I live really close to a firetruck manufacturer.  I think it would be an awesome job to be the firetruck delivery team.  I am not sure how it is really done but, this is how I imagine it... I imagine a team of two people drive from the manufacturer with the firetruck and maybe a car in tow? to whatever town ordered a firetruck.  You let em know when you are coming and the whole firehouse is pumped up and ready to see you and the new truck they bought.  So, you come in to the place like a superstar.  In smaller towns I bet half the town shows up to see the new truck.  You come in like a superstar every time.  Everyone is pumped to see you.  Then you go back home.  

Seems like a pretty cool job.

Do we even need firemen anymore?

Apr 21, 2020 18:15:21 GMT theend said:

I live really close to a firetruck manufacturer.  I think it would be an awesome job to be the firetruck delivery team.  I am not sure how it is really done but, this is how I imagine it... I imagine a team of two people drive from the manufacturer with the firetruck and maybe a car in tow? to whatever town ordered a firetruck.  You let em know when you are coming and the whole firehouse is pumped up and ready to see you and the new truck they bought.  So, you come in to the place like a superstar.  In smaller towns I bet half the town shows up to see the new truck.  You come in like a superstar every time.  Everyone is pumped to see you.  Then you go back home.  

Seems like a pretty cool job.

Fuck, I want this job.

Apr 21, 2020 18:23:35 GMT @ness said:

Do we even need firemen anymore?

Originally I was going to say "yes, duh" - but honestly, I'm not so convinced drones couldn't do a better job firefighting these days. The paramedic aspect seems like the harder part to outsource to bots just yet though.

Apr 21, 2020 18:26:23 GMT 🤯 said:

Apr 21, 2020 18:23:35 GMT @ness said:

Do we even need firemen anymore?

Originally I was going to say "yes, duh" - but honestly, I'm not so convinced drones couldn't do a better job firefighting these days. The paramedic aspect seems like the harder part to outsource to bots just yet though.

Read that fires have gone way down due to preventive measures (in response to increasing population) and they do more EMT work than actual fighting of fires. I mean, how often are they really rescuing cats from trees anyway?

Apr 21, 2020 18:23:35 GMT @ness said:

Do we even need firemen anymore?

Apr 21, 2020 18:28:45 GMT @ness said:

Apr 21, 2020 18:26:23 GMT 🤯 said:

Originally I was going to say "yes, duh" - but honestly, I'm not so convinced drones couldn't do a better job firefighting these days. The paramedic aspect seems like the harder part to outsource to bots just yet though.

Read that fires have gone way down due to preventive measures (in response to increasing population) and they do more EMT work than actual fighting of fires. I mean, how often are they really rescuing cats from trees anyway?

Yeah you’re pretty much right. My dad was a firefighter for almost 40 years and I don’t think he attended more than a handful of fires in his last decade there. To be fair, he was a platoon chief and only had to go out if it was required for him to run incident command, but that was rare. Usually the captain did it. If it was a huge fire and/or more than one station was called out, then he went and ran the show.

But that was it. In his own words, firefighters are glorified EMS now. The one thing they do that nobody else does is actually put out fires and do search and rescue. But medical is 95% of their jobs now and fires/S&R makes up the other 5%.

The rest of the time they’re training or watching TV.

And most fires they show up at they don’t even put out. Everything burns so fast these days if the risk is too high they just let it go and control what they can. If someone is inside they go search for them (again, depends on the risk), and that’s about it. Insurance covers everything and why waste the man hours on putting out a building that’s going to get torn down anyway? Or a car that’s going to end up in a scrap yard?

Apr 21, 2020 19:18:20 GMT RT said:

Apr 21, 2020 18:23:35 GMT @ness said:

Do we even need firemen anymore?

Apr 21, 2020 18:28:45 GMT @ness said:

Read that fires have gone way down due to preventive measures (in response to increasing population) and they do more EMT work than actual fighting of fires. I mean, how often are they really rescuing cats from trees anyway?

Yeah you’re pretty much right. My dad was a firefighter for almost 40 years and I don’t think he attended more than a handful of fires in his last decade there. To be fair, he was a platoon chief and only had to go out if it was required for him to run incident command, but that was rare. Usually the captain did it. If it was a huge fire and/or more than one station was called out, then he went and ran the show.

But that was it. In his own words, firefighters are glorified EMS now. The one thing they do that nobody else does is actually put out fires and do search and rescue. But medical is 95% of their jobs now and fires/S&R makes up the other 5%.

The rest of the time they’re training or watching TV.

And most fires they show up at they don’t even put out. Everything burns so fast these days if the risk is too high they just let it go and control what they can. If someone is inside they go search for them (again, depends on the risk), and that’s about it. Insurance covers everything and why waste the man hours on putting out a building that’s going to get torn down anyway? Or a car that’s going to end up in a scrap yard?

I worked with a retired Boston firefighter in a small family-owned hardware store while going to college for a pointless liberal arts degree. It was during my time working with him, hearing his stories, that he: a.) confirmed/echoed what RT's dad said about the profession; b.) made be want to become a firefighter because of the bold part (as well as pensions, babay!!~ -- amirite, @ness!?); and c.) still somehow made firefighters sound like the coolest and most bad ass dudes on earth (at least bad ass in ways that you can be bad ass without involving violence).