AMONG THE SYMBOLS OF the fire service, few are as significant to firefighters and the public than the firehouse. Regardless of the neighborhood, this structure has long been a resource for people in need. It is the most recognized and revered building in the neighborhood, and you should open it up to the community when you can, offering it as a safe haven for all in need and caring for it with the same pride and dedication that you have for the fire service. Most important, the firehouse is the home for one of the greatest families in the world-the brothers and sisters of the fire service.
Your firehouse is a reflection of your members’ pride in their profession and dedication to the community. Community firehouses have a proud and rich history; you are responsible for upholding this heritage and passing it on to the next generation.
Before the shift system was implemented, paid firefighters often lived in the firehouse full time. Their families often lived nearby to be close to their loved ones. Members would get an hour or two off a day and a couple of evenings off a week to go home to see them. The firehouse also housed the horses that once pulled the steam engines and the Dalmatians that guided and protected the horses. The firehouse symbolized the protection firefighters provided for the neighborhood, just as it does today. A neighborhood would fight hard to retain a firehouse. Its bell and hose towers and arched doors often enhanced the area, reflecting serenity when things were calm and the excitement when the bell rang or siren blew. Many of the firehouses were marked with a single red light or one light on each side of the bay door in the front so that a citizen in need could easily locate the firehouse to obtain help.
KEEP AN OPEN-DOOR POLICY
The firehouse is still a haven of safety and security for the neighborhood. Many states have designated firehouses as “Baby Safe Havens,” where women can leave babies they are unable to care for instead of abandoning them. “Community Safe Houses” offer kids a refuge if they feel it is unsafe to go home. This indicates the high regard in which the public holds the firehouses-as a place where anyone in need, especially a child, can find safety, security, and guidance.
Inviting the community into your firehouse as often as possible is a great way to get to know your neighbors and for the community to get to know your fire department members. It also allows the department to promote itself and show the residents how it benefits the community. It’s the community that pays the bills and entrusts you with its most treasured possessions. Birthday parties, firehouse tours, and CPR classes are just some of the great ways you can put your firefighters and department in the public eye.
Keeping your bay doors open lets the neighborhood know you’re there to help. If possible, close the doors only when you are out on a call or at night. It shouldn’t look like you’re trying to hide. When you drive by a firehouse that has its doors closed and the lights out, it almost seems as if it were abandoned. One department in my area, when it was suggested it open the firehouse to the public, seemed as though it did not want to be bothered. Not only are these firefighters missing an opportunity, they’re forgetting what we’re all about.
Firehouses are also there for firefighters in need and away from home. Make it easy for a traveling firefighter or family to get help from your firehouse. It should be like a visitor’s bureau or an auto club for visiting firefighters.
MAKE IT YOUR HOME
When did we stop calling these buildings firehouses? After all, it’s home to firefighters for one-third of their lives. If we want our firefighters to have pride in their firehouse, let them make it home.
Regardless of whether your firehouse is 150 years old and falling apart or a new one you just moved into last month, you must take care of it just the same. In some firehouses in which I have worked, we worried that the ceiling would come down in a strong wind; others were new and state-of-the-art. There should be no difference in the care and respect given to the building. Remember, this firehouse was built for past, present, and future members. Members 20 years in the future will look back at how well you took care of their firehouse. It’s your home; treat it like one.
Treating it like your home might require an attitude adjustment. If members complain about daily duties, company officers must instill in them the pride in caring for their firehouse. Firefighters should look at how they care for their tools and firehouses; it reflects the department’s heart and soul. Although a spotless firehouse does not necessarily mean that the fire company is good at firefighting, it indicates how much members care about the job. If a firehouse is dirty and not well kept, I guarantee the company does not perform well on the fireground or have a true love for the job. Cleaning the firehouse toilets or floors isn’t a hardship; it’s part of taking care of your home.
Since many in our society have lost interest in history, we must do whatever we can to maintain the memory of past and present members, apparatus, and company awards. If your firehouse is remodeled or relocated to a new building, take something from the old firehouse to display in the new structure. Bring a little bit of the old over to the new. We recently relocated a company to a new firehouse. We took the old sign from the front lawn and placed it on the wall in the apparatus bay.
Fire Department of New York Rescue 1’s firehouse displays the old bay door and facing stone from its old firehouse (which was destroyed by fire) on the rear wall of the newer structure. Although it seems like another bay door in the new building, it’s actually a doorway to the past. In bringing a part of the old firehouse to the new one, you also bring the pride and history of the old firehouse into the new one.
When a firehouse is closed, try to hold onto the structure and find a new use for it; it can be a valuable asset. When we moved Engine 2 to a new building, our members remodeled the old firehouse to serve as fire department headquarters. We not only saved the community a large amount of money, but, more importantly, we now take pride in working in a firehouse we refurbished ourselves, a beautiful building for people to visit and do business.
PERSONALIZE IT
Adding a personal touch can help make your firehouse your home. Display pictures of your company in action at fires and special events. Hang up plaques, awards, and special thanks received from the community and the fire department so firehouse visitors and future firefighters assigned there see the pride, dedication, and history of its members. This will inspire those members who are good craftsmen to find the money and build special items for your firehouse. One of our members built kitchen tables for all our firehouses that display our department patch, our firehouse logo, and a 9-11 memorial logo. These tables will be a part of the history of the department for years to come (photo 1).
 Photo by author. |
DESIGN A LOGO
Designing a company or firehouse logo helps to create an identity and to instill pride. It could reflect something significant about the neighborhood or your company’s special skills, such as boat or rescue operations. Get all your members involved in coming up with the design, which could be used on uniform patches, apparatus, and company T-shirts. Explain to your supervisors how this will enhance members’ pride in their company and firehouse, and request that firefighters be allowed to wear the T-shirts displaying the company logo on-duty.
KEEP YOUR HERITAGE
If your firehouse is lucky enough to be entrusted with your fire department’s museum, those department collectibles, antique rigs, and other memorabilia-maybe even a memorial-take pride in maintaining these artifacts. Teach the firehouse members your department’s history and traditions; learn all you can about every piece of equipment displayed.
Unfortunately, some departments inadvertently throw away their heritage. They may think they are just throwing away old books, journals, uniforms, and a variety of things that no longer have any use. They forget that for future members, those items would have instructed them on how things were way back when. Our history and tradition are what make our fire departments what they are. It is very sad to walk into a firehouse and see the company’s valuable history and artifacts neglected. Fire departments, new and old, need to remember that, right now, they are a part of history. If we don’t care for our history and protect our heritage, it won’t be there for the future members to enjoy and pass on.
Our firehouses are the cornerstones of the neighborhoods and towns we protect. As a member of your fire department, it is your duty to uphold the tradition and history and be the caretaker for your firehouse. Remember that 100 years from now, a firefighter just like you will be sitting where you are and will be looking at your firehouse. What do you want him to see and think about your time in his firehouse?
CURTIS BIRT has served 20 years in the fire service and is deputy chief of operations for the Lake Cities (TX) Fire Department. A fire academy instructor, he has taught live-fire training and technical rescue, collapse rescue, and firefighter safety and survival. He is a lead instructor in the FDIC H.O.T. Firefighter Safety and Survival program and has been an FDIC instructor since 1998. He is also an instructor with the Illinois Fire Service Institute.
