OUR FIREHOUSE STORIES

[nfd2004]

Anybody who has been a part of firehouse life knows that the firehouse members consist of a group of characters, all with their own personalities. In fact it has often been said that many times, guys in the same firehouse know more about each other than their own family members or spouse knows. "You learn what makes a guy tick and what ticks them off". Often the firehouse can offer more comedy than any high rated comedy show.

We "DO" become a part of a family as we laugh and sometimes even cry together. We depend on each other during our time of need and we all know how important it is for us as a team player NOT to drop the ball.

Of course, there are many of us here who are/were volunteer firefighters or city paid firefighters. Most of us did it because we enjoyed our job or helping others. Even as buffs, we would meet great guys who sometimes invited us into the firehouse as their guest and for a period of time, we seemed to become a part of their firehouse family.

Very often, I talk to guys from here and very often the talk leads us to firehouse stories. Of the individuals who were a part of that life, within the walls of the firehouse. I have no idea who the guy is but the story itself is usually a classic comedy. It might have happened years ago but the stories are STILL FUNNY. Kind of like watching some of those old TV reruns.

In my case, I was a part of a Firehouse life as a volunteer firefighter, and later as a career firefighter. These days I look back some 50 years or so and I still remember some of the characters and the funny stories.

I hope that we can share our own funny "FIREHOUSE STORIES" with each other here. It doesn't matter where or what firehouse the story is from. We don't need names. Maybe we can just use "stage names" to tell the story. It's purely fun times that you can tell us during "YOUR"  20, 25, or 30 plus years of being a part of a FIREHOUSE.

I hope to pass on a few stories of my own and hopefully "YOU" will too. It's NOT necessary to give names or which Firehouse it is you talk about. We really want to keep this all in Good Fun. Stories that made YOU laugh and that will make US laugh too. We know there's plenty of them out there.

Thanks guys and I (WE) hope you join in.

 

 

[tem217]

In L114 Lt Bill Dunn started a policy that when we sat down for lunch or dinner we didn't start to eat
until the officer working that day said grace.
the funny part of this story..
was when we had a covering officer..
we would inform him that we couldn't eat until he said grace.
to see the reaction on his off-guarded surprising face was priceless.
also returning covering officers were prepared for the next time and actually liked our policy.
after the meal we would remain at the dinner table for an hour or so just talking.
made each and every meal that more enjoyable.

 

[nfd2004]

Does history repeat itself ?

Well maybe it does.

I get on the job in a place I really know nothing about. The guys in the firehouse don't know me either.

Our work schedule is to work Three Days 7am - 5 pm, followed by a few days off, then Nights from 5 pm to 7am the next morning.

My second day working, the guys are cooking up a great pasta/chicken dinner. I'm told get myself a plateful. I'm pretty hungry and the chow smells great. But being the Probie I don't want to take too much. As the guys eat, they are getting pretty full. But there's plenty more left over. One guy tells me "hey probie, help yourself, there's plenty". I asked him, is it okay to get some more. He says; "Sure help yourself". So I dig in and load up the plate. When I finish, he tells me "go ahead, get some more". So I go for my third plate.

During the meal, the guys are asking me about my past. Of course I mention about being a volunteer firefighter and my father being on the job. Then I notice everybody kind of looking at me like I did something wrong. Then the senior guy (Frank Brennan - RIP) says to me, "You got some potential kid". I'm thinking that he's talking about being a good fireman. Not the case at all.

He says in front of everybody; I never seen anybody eat so much of that chow in my life. You just became the winner of our firehouse eating contest.

Just about 45 years go by. My brother, also a retired firefighter, and I are headed to our favorite restaurant. On the menu is one of my favorites, a pasta/chicken dinner. The same kind of dinner I had that day at the firehouse. I'm hungry and I order it. The large plate is totally filled and the meal is great. For the price, what a deal. The waitress, who we know, says to me, "Willy you finished that meal" ? I told her, "yea it was great". Guess what she said ?

"Willy, I've been working here for 15 years and I never saw anybody finish that meal. "You WIN our eating contest". I told her it's not my first eating contest I won.

History Does Repeat Itself because I told her, I also won an eating contest about 45 years ago. At the firehouse where your brother works. Her brother is a firefighter where I used to work. 

How many guys can win a contest, and then win the same kind of contest 45 years later.

 

[raybrag]

Hey, Frank:  How many people you know brag about winning eating contests? 

 

[fdce54]

Hey, Frank:  How many people you know brag about winning eating contests? 

Ray, I know a guy in Connecticut who does. I think he lives in Norwich. He's the only one I know. That's a nice photo of him.

 

[*******]

One good fun story that I remember a company was relocated on a greater alarm. It was Christmas season. The company they relocated into had a nice well decorated Christmas tree in the kitchen in qtrs. The relocated guys took all the ornaments off the tree. Took the tree to the house back yard and set it on fire. When it cooled off they brought it back into the kitchen and redecorated it. They and many of us thought it was funny, not so the house company.

