We Need to Stop The "Hero" Crap.

I am tired of seeing the "self-anointed accolades". We are giving people joining the fire service a lofty target to hit.

We are giving people in our communities a reason to resent us when WE refer to the honorable and courageous things that we do. In other words, they don't like US patting ourselves on the back.

People joining want to rise to hero status; some faster than others.

I read the Sunday paper and it sickened me when I came across this AP story from the New York Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Caleb+Lacey

Caleb Lacey, 19, a Long Island volunteer firefighter doused an apartment staircase with gasoline and set the building ablaze-killing four-in a "twisted attempt to become a hero", prosecutors charged Saturday.

This has given the term "hero" and "volunteer firefighter" connotations that any right thinking person would not want to be associated with.

Stop selling the idea that we are "heroes" and what we do is "heroic".

We do what we do to HELP others. Period.

Anyone who believes that they will make a heroic effort someday; GET OUT NOW.

There are other "Caleb Laceys" in our fire service just waiting for their chance.

You should know them. You voted them onto your fire departments.

And it has given the news media just another reason to splash FIREFIGHTER CHARGED WITH...as their headline and given the evening news their lead in for the top story of the day.

God; please make it stop.

TCSS.
Art

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John on March 23, 2009 at 11:53am

A HERO is someone who try's to save someones life, even when they know that they are GOING to DIE because of it.

All give some, but some give all.
To those who gave there all,
you are hero's to me.

Austin

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on March 23, 2009 at 11:55am

A few observations:
Backdraft, LAdder 49, Rescue Me....All entertainment...NOT reality. Face it, if they just showed our job for what it is, nobody would watch it. The people in charge of all those projects are there to make money. Bottom line. Just money. They are what we call "reality based" entertainment. What that means is that there are firefighters and they fight fire and go on EMS calls....the rest is fantasy and fluff. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes they say the things we want to say, but would never be allowed to say. Sometimes they even portray a given profession correctly. Unfortunately not to often. Its like watching "ER", or "scrubs" or "House" and thinking thats really the way a hospital is organized or works.....NOT!!!!!

As far as the media goes...Opportunity knocks and they open the perverbial door. They don't really care that they are wrong or right. It's just the story....Film at 11! However, they did not make that young man start those fires. Unfortunately it IS a story. We take the black-eye as a whole, but it is a story. It did happen.

T-shirts, stickers et all: Yup there is a for sure warning sign of the "hero in Training". I am often more amused then anything else when I see these guys in big trucks with every fire sticker imaginable emblazoned all over the truck, wearing the hat from FDNY, the t-shirt with a beer logo that has been changed to somehow be a firefighting logo and an attitude and ego to go along with it. Then you talk to them and find out they are in the academy, or dont work ANYWHERE! But given the chance they would go to work in a minute. After all....good pay, good benefits and lots of time off for my boat! Oh these are also they ones that will tell you that someone else got the job over the more "qualified" them! It was just politics....Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh

Heroes? Well this area has been covered over and over and over. Those who do the job for hero status are not usually the people you want to work with. I do the job for love. Love of my family, my community, and hell yes love of the job itself. There is no better job then this profession (or volunteer opportunity). However, that's just what I think. If you are "called" to this job you feel the same way. I've saved people. I've put out fires, I've been on rescues, I've held babies that died in my arms. NOT to be a hero, because it's "my" calling, my job, my love.

Vollies. Before I became paid I was a volly, like many others here I too put up with call outs, substandard equipment and all those things. Vollies are still and will always be the heart and soul of the fire service. It is one thing to get paid for this awesome experience. It is quite another to put down your wrenches, or stop working on your deadline spreadsheet, or get the kids to childcare, or stop doing what you are paid to do and respond to your pager or alarm. In some ways they are more the "heroes" of the fire service then any other.

Criminal Acts: Don't for a minute think that all the things done wrong in the fire service are committed by vollies looking to be heroes or looking for accolades from others. In California where I live and work, over the past decade we have had a myriad of things committed by PAID firefighters. There was the fire captain that was a world renowned arson investigator who seemed like he could solve any fire they gave to him to solve, he would show up on fire scenes hundreds of miles away from his jurisdiction and walk right over to the Point of Origin. As it turned out...It was easy to solve what he started. He is now in prison for life because one of "his" fires killed two people. The fire captain who was upset with his estranged wife, killed her then shot himself leaving two orphaned children. The fire fighter who drug his wife from the back of his truck then buried her in some remote area. All paid guys, all criminals, all in jail or dead.

It is a noble profession. Unfortunately all we can choose from are human beings. None of us has received "God-Like" status. Humans are falable, we make mistakes. Paid, volunteer, reserve, whatever...we make mistakes.

