Add a Comment

Comment by TONYA HOLDEN on September 14, 2009 at 10:19pm

Hello my husband is the Assistant chief of a small Vol. Dept. in OK. I was on the Dept. with him as a figherfighter until June. I did go on calls with him but still worried about him. We are currently seperated he spent alot of time at the firehouse for one thing or another or training and it became a problem in our marriage. I hope someone can tell me if this is normal for there spouse to get so involved it takes time away from home. I am hoping we can work things out and we can be back together as husband and wife and firefighters

Comment by Teresa Weidemann on September 3, 2009 at 9:50am

Thanks Cynthia I was confused. Wanted to make sure that I signed up in the right place. I think a wives page/forum is wonderful. Thank you all for making me feel welcome.

Comment by Cynthia Mills on September 2, 2009 at 7:48pm

Teresa, I think it would best be described as a group within FFN. I mostly only go on this site because the women here are all the ones who understand the profession from my point of view too. Anyone else know of any other interesting groups or is it mostly broken down by professional titles and departments?

Comment by Teresa Weidemann on September 2, 2009 at 4:35pm

Is the firefighter's wives page separate from FFN? I've never joined or posted in any forum before. I joined FFN to be able to post to the wives' page. I guess I'll just keep looking around and maybe this will all make sense. LOL

Comment by Teresa Weidemann on September 1, 2009 at 5:59pm

Hi to all. I am new to this site In my former post I mentioned an "open door policy". I think I need to clarify. Our department does not have a written open door policy. When we first became a part of this department the Chief at that time made it clear that family was always welcome at the station. I have always felt (and still do)that the "door has always been open" to us. Hence...my statement of an "open door" policy. I hope this clears up any confusion.

Comment by Teresa Weidemann on September 1, 2009 at 12:44pm

Hello to all firefighters ladies. I'm new to this site but not the fire service. My husband and I have been married for 25years and he joined the fire department as a paid-on-call firefighter, 1 week after we married. We have 2 sons. One is a probationary firefighter on our department. The other is in high school.
Now my husband is a Deputy Chief and our situation is unique in that his position is a live-in position. Our home is attached to the fire station and he is "on call" 24/7 with 48 hours "off" each week. We are lucky that in our fire department wives and family are always welcome. Our stations are manned 24/7. Either by our three resident chief officers, our 2 full-time firefighters or our paid-on-call relief drivers. When a firefighter has relief duty his wife and family are always welcome to visit. We try to stay very family oriented as the support of family is crucial to a firefighter's well-being. Our open door policy also allows wives to get to know the firefighters that their husbands work with. When you get to know the others it helps to put your fears to rest. You learn to trust that your husband is in good hands when he responds on calls. The fear for his safety never leaves completely but it does help to know the firefighters he works with.
Thankfully our department responds to EMS calls more than fire calls.
Now that I've rambled on....I'll end. Thank you ladies for starting this group. It always helps to know that you are not alone in your fears and struggles as a firefighter's significant other. It takes a special person (man or women) to be a firefighter and it takes even more to be a firefighter's spouse/family.

Comment by Tessa on July 16, 2009 at 4:45pm

No fulltime female firefighters, one volunteer. The guys are deadset against anything to do with us having some type of group like the ones you described, says it takes away from their "guy time". Must just be small town mentality. lol

Comment by Pam Tichy on July 6, 2009 at 9:34am

For those who aren't welcome in the FD - a few questions - does your dept have any female firefighters, or EMS - if not it's time to recruite some; How about a support group or Auxiliary or FAST.
Our Auxiliary was named the ladies auxiliary and was the wives, sisterd & daughters, we are the support group - on and off the fire scene. We are also a social or fraternal group - we plan the summer family picnic and now that we have some new faces we are planning other BBQs and such to help build the relationships that are really critcal on the fire scene. The importance of the 'fFF family' goes far beyond the social aspect. It is a emotional support group - if a member is hurt or dies - that FF family WILL be there for you. As new members come in, the anxiety that spouses feel - we have ALL felt that way. An Auxiliary or what ever you call it can be an integral tool to a department. - It can even be a way to allow people to join who aren;t or can;t go into burining buildings. There is so much paperwork now, auxiliary members might be the computer savvy guy who is willing to file reports, or maybe a grant writer - it can be a great way to open up membership & benefit the departmetn as a whole.
If you don't have one locally, check into other/ similar depts in our county or see if your state has an association that can help support you in starting one.

Comment by Olivia on July 5, 2009 at 3:17pm

To all the fireman wives,
I have been a fireman's wive for 2 1/2 years or so. Looking for a place to talk about some of my stresses of being a Fireman's wive. My hubby works Full time at one firehouse( 24 on, 48 off) and then works his off days at another firehouse part time ( 7am - 7pm). I am having difficulty dealing with it all. Everywhere we go ( even on vacation) he will have his radio with him and if it good call comes in, he is gone. We were at a party last night and right after the party called up the fire station to see if he missed any good calls. Somedays I am ok with this lifestyle, and some days it is hard. It has gotten to the point recently that I am feeling depressed. I get very lonely. We do not have any children yet. I have been pregnant twice and miscarried twice. I do work full time myself Monday thru Friday and off weekends. I just want to know from you all if this is normal to experience this? I wonder to myself if I am really strong enough to go thru this day in and day out.

Thanks for listening.

Comment by Tessa on June 18, 2009 at 12:38am

Hey....can you all come to my hometown and make the department here see that wives are good for something? LOL

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next ›
• Page