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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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on February 2, 2008 at 10:11pm
Whats that siren, I couldn't quite hear ya. Why you being so QU ends with IET? LOL
Permalink Reply by Tim on February 2, 2008 at 10:35pm
We have a silly thing that happens that I thought was just a vet pullin' my chain when I first heard about it but in the 4 years I've been with this district I've seen it happen every time. If a rookie states something like "Geez it's quiet." or something to that effect, we get a major call within 10 minutes. I'm here to testify that this is true! It blew my mind after like the 5th time it happened.
Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on February 2, 2008 at 11:07pm
If we have two calls in one day (we're rural, folks, not too busy here) we say "see you at number 3" meaning that calls often come in threes. Most times it stays at two, but sometimes we get to 3 or 4 and on one recent occasion SIX.

Another thing I try to avoid is going to bed too early. If I retire early (before 10) seems like we always get something.
Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on February 2, 2008 at 11:20pm
Thats NOT stupid Chris.. I've never recieved a new pair of gloves, boots Bunker pants , Coat etc without breaking em in.. I was the last member (regular line member) to get Bunker pants back in the Day, the East side chief rather then my own chief on the west side delivered them,and Told me HERE Put em On duty NOW, as I put one leg on the boot there was an east side Box 1603 hours well, put it this way, That Night NO one ate supper on the entire Job ..lol
Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on February 3, 2008 at 9:21am
I agree with you Joe. The crap hits the fan in series of 3's. (or so it seems) We generally will hang out at the station after the first call because often enough the tones coming for #2.
Permalink Reply by Chris Scherzer on February 3, 2008 at 10:35am
Sometimes i think its the people I work with, when I work an ambulance shift with a particular Medic we always get weird calls. One weekend we even got 2 GSW calls, which is weird for the rural area I work in.
Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on February 3, 2008 at 3:35pm
I was given a St. Florian charm when I left my old job to come to the Fire Service. I have taken it off three times since then (wardrobe issue... lol) but always wear it to work. I always make sure at the beginning of each day (or night) to lay my gear out the same way every time. It's trivial and more so I don't have to think about it... but when something is misplaced or in the wrong spot (like the last time I had to fiddle with my flash hood), the simple alarm turns into a very smoky mess!!
Permalink Reply by Johnathan Turner on February 3, 2008 at 3:58pm
We have a truck washing curse. When ever we wash any of our engines, we get a fire or some other conflaguration. If we wash our squads, then there will be a run and it will involve mud.Everytime like clockwork. Another is the OSU Home game curse, where whenever OSU plays at home, we have at least 2 emergency calls, one night it ended up being 3 EMS and 1 FD call.
As for myself, me and my brother both volunteer on the same dept and we tend to stick together on incidents. We have this habit that we hit each others helmet "for luck." Hasn't failed us yet so far!
Permalink Reply by Johnathan Turner on February 3, 2008 at 4:01pm
Yeah we've had to threaten the greenhorns with violence for saying it. And we make them clean the Unit afterwords.
Permalink Reply by Dan Hoey on February 3, 2008 at 4:42pm
Pic of my kids and my brother who was killed in line of duty in helmet
Permalink Reply by Mike W. on February 3, 2008 at 5:30pm
The patron saint of EMTs is the same patron saint for police officers, St. Michael the Archangel. I gave my son a Saint Michael medal when he became a combat medic with the Illinois Army National Guard. He later got deployed in Colorado Springs as, of all things, an MP. He went on to become a Denver police officer - so St. Michael is still on the job.
Permalink Reply by Brittany on February 3, 2008 at 6:33pm
The "third call" rule applies!! We'll have two false alarms or small calls (possible fire, smell of smoke in the house, controled burn.) and then the third one is always a big structure fire. So far, we've had a pot of chicken stew caught on fire when the owner fell asleep, smoking up the house, and a false alarm. So we're on edge.
Wrecks always come in pairs!
And we were just talking about the clean engine thing the other day! Everytime we wash the trucks, we have a brush fire or something and have to take them "mudding".

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