Let us reconsider the Fireman, the Great American Hero

I don't know that's a fair an assessment for the firefighters.

You need people ready to come at the drop of a hat. So they have to wait around, yes, that's part of the job. It can be boring. If they were volunteers and had to leave their office or construction job, drive to the fire station, suit up, THEN drive out to the fire, that would use up valuable time, plus their employers probably wouldn't appreciate them leaving work all the time.
So they sit and wait, that's good in a sense because they are ready and it means there isn't a fire. The erratic schedule isn't really a "perk."

As to the actual fire fighting, it isn't just "an idiot spraying some water". There is training involved. It's a risky job. They need to be physically strong to wear and carry the gear. They need to know the different types of burning conditions for going into houses, where the air is coming from, when to break walls, how to rescue people, jump from windows, etc. They do risk their lives and can become injured (or even die), but if they have good training and education they can minimize the risks, both for themselves and the people in burning buildings. It's very different from just showing up, and some people running inside while some others spray water from a big hose.

Fortunately, many fires aren't the extremely dangerous and destructive ones, but the problem is that you don't know when a fire will happen or what it will be like until it happens.

I don't think it's fair to just expect that firefighters should be volunteer, or even that they should make a lousy wage. I'm not saying they should become "rich" or make more than doctors, but it's a demanding job in many ways. It's different than digging a ditch. Yes, they have a lot of time when they aren't doing fire fighting, but their duty is to be ready. Exercising, cooking, and playing cards - I don't have a problem with that. How should they fill their time when they are waiting for a call? Ready to leave in an instant?

Also, I understand it can be mentally tough. Seeing things burned and destroyed, families losing their homes and precious belongings, people and pets dying sometimes, especially if a fellow firefighter dies.

This isn't a job that can be done for a lifetime until age 65. And after they gave up prime years of their life in fire fighting, starting another career at age 35 or 40 may not be easy. I think they should continue working, but there will likely be a jump or adjustment or re-education period as they transition into something very different.

Sports figures entertain. They don't show up when there is a problem or emergency and help people, sometimes laying their life on the line. Sports figures aren't even helping rescue some old lady's cat from a tree, much less walking into a burning building. No, they aren't a brilliant scholar doing research on atoms, or lecturing on the ancient Greeks. No, they aren't painting lofty portraits or composing symphonies. They aren't doctors with 20 years of schooling. But they aren't ditch diggers, either. It's still an important job to society. Somebody needs to do it. While I appreciate and embrace those careers you listed as the "paragon of Man", to be honest I could do without some of these intellectual elites if I had to, in order to maintain firefighters. The beauty of it is, we can have both.

If the sports figure, or the doctor, or the real estate agent, or the soccer mom has a fire at their home or office, who will they call? Who will save the accomplishments of these people, the books and art, the trophies, the photographs, from being burned?

Not everyone is brilliant, but they still need to have a job. If it's a useful and respectable job, all the better. And it's fallacious to assume that firefighters are all idiotic brutes. I'm sure there is a mixture of intellects out there, as is usually the case in most professions. Some are surely clever and intelligent people.

Sure, they have problems and vices, some are better than others, some may be low-life losers. But overall I think there is still an element of the hero in being a firefighter. I couldn't do it, and honestly, even if I could, I wouldn't want to. I'm grateful that there are people who are willing and able to fight fires, even if they (hopefully) never come to my house, and even if they are sitting around playing cards and watching TV when they are on duty, and partying, drinking and sleeping a lot when they are off duty.

Do I think they should be RICH? Do I think they should retire early as millionaires? Would I call them "The Great American Hero"? No. But I respect them, and I don't have a problem with them being paid well.

Speaking of pay, I don't think that's what most firefighters make.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Fire_Fighter/Salary


Now, I came across this, a blog entry that talks about the california salaries, and it has some comment discussion of different viewpoints that can shed a little light on the situation for those interested:

http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2005/10/firefighters_pa.html
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