions about technique, training and the passing-on of knowledge that this site is also a medium for.

Frankly, I think FFN is the perfect place for newbies, wannabes and others who have a "dumb question" to ask it. I would rather talk about helmet colors, lights, etc on here than during a actual training class.

Let's face it, everyone has at least one dumb question they've always wondered about, but never asked because it was a "dumb question," and when you ask it on here not only do you have at least a feeling of anonymity, perhaps allowing you to ask that "dumb question" while saving face, but you get the perspective of people outside of your own department.

Let's take the helmet color question. Why do so many people ask such a "dumb question?" It has nothing to do with how to fight fire, conduct a rescue or do your job...or does it? Most people understand the colors within their own department, and understand that color identifies where in the chain of command a person fits for easy identification (i.e. Captains wear red helmets, Chiefs wear white, etc...) When you see four firefighters and three have black helmets and one has a red helmet, you know who is leading that group.

Newbies, NUGs, fresh meat, probies, rookies, or whatever, want to understand what the colors in other departments mean because as they get into this job, they realize that every department uses different helmet colors, and it is one of the few things in the Fire Service for which there really isn't a standard. My department uses only three colors (Black, Red and White) but the department we run mutual aid with uses six (Black, Yellow, Red, Blue, White and Orange). So the New guy says to himself, "What the Hell is up with all these colors?" but because it doesn't really have anything to do with fire fighting, and he's already getting harassed for asking "dumb questions" he doesn't bother. Then he finds FFN and decides to ask some of those questions away from the firehouse, outside of a training environment, and promptly gets bullied into shutting up or quitting the website.

From my perspective, if you don't care about helmet color questions, word games, POV lights or other "dumb subjects" then don't read those threads, let the newbies get their answers, let people enjoy their off-duty games and you can stick to only the subjects you do like.

I personally like to answer the newbies questions so they feel welcome to keep asking questions and eventually their questions will move into more serious territory because they weren't "kicked in the head" for asking "dumb questions" as they navigated their way into this new Brotherhood they have joined.

There's the kind of big brother who constantly beats up his younger brothers and sisters, and there's the kind who guides, teaches and mentors his younger brothers and sisters. I chose to be the later.

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Permalink Reply by joemac on December 28, 2010 at 11:12am

"Let's take the helmet color question. Why do so many people ask such a "dumb question?" It has nothing to do with how to fight fire, conduct a rescue or do your job...or does it? Most people understand the colors within their own department, and understand that color identifies where in the chain of command a person fits for easy identification (i.e. Captains wear red helmets, Chiefs wear white, etc...) When you see four firefighters and three have black helmets and one has a red helmet, you know who is leading that group.

Newbies, NUGs, fresh meat, probies, rookies, or whatever, want to understand what the colors in other departments mean because as they get into this job, they realize that every department uses different helmet colors, and it is one of the few things in the Fire Service for which there really isn't a standard. My department uses only three colors (Black, Red and White) but the department we run mutual aid with uses six (Black, Yellow, Red, Blue, White and Orange). So the New guy says to himself, "What the Hell is up with all these colors?" but because it doesn't really have anything to do with fire fighting, and he's already getting harassed for asking "dumb questions" he doesn't bother. Then he finds FFN and decides to ask some of those questions away from the firehouse, outside of a training environment, and promptly gets bullied into shutting up or quitting the website.

From my perspective, if you don't care about helmet color questions, word games, POV lights or other "dumb subjects" then don't read those threads, let the newbies get their answers, let people enjoy their off-duty games and you can stick to only the subjects you do like.

I personally like to answer the newbies questions so they feel welcome to keep asking questions and eventually their questions will move into more serious territory because they weren't "kicked in the head" for asking "dumb questions" as they navigated their way into this new Brotherhood they have joined."

One of the best posts. Ever.

There are no stupid questions, but there seems to be no shortage of dumb answers, IMHO.

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