Fire departments are para-military organizations. As with most things in life this leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Some departments are run with strict military disipline, while others are lax at the firehouse. But as we know, there is no room for discussion on the fire ground.

In San Jose, we lived by the OAG (Official Action Guide). This very thick 3-ring binder had rules covering everything from when you got up in the morning to how long your hair or mustache could be (a major issue when I came on the job). The hair rule was accompanied by a drawing. This person started out looking like a WW11 German soldier. By the time I retired, the picture had morphed into a black, Hispanic, White woman-man. The OAG contributed most of our promotional test material along with the 10 or so other books you needed to memorize. "Training will cease at 90 degrees or Training will cease at above 90 degrees" were the fine points that could cost you a promotion shot.

The unwritten rules were how we lived our day-to-day lives. In big houses with dorms of 4 or 5 guys reading lamps were a big deal. How well the house and rigs were maintained and by whom caused lots of friction. Tradition had it that the off-going shift cleaned the rigs in the morning for the oncoming shift. This worked fine unless there were shift issues. When I was house captain at a multi-rig station
(a duty that is transferred yearly between shifts) I got so tired of mediating rig cleaning complaints that I changed it to the oncoming shift will clean the rigs. That way the rig is cleaned to that crews' specifications. Same thing with rigs being inventoried: oncoming does the inventory as they are responsible for every screwdriver in the tool box. Inter-shift battles and sometimes battles between the same shift members were fierce. Food issues, cleaning issues, and phone issues (before cell phones) caused numerous problems. A battalion chief was usually in quarters at the large firehouses. San Jose had 5 on duty. In theory, they were guests at the firehouse but there are good guests and bad guests. We had our share of both. Their quarters were on the first floor near the TV room. The volume of the TV made for some interesting nights. Grown men do throw temper tantrums.