There are many reasons to be a firefighter, some obvious and some maybe not so obvious. So here are my Top 10 Reasons to be a firefighter.

1) Everyone thinks you are a hero, even if you don’t believe that yourself. After the fires here in Colorado Springs, I am of the opinion that all of my former co-workers are freaking heroes and so does this entire city. The men and women of the Colorado Springs Fire Department (and all the other agencies that helped) proved themselves on that Tuesday night and the entire week of the fire to be heroic. So there I said it.

2) Chicks dig firemen it goes without saying I know, but it is true and as long as a fireman stays single he is free to explore that level of attraction from the fairer sex. Once he marries he becomes just another married guy and losses all his super powers.

3) We get paid to have more fun at work than any other profession outside of stand-up comedy. The fun had at work by firefighters is legendary even if not well publicized. I laughed more at work then in any other environment in the world. Truly some of the best day I ever had were in a firehouse. Oh but it is such a serious profession how can it be taken lightly? We don’t take the job for granted but we do have fun in between doing it and not doing it.

4)  We save lives, straight up save lives. There are people walking around today having dinner, playing with their kids, painting their houses, celebrating Christmas, anniversaries and birthdays because we showed up and did our job. Is there anything cooler than that in the world than doing that? None that I can think of and on those days when a formerly dead person stops by the fire station and says thanks, man those are great days.

5) When we get dressed for work nobody asks us what we do. We wear the coolest uniform. You may not know this but all that gear we wear at a fire costs around $1000 for a coat and $700 for pants, it also weighs in at over 100 pounds with air pack, helmet, tool belt and other add-ons. Why so much? Well it lets us walk around in fire and good stuff like Globe, Ranger, and Darley are well worth the bucks.

6) Kids dig us. There aren’t, in my opinion enough heroes for kids now days so firefighters, cops and military personal are a good source for kids. There is nothing like riding down the street on big red and spotting a kid in the car next to you waving their little arm off, it’s like being in a parade every day.

7) We have a front row seat at the biggest events you see on the news. We get to go to all that stuff you see on the evening news, all the stuff you wonder about, all the stuff you slow down to gawk at. We are there. I’m not saying what we see and do is anything you should envy, on the contrary leave that stuff to us, watch it on the news and please stop with the rubber-necking you slow traffic down to a crawl and for what? Do you really hope to see something horrifying? Just keep driving. I mean it.

8) Many nights we get paid to sleep, as a police officer friend of mine likes to say. “You firefighters have the second oldest job in the world and make your money the same way. Flat on your backs in bed.” To which we always say “Hey if you had scored a little higher on the entrance exam you could have been a firefighter too.” They are so jealous of us those cops.

9) We have job security because people are always doing stupid stuff. Even with all the public awareness about fires, they still happen. Even with really safe cars people crash, even with a gym on every corner people are still out of shape, fat, unhealthy and will need us. Oh yeah and don’t forget according to the news we get to retire at age 20 with 3 weeks of service and collect a million dollars a year in pensions, so we have that going for us.

10) We love our job. We have the coolest job on the planet and we know it, many would do it and do it for free. Never have I missed being a firefighter as bad as I did a few weeks ago as I stood on my front porch and watched my home town burn for hours. I would have given anything to have been up there on the mountain with my bros fighting fire one more time.

So there you have it my personal opinion on why being a firefighter is so cool.