Firefighter

Firefighter

arringnl

32 Years Experience

Goose Creek, SC

Male, 54

Currently serving Jasper County Fire Rescue in south Carolina along with Charleston County EMS.

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Last Answer on June 29, 2022

Best Rated

Is there a lot of personal drama or bad blood between firefighters, or are you all good friends? And if there's drama, does it all disappear the instant you get called to a fire?

Asked by fire over 11 years ago

Lol, yes it can be a lot of drama. Our headquarters station is crowded with 10 guys and they gossip, prank, get ticked off over small things. But yes as soon as the tones drop everything else stops. We watch each others backs.

When you show up to a burning house, how do you decide whether priority #1 will be putting out the fire, or going into the house to rescue people?

Asked by LeahChass over 11 years ago

Risk vs Outcome. As you arrive you are looking at several things especially at night. Cars in the driveway? Toys in the Yard? these thing will increase the potential of having to put life risk first. But if it is a vacant home and it is significantly involved is the risk of injury equal or greater that the outcome of saving a fire damaged building. We are trained to look at many things from reading the smoke? You can read several things from the smoke. This video link will show you the signs that we look for specifically smoke puffing out of the building.http://statter911.com/2011/11/17/must-see-raw-video-smoke-explosion-at-texas-house-fire/ It takes a lot of consideration determining your choice of attack. But it all comes down to it night time fire are more of a initial rescue before suppression.

How much of time commitment is required of volunteer firefighters vs. full-time firefighters?

Asked by Joe Fleischer over 11 years ago

Commitment is basically the same, to a point. Remember the volunteers have full time jobs and families and that takes a lot of time. Then tack on the volunteering time ,thats alot. I can have a fire tommorow when I go to work do my thing and then I am off for 48 hrs, I dont have to work a another job but most of us do. So vol. firefighters have less time available then we do.

After 9/11, did your department get an avalanche of applications?

Asked by tr3 over 11 years ago

yes nationwide but there is always surplus appicants at all times. Most wanted to join the military to support our country.

What kind of smoke detectors do you use in your own home? Would you recommend it to others?

Asked by Bronson over 11 years ago

Photoelectric battery and hardwired detector and are the most reliable

Also, another question: how can firefighters tell WHERE a fire began when all that's left of a house is burned debris?

Asked by Gordie30 over 11 years ago

We look at several things how long the fire was burning until we were notified. Usually house fire are electrical in nature and we can look at some of the wiring which by shorting out can cause the wires to weld together. Lots of things from witnesses, the residents telling us. Fire for the most time can be predictable in the amount of damage we can expect with known vairables from NIST testing. Can be a lot of detective work.

Another question I always had: Do they TEST fire hydrants intermittently? Do they get easily corroded or damaged? Because it seems like we put an awful lot of trust in these metal contraptions that basically NEVER get turned on.

Asked by pinkypink4 over 11 years ago

Yes every 6 mths we test them to see if there working if they need greased, as in the caps, Public Works Depts handle repairing them. We tend to have problems up North with freezing pipes and the such. But we also flow them to makes sure nothing has been placed in the hydrant that can ruin or break our pumps.