Today I thought I'd give you a glimpse into a day in the life of my husband when he is on duty as a battalion chief for the fire department of the nearest city. He oversees one-half of the department when he is there.
 |
| My battalion chief |
1. Have breakfast and coffee while catching the morning weather forecast on local television, and then drive down to the mailbox (it's 1/4 mile away) for the morning paper.
2. Read the comics (best part of the paper, he says), the sports page, and the headline news if it is not too depressing.
3. Then he showers, dresses for work, kisses me goodbye, and heads to the firehouse.
4. Once there, he receives the previous day's report from the person he is relieving. He checks his email for important correspondence.
5. He must check the training schedule for all personnel and then arrange for the people and/or entire companies to attend the training.
6. He checks a daily roster of people on vacation and those who have not reported in due to illness, and then reassigns people to other stations to fill in.
7. At this time he also checks in with station captains for problems that might need his attention.
8. He fills out and completes a daily activities report as the day goes along.
9. He attends staff meeetings to receive any new information or plans to be implemented department wide and receive other information regarding personnel or other items.
10. He visits each station to discuss problems or relay new information to employees.
11. He spends the rest of the day in scheduled training and/or answering alarms. An alarm could be anything from checking out a false alarm initiated by a phone call or an alarm system to incident command for a motor vehicle accident, a natural disaster, or a multi-alarm fire.
12. Around 10 p.m., he tries to go to bed and hopes he doesn't have to get up to answer any alarms that may come in.
13. He finishes his shift at 7 a.m. the next morning.
 |
| Here he is as a young firefighter. |
_________
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 520th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Makes me wonder more about fighting a fire is like once the alarm goes off.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me admire your photos in the header!
ReplyDeleteSecond, let me admire your husband! What service to the community. Crazy schedule.
Oh yes, the comics page is the best thing in a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteFire fighters are my heroes. They are also our first responders, here, for suspected heart attacks and other medical emergencies. Am I ever glad because they can get to a patient faster than anyone else. As soon as a victim hears that siren there is a big sense of relief. You know that help is close. Give your fire chief a big hug from me?
I, too, love your new header for Autumn, so very beautiful. Happy weekend, and hope you have beautiful weather.
I pray everyday is typical of what you wrote. But we both know it is much more strenuous/dangerous than he will ever admit. You leave out all the terrible things that he will see most any day but never mention. Drugs,Destruction and Death. I will be glad when he retires and can leave the danger behind. He's earned it.
ReplyDeleteTalk about a long day!
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to an audio book called Smokejumper by Jason Ramos that is a bit like this.
ReplyDelete