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Chase Myers

Professor Sheila Fielding

WRTC 103

17 September 2018

The Boy and the Man’s Ego

Running through the dark haziness in my head I can see him again with that sly grin

forming on his face ready to pounce on me with a smart comment as I edged closer. Egotistical

people run rampant in places where strength can be shown in everything that is done such as

firefighting. The spread or use of this behavior is not appreciated, taught, nor tolerated on the fire

scene. Firefighters are to put the individual second and put the team first, and when this is not

done the morals and values firemen hold go astray.

Firefighting has been in the United States of America for generations. As Lewis states “In

1736, Ben Franklin formed the first volunteer fire-fighting company in Philadelphia” (Par. 1).

There were no firetrucks like those of today back in 1736. The rich would use horse drawn

carriages, but more times than not it was what was call a “bucket brigade.” A bucket brigade is

“a line of people who pass buckets of water from one to another to put out a fire” (bucket

brigade). These volunteers would make long lines of people from bodies of water to the fire

passing bucket after bucket dousing the fire to put it out. Firefighting has come a long way since

1736 and now operates with trucks that specialize in certain areas give access to any tool needed.

The qualifications to be a firefighter are more time consuming rather than difficult. The

course is typically around six months long with a total of three classes in each. The classes are

Firefighter I, Firefighter II, and Hazmat Operations. Other courses can be added or taken away

depending upon the location in the United States. Firefighters do more than fight house fires.
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Some of these duties include working motor-vehicle accidents, car fires, carbon monoxide leaks,

gas leaks, lift assists, and many other emergencies. These first responders which are “the first

people on the scene usually police officers, firefighters, or emergency medical

technicians (EMT)” (Emergency Management, Par. 7) are here for the people. They can be

called out to help the public in a multitude of ways, and they participate in a lot of prevention

programs such as checking smoke detectors when visiting houses.

My father is a career firefighter in Fairfax County and also volunteers with me in Brandy

Station. I never saw my father as much as I would have liked to as a child, but he has always

been one of my role models. When he could my father would take me to the fire station and let

me play on the trucks. My passion for firefighting grew during this time. Working in a team

environment and trusting another person comes easy to me making firefighting the perfect fit. I

felt that I would be able to make the biggest impact within my community by volunteering at an

organization rather than playing a sport.

Culpeper is a county of around fifty thousand people, and there is a total of seven fire

departments. The ones we will focus on are 1201 (Culpeper), and 1202 (My department,

Brandy). Culpeper and Brandy work together frequently at events being they are within eight

miles of one another. I have been in the top ten call runner list ever since I joined the department

three years ago. This means I have been on most of the calls that go out. “Calls” are what we say

when someone dials 911 and we are dispatched to help the person.

There was a light breeze in the air as the two deep tones dropped alerting the crew that

there was a call. I jumped out of the chair and rushed to my gear quickly as the dispatcher was

announcing it was a house fire in town. We speed through town arriving on location behind

Engine 1201. Mikey (my partner) and I hopped off of the firetruck with our tools and walked
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towards command to get our task. While we were walking towards the house we could not help

but notice the eerie darkness around us which was unusual for town as there are street lamps

lining the roads. It was apparent to us that the fire was not bad and was in the walls, but it was

not endangering the whole house. Mikey and I’s walk sped up when the scene officer motioned

us towards him. Junior (the scene officer) told us to go inside and assist firefighter Bryce with

whatever he needed.

The house has been in Culpeper since the late 1800s as it sat in the historic district of the

town. This is significant as the way houses are constructed today are very different from the

years before. The door opened with a creak as Mikey and I entered the structure and walked

through a skinny hallway towards the kitchen that sat in the back of the house. It was a beautiful

home with plants scattered throughout the first floor along with furniture and décor form the era

that it was built. Walking into the kitchen Bryce saw us and immediately commented “Junior

really sent you two twigs? You probably can’t even pick up an axe let alone help me with

hooking the wall.” Teamwork is the most important aspect in firefighting. Jobs and tasks do not

get done well or at all when there are people who make comments that put down others. Ignoring

his comments Mikey and I started our job of getting the cabinets off of the wall. We were tried to

be very careful with the cabinets as they were very old and if they could be reused we did not

want to be the people who prevented that. Bryce came up to us and gave us a sideways smile and

commented “do you two want to see a real man with muscles get those things out of here?”

Firefighter Bryce pushed us out of the way and forced his hook with a loud thud into the top of

the counter and yanked over and over ruining the one-hundred-year-old cabinets. That was

Mikey and I’s breaking point. We left the house went to command and asked for a different task.
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We could not deal with the freelancing and the lack of ability to let others do their job and to

work as a team that Bryce seemed unable to do.

I felt useless after his actions and comments. Why could he not let us try and preserve

these people’s homes? Preservation is taught and encouraged, yet he seemed to be in the job for

the destruction rather than to help others. I have realized that there will be people who are not

interested in helping the community but use the community for their own ego fueled games. On

other calls I have proven that strength is not what is needed as everything can be done with care

to help the people in need as we are here on their worst days. The biggest takeaway from this call

is that I have become a better person for it. There may be some people who are in the job for the

destruction, but most firefighters genuinely want to help others. The ideal build of a fireman

which is being one-hundred percent muscle is not common. People of all shapes and sizes are in

the fire service along with all ages. No matter what someone looks like or what they are able to

lift they can be firemen if they have a want to help the community.

At 4:15 on Saturday September 15, 2018 I took this selfie to show that even though I have gotten made fun of in the
extracurricular activity I like to do I still support the fire department and everything that it represents. The two items are the fire
department shirt and the thin red line in honor of firefighters in the background.
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Works Cited

"bucket brigade." New Oxford American Dictionary, edited by Stevenson, Angus, and Christine
A. Lindberg, Oxford University Press, January 01, 2011. Oxford Reference. Date
Accessed 10 Sep. 2018
<http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/m_en_
us1229201>. Accessed 10 Sept. 2018.

“Emergency Management.” Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, Detroit: Gale, 2013,

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&se
archResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId
=GALE%7CCX2760300188&docType=Topic+overview&sort=RELEVANCE&content
Segment=&prodId=GVRL&contentSet=GALE%7CCX2760300188&searchId=R1&user
GroupName=viva_jmu&inPS=true.

Lewis, James G. "Fire Fighting." Dictionary of American History, edited by Stanley I. Kutler,
3rd ed., vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003, pp. 371-373. Gale Virtual Reference
Library,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3401801520/GVRL?u=viva_jmu&sid=GVRL&xi
d=74da2c0a. Accessed 10 Sept. 2018.