 

[Signal73]

I laughed out loud to that one ^^

 

[nfd2004]

I will call this Firehouse Story; "Quit you're job now - We're Millionaires".

The firehouse built in the late 1800s has three bays. One bay for a pumper called Squad "A", the center bay for a tiller ladder truck called Ladder 1, and the other for a small rescue truck called; Rescue 1, which could be used as an ambulance. But also carries rescue equipment such as hurst tool, aka "Jaws of Life", for extrication etc.

The Connecticut lottery is at it's highest its ever been. We all stopped to buy our lucky tickets on our way to work. The drawing is televised every week and like we would so often do, when the number was picked, somebody would always post that lucky number on our black board next to the kitchen. The meal is getting ready, the table is getting set as the clock gets closer to that 12 noon drawing time.

We all have our tickets. Some guys have a half dozen or more in hopes of that big win. Brad K. is one that has about a dozen himself. He's got a few on the table as he looks them over, hoping one of them is that lucky number.

As the excitement starts to build waiting for that big lotto drawing, over the speaker comes: Squad "A" car fire in front of 96 Church St. Brad K is on the Squad and he's got to go. In his hurry he leaves three of his tickets on the table.

The Lotto drawing takes place while Brad is on the run. For the guys that are left at the house, all hopes of being a millionaire suddenly disappears as we have NO Winners. BUT what about those tickets that Brad left ? Maybe he has a winning number. So we check his numbers, but no luck there either.

But the senior guy, Tom S., aka "Twiggy" has an idea. First he writes down the real winning numbers. Then erases the black board and puts on it the numbers from one of Brads tickets. Brad gets back from the run and chow is just about ready. Of course first thing Brad does is grab his tickets and check the black board. There is a moment of silence as he apparently reads the numbers again.

Suddenly that silence breaks out into a dance as he cheers "I won, I won". Now it goes to "I'm a Millionaire, I'm outta here". Of course most of us know, he's going to be in for a BIG Disappointment when he realizes what happened.

Brad runs to the phone. "Who is he calling" ? He's calling his wife at work telling her; "Quit Your Job Now - We're Millionaires". He starts explaining to her that you need to tell your boss, "your done", "your finished". Apparently, she was a little hesitant about doing that. Of course hearing the conversation, we were all glad that she wasn't about to quit her job right at the moment.

Twiggy tells Brad, maybe you better call Lotto headquarters to confirm the winning number. Twiggy said; I could have made a mistake writing it down. After an hour or so, Brad finally calls that Lotto hqs. Good thing his wife didn't listen to him and quit her job. Of course Brad wasn't too happy about what happened to him. He was mad at us for about a week. But as most of us knew, "those days, we all had our share".

As time went on, everything was forgotten and Brad got promoted and retired as a Battalion Chief. He didn't become that millionaire he thought he was, but I bet he's glad that both he and his wife didn't quit their jobs. At his retirement party you can probably guess what we gave him. A dozen lottery tickets but he STILL Didn't become a Millionaire. 

 

[lucky]

Similar Lotto Story. One of our guys was detailed to a house in another boro for a night tour. They bought lotto tickets with some of the meal money. He got up the next morning, checked the tickets, saw no winners, and went across to the store and purchased a ticket with the previous day's winning numbers and replaced it from one of the losing tickets. He was an early riser so he had completed all of this before anyone else got up. He was relieved by the first man in and came back to our quarters for the day tour. The calls started before he even arrived back. One of a million stories.

 

[doneleven]

Firehouse humor is a lot of things.  Irreverent, politically incorrect, non-discriminatory. But it's always funny.  Sometimes side-splitting funny.  Well, almost always.  There was this single guy in 28/11.  Had some time, well respected, excellent fireman.  But somehow he was always the butt of some serious ball breaking.  Well, he finally met someone...the girl of his dreams.  He's working straight days and is going to her parents house for dinner to meet them for the first time.  We take the rig over to Veniero's Pastries on 10th street and he picks up a huge box of sweets to take to their house.  He carefully puts the box in the fridge with his keys on top so he can't forget it.  Goes upstairs to relax before the big night.  Well, the guys go to town on the pastries.  Gone!  Then they refill the box with remnants of whatever was in the firehouse refrigerator.  Retie the little white string and put the keys back on the box.  I can't even imagine the horror on his face when, after dinner that night, her parents thank him for the pastries and open the box only to find old corned beef sandwiches, dried spaghetti, brown salad.  Brutal!  But he's working in the morning...and he races into the kitchen loaded for bear.  He is gonna go off on the first guy he sees.  He slams open the door to the kitchen...screaming and ranting about what happened...only to see five guys sitting at the table...with powdered sugar covering their uniform shirts...saying in unison..."what pastries"?  You can't make this up.  Stay safe.