Yes we are in a high profile job. Even more high profile since 9-11. WE need to be the best that we can be. WE need to hold ourselves to that "higher" standard. We need to remember that we are just humans. The media will never remember that.

Just do the job that you are there to do. Don't get caught up in the hype of what others think the job is. Until you are there, you will never know what this job is and the satisfaction that comes from doing it.

Jake Fireman
Anti-Hero

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on March 23, 2009 at 12:09pm

Kali:
I didn't even know that there was a thread "Does America Still Have Heroes?" when I posted this.
It's simple for me:
Do we join because firefighting is a noble calling?
Or, do we join because we want to be looked upon as "heroes"?
I mean, a couple of replies would lead you to believe that you attain "hero" status as soon as you put the gear on.
Man; that is just sick. And I don't mean "sick" in a cool way, but "sick" in a pukey way.
TCSS.
Art

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on March 23, 2009 at 12:13pm

Austin:
That's too narrow.
Who landed the plane in the Hudson River and saved 154 passengers?
Sully Sullenberger and in my book, he is most definitely a hero.
I am a firefighter, but I am not a hero.
What you describe may be in the eyes of some a heroic effort.
Others might think that it is foolish.
Still others might dismiss it as firefighters just doing their job.
Again; it's all about perception and WE shouldn't be describing OUR acts as "heroic".
IMHO.
Art

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on March 23, 2009 at 12:16pm

Jake:
THANK YOU!
You "GET" it!
Well said. Spoken like a true Jake.
TCSS.
Art

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on March 23, 2009 at 12:26pm

Thanks Chief!

I never saw the boxes on the application that said:

Hero
Wanna be Hero
Self Indulgent
In it for me...

lol ...sorry...soapbox!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by SMOKEY on March 23, 2009 at 12:27pm

Ive been on the job almost 7 years, and vollie/junior firefighter prior. Most of what we do is EMS related probably 90%. Most guys go their 20 to 30 years without ever making a rescue. If you got into the fire sevice to save people it was for the wrong reasons. I believe what most of said we do it to help people if its carrying the 400lbs+ person out of their home, if its shutting off the water to someones flooding basement, or if its helping that older person carry their food from the store to their house. Its all in a days work for us. I believe movies like backdraft and ladder 49 were made to show maybe 1% of what we do. The only truth I saw in both movies was the brotherhood, and for Rescue Me its a great show, but its hardly about firefighting. The Tv networks had a show called the Bravest, didnt last long was kinda a firefighters verison of Cops. But you got to see the truth about us running EMS calls all day. There are always going to be what I call the "fire bugs" or "hose wackers" in each department. They are around for some of the right reasons but mostly for the wrong reasons. Its hard to run them off, but you just have to keep a close eye on them. Report anything illegal to your senior officers. In the end we are not heros, we are firefighters there is a big difference. I dont know about anyone else but I dont look to save lives I just like putting the wet stuff on the red stuff. For me its about the battle with the beast, but thats my nature as an engine company man, I leave all the rescues to the ladder crews or heavy rescue companies. There are always going to be arsonist in the fire service just like there are bad cops in the police service. Just watch your backs, and your brothers backs.

Everyone stay safe
2 in & 2 out,
Smokey

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on March 23, 2009 at 12:34pm

Really ? There are bad cops too?
lol....sorry a little cheap laugh at our BROTHER officers!

2 in & 2 out, and lets all go home safe!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on March 23, 2009 at 1:11pm

So after reading all of the replies thus far I have come up with my own. If you were to ask me if I want to be a hero I would say yes. Before you jump all over me let me explain. I want to be the hero for the little old lady whose fire alarm is going off when the heater fires up for the fist time. I want to be the hero for the person who just watched their house burn by saving a family heirloom. I want to be the hero for the neighbor of the idiot who tried to burn their yard on a windy day. I want to be the hero for everyone that I am called to help. But I want that to be as far as it goes. I want to be their hero and nothing more. All that I want is a simple pat on the back or a "good job" or a simple "thank you" and not a plaque to hang on the wall.
It really doesn't take much to be someone's hero. If you made a difference in their life that could be all it takes. A kind word, a thoughtful gesture, to be there in someone's time of need. These are all things that can make us a hero in someone's eyes. It is what we do with the statement of "you are my hero" that determines if we are truly heroic. I believe that a true hero is humble and believes that it is just part of their job. Someone mentioned the pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson, I believe that he would tell you " I was just doing my job". As firefighters we are sometimes thrust into the spotlight for just "doing our job" and it is how that is handled that shows the true hero. The one who gives the credit to the whole team for the job well done is the hero by being humble. I agree to watch out for the one who stands there and says that they are the hero. That is someone that lets the hero get to their head. So pick at it as you may but I enjoy being the hero to all those who call for us in their time of need.

Gopher