While volunteering at my fire department, I picked up on allot of tricks and trades. There is much to learn about firefighting and to understand what it means and what it takes to be a firefighter. I chose this topic because it is good for the public to know what is needed and required. I want to explain to people the job requirements, danger, and the technology used.
The term fire fighter is exactly as it sounds: a person who fights a fire. But the history behind the name and the symbols are a lot more historic. The history of organized fire fighters can be dated with the Roman Empire when people where stationed at wells and would walk the town looking for fire. They were not educated in how to fight a fire.
Fire fighting is more than just a job or volunteer work it really is about serving and protecting the community. There are varies satisfaction in saving a house of a neighbor, a friend, and even a stranger. In today’s society, lots of fire departments are starting to do more. Many departments have got into the emergency medical field. Whether by volunteering or from getting paid. There is that need in life for firefighters to get certified in medical fields like basic first aid or even as far as becoming an EMT-Paramedic.
The main thing fire fighters are trained for is to fight fire, and it is one of the biggest things that they have to learn how to do. It only comes from experience of how to conserve property because any new certified firefighter can go and throw 1000 cubic feet of water on a fire no larger then a couch. Because fire fighting is meant to save the property, then there would be almost no need to use so much of a resources if all you did was do more damage. That is why they go through a minimum number of classes, such as overhaul, which is about looking for the fire where ever it may be, in a wall or inside a couch. Once you find all the hot spots in a fire, then you can extinguish it with minimal effort