 

[8060rock]

gotta like that one - sooooo, did they get married?

 

[columbusfire]

I spent 36 years on a mid-sized department, 34 engines, 16 ladders, 5 rescues. One of the funniest stories that I still remember like it was yesterday goes like this: It was Mark's birthday and we were on duty, so as tradition goes, he is buying the station a cake. Mark is a big, strong ladder guy and generally easy going. Chris, a thin guy assigned to the Engine tells Mark that he wants butter cream frosting before they take the truck to the store. Later in the afternoon, the cake is sitting on the kitchen table and Mark is sitting in front of it, when Chris walks by on the opposite side of the table from Mark. He asks Mark if the cake has buttercream frosting and Mark, who just spent about $12 on the cake says ''yeah, it should be, that's what I told them I wanted''. The cook was behind Mark and was filming every thing. Chris takes a swipe out of the frosting with his bare finger and tastes it. Mark is getting agitated by this, when Chris pretends to be upset about the cake. He tells Mark, that isn't buttercream, you dolt! You are the stupidest guy I have ever seen! Chris, pretending to be mad, picks it up and slams the whole cake on the floor and walks out to the medic bay. Mark just sits there for about 2 seconds thinking about what just happened, stands up and sees the cake smashed on the floor and goes after Chris with smoke coming out of his ears! Luckily, Chris was faster and escaped with his life. The cook was running after Mark, while still filming, and was shouting '' It's a joke Mark''! If Mark would have caught him, theirs no telling what would have happened to poor Chris! After everything was over, and we all watched the video and we all ponied up for a new cake, Mark asked us if it was worth wasting a good cake for the laughter. We all, at the same time said ''duh'', hell yes!!  ;D

 

[nfd2004]

We'll call this story: "The Dynamic Duo isn't ready for this".

As a firefighter in a small department, we all were required to learn ALL of the jobs within the department during our one year probie time. The captain would be the one to make sure that was completed during that one year period. That included all the tools of the job, plus Engine Co Chaffer, Ladder Chaffer, and Tillerman of our 1964, open cab Seagrave 100 ft ladder truck.

I am one half of what my brother firefighters nickname; "The Dynamic Duo". It also includes my best buddy on the job "Jimmy T". We get on the job within a few months of each other, work the same shift together, and become the best of buddies.

We have about a year and a half on the job. Willy D and Jimmy T, will now get their first chance to operate that big hook and ladder truck as we are both hired to work an overtime shift together. We are called the night before and neither one of us know we will be working together. Willy D (myself) is the Ladder Co Chaffer and Jimmy T, the other half of that "Dynamic Duo team" is the tillerman. Our first big chance to prove ourselves on this big fire truck.

Of course the shift begins and "The Dynamic Duo" begins the check of equipment and the ladder operation. I tell Jimmy T, "J.T. we really got to check this rig out - we gotta shine on this". J.T. agrees and we even take the rig out to raise the ladder etc. Everything works well and we put that ladder truck back into it's home in the center bay of that old three bay firehouse.

The bells start to come in. Three rings, space, five rings, space, one rig. - All street pull boxes within the city have two or three digit numbers. Someone has pulled the hook on Box 351, Washington and Green. The Dynamic Duo is about to do their thing. "It's Showtime". I'm in the front seat, start up the rig and wait to hear J.T. give me the go signal with two hits of the floor buzzer. I get the signal and the Dynamic Duo is on their way. My heart is pounding, and as we go, I'm running in my mind what I have to do if it's a job.

Squad "A", Rescue 1, and Engine 3, 2nd due engine from another firehouse, are already on the scene as we arrive. No sign of any fire and somebody pulled the box even though there was no fire. Everybody is heading back to the firehouse. As we head back, we seem to catch every traffic light. When we get back to quarters, everybody is already back at the firehouse.

As we get ready to back that ladder truck into quarters, there's a lady standing there watching the Dynamatic Duo put that big truck into it's bay. I'm thinking maybe she's a buff or maybe she's just impressed to see us wheel that rig into that tight bay. "Yes lady, let me show you what I can do". "This sure is a great job".

Suddenly, the moment of truth. That lady starts to break out in laughter. Apparently, she had seen what was about to take place. The guys from Squad "A" and Rescue 1, dump buckets of water on J.T. "It's a DIRECT HIT as the other members dump the buckets of water on him as he backs that open cab tiller into the firehouse. I look back and see that J.T. is dripping wet. Now I know what she is laughing at. I'm laughing myself. I guess she must have seen the guys on the second floor waiting with the buckets.

  A direct hit on my buddy Jimmy T. Of course, little do I realize that as I back the open cab rig in, "it will be my turn to get a wash down". As we get the ladder section into quarters up to the turntable, here comes buckets of water on me with a direct hit also. I am now soaked as I see that lady across the street laughing again.

We get that truck in and Jimmy