22 Problems Only Firefighters Would Understand

6. Should've Tried Before You Pried

As was mentioned previously, breaking open doors is a good time. Particularly when you show up armed with a few tools specifically designed to do that job and a fair amount of training on how to use them that you're just itching to use. Which is why it so frequently happens that an enthusiastic Firefighter shows up and goes to town breaking down a door that, upon further examination, wasn't actually locked in the first place. You're not going to live that down anytime soon.

5. Is It Bad Karma To Be Hoping Something Terrible Happens To Someone Soon?

One thing that is fairly common among volunteer departments is that there is a requirement that you respond to a certain percentage of emergency calls that get toned out. Typically this is figured out quarterly, which means that if you've have a bad month or two you're going to spend that third month sitting over your pager desperately hoping for someone, somewhere to have a catastrophic emergency. And you're going to feel bad about it.

4. Tones Know When You Are Sleeping. They Know When You're Awake

A typical night sleeping at the firehouse can usually be broken down into a cycle of; - Lay in bed staring at the alarm, waiting for it to go off. - Slowly drift off to sleep - 30 Seconds of sleep immediately followed by the alarm bell - Go to call - Repeat. Brutal, right?

3. The Real Takeaway - Bring Many Pairs Of Socks

Bunker gear is designed to be a thermal barrier, so that it keeps the extreme heat out and away from you body. When you're fighting a fire on a hot summer day with 75% humidity, this means that your bunker gear is also efficiently keeping your body heat in. Which means you pretty much have to resign yourself to filling up your boots with sweat. Basically, bring socks. Lots and lots of socks.

2. That Awkward Moment When You Realize You've Become An Ice Sculpture

On the other end of the spectrum, when fighting a house fire in temperatures well below freezing, the body heat warming the inside of your bunker gear can be really quite pleasant. So pleasant in fact that you probably won't notice that the backspray from your attack line has been steadily freezing on you for the last half hour and you now have over an inch thick of ice on your arms and you should probably give up any hope of unbending them any time soon.

1. No, No One Cares About Your Porn

Or your personal toys. Or Outfits. Or whatever it is you get up to in the privacy of your own home. You'd have to be into some pretty extreme stuff to even raise an eyebrow. You can see it as it happens - the moment the homeowner gets over their shock enough to realise what they've left sitting out in their living room, bedroom, ceremonial foam party chamber, etc. It marks the last moment that they make eye contact with anyone from the fire service.