For many children, wanting to grow up to be a firefighter is a common fantasy, maybe because of the heroic part of saving lives and the cool part of getting to drive around in a firefighter truck. How else do you get to break the speeding limit legally while sporting a wailing siren if you’re not enforcing the law or fighting fires? And there’s that pole that the firefighters slide down when they’re deployed, and the spraying hose that appeals to kids the way that swords and guns do. A firefighter job is pretty awesome, you must say.
But every job comes with its downsides, and a firefighter job isn’t any different. Firefighters are an emergency service; it’s a dangerous situation in which lives are at stake and the risk is very real. If you were racing to a destination under a time limit in a video game and you didn’t make it in time, you could always reset from game over and try again but working in a firefighter job, you don’t get a second chance if you don’t arrive before it’s too late. With a video game, you could pause or shut off the power if you’re too busy and come back to it later. You can’t get an emergency call and decide that you’ll get to it when you can. The building in trouble would burn down and you’d possibly be arrested for negligence.
So a firefighter job isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, or pit of fire. Some might find the prospect too much to handle, even if you do get to ride around in a cool truck, while others might find the risk exhilarating and the idea of rescuing people rewarding enough to undertake the position. Also, with firefighters there’s less gray area than there is with other public services like the police. When it comes to crime the law can be arbitrary, the situation could have been extenuating, and morals are examined and challenged, while when it comes to firefighting, the fire is burning and you put it out, simple as that. Of course, there could be an overlap with the crime department if it were a case of arson, but if someone just left the stove on it’s pretty straightforward.
Some who dreamed of being a firefighter as children change their minds, and others carry out their childhood dream. There’s wrong and right people for every job, and there’s bound to be someone who’s a fit for a firefighter job as there is with (almost) every other profession.