Firehouse.com

From early in our fire service careers, we are taught that there are three priorities on any incident: life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation. Paramount in this list is life safety, especially the lives of our firefighters. However, during the discharge of our duties, it is possible that firefighters can become disoriented and trapped, requiring the assistance of a well-trained rapid intervention team; the team on scene that is solely used for the purpose of rescuing trapped or missing firefighters.

The American Firefighter is many things. In one day, they can be a mechanic, electrician, appliance repairman, teacher, plumber and furniture mover. They may perform traffic control duties one minute and receive a last chance confession the next.

We in the fire service are frequently called heroes by the public. My friends, I think that the word hero is one which is both grossly overused and frequently misunderstood by those who constantly bandy the word about. Many are the true heroes in our world, and their deeds seem sometimes to be diminished by the improper and overuse of the word.