r/Firefighting • u/Launch_Rockface • Jul 10 '25

General Discussion Unpopular Opinions In the Fire Service

I am curious what other peoples unpopular opinions of the fire service are? I know there are alot of things we are doing or trying to do to improve the fire service as far as training and wellness, but I also know alot of it is just not that great in my opinion.

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169

u/rogersrangers55 Jul 11 '25

We aren’t needed for 80% of the calls we are called for and I’m tired of pretending we are. We also should be more proactive towards making people realize this.

16

u/HanjobSolo69 Recliner Operator Jul 11 '25

This. I sometimes dream of a city or county that starts doing "tough love" with citizens. Im talking aggressive public education about when to call 911 and straight up refusing care for obvious bullshit medicals. Even some fire alarms we don't need to be there. Call a plumber or HVAC guy not us.

12

u/317PEB Jul 11 '25

I regularly tell people they are free to go the ER but I am not getting them an Ambulance. We also now have social workers at our disposal, they are worth their weight in gold

8

u/HanjobSolo69 Recliner Operator Jul 11 '25

I never got in trouble but I had a Captain give me a talk about "professionalism" because I was passive aggressive with a family that had 3 cars in the driveway and able bodied people that could have driven grandpa to the hospital at anytime but decided to call at 10pm

15

u/317PEB Jul 11 '25

Imagine the dude with hanjobsolo69 as a user name getting talked to about professionalism.