r/Firefighting • u/statuscaffeinepticus Firefighter/AEMT • Feb 17 '25

Volunteer / Combination / Paid on Call People leaving children at the station semi-unattended at a volunteer station

Hello all,

I am a volunteer firefighter/AEMT for a volunteer fire department. We have a station that is fully equipped for living out of (used to have a live-in program for college students) that a handful of people use. We have a TV room, bunk room, and a gym.

Several times now, I have arrived at the station and found children semi-unattended in the TV room. If it’s only for a short time it’s no big deal, but it does get kind of frustrating when the on-duty crew has to tiptoe around the kids. At previous departments, sometimes members would bring their kids for a tour or something. However, they were not left unattended in the living areas of the crews.

Once all the station duties are done, hit the gym, run calls and do paperwork, training, cook dinner, it’s nice to kick back and relax. It feels disrespectful to be leaving your children in the way of the crew(s). This is a fire department not a daycare?

This is mostly a vent and to see if anyone else has dealt with this.

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u/BurgerFaces Feb 17 '25

Yeah, sometimes we'd try to throw on a hockey game or something, but then would find the Disney Channel on or whatever, and if you tried to change it, screaming would ensue. Once I smashed my thumb with a hammer and let out a rather loud FUCK in the vicinity of the children and I got screamed at for swearing around the kids. No one cared about my thumb, though. It was just annoying all around.

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u/statuscaffeinepticus Firefighter/AEMT Feb 17 '25

Exactly!! I don’t mind giving tours of the station to kids, I’ve done events and stuff with kids but that’s a set thing. It’s so frustrating having to police our behavior all day just because young children are around. It may be volunteer but it’s still a workplace.

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u/BurgerFaces Feb 17 '25

Yep. And it can also be dangerous, at least dangerous for children. There's lots of tools and equipment around that aren't a problem for adults but a 4 year old going into a drawer and pulling out a 2lb sledge or something and bonking themselves in the head or dropping it on their foot is obviously going to be a problem.

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u/yuki_the_god07 Feb 18 '25

Exactly. This is an adult job, and a fire station is meant to be staffed by trained ADULTS. Not young kids who have no idea what they’re messing with