All of us have heard it. All emergency personell are accussed of it. Some people truely believe that the only reason we join the fire dept, ems or even police is so we can feel powerful and for the almighty lights and sirens.

Recently, I heard a person accusing my fire department of this idiotic idea. Although I did not say anthing because I knew I would loose my temper and make the department look bad, I couldnt help but let it anger me. How could people even come up with this idea? Do they not realize that we're just trying to help the public? That each and everyone of us have to spend countless hours in the firehouse using our personel time to perform maintenance on the equipment we use. That many of us have taken our vacation time just to learn how to help save them from a burning building or a crashed car.

It is my guess that we spend 80% of our time getting ready for a call. Keeping the equipment maintained, applying for grants and many other tasks require many hours of our personal time. I ask anyone that thinks that ANY of us are in this profession, whether volunteer of paid, for lights and siren should simply join the Fire Dept. Maybe they will then see how much responsibility you are given from day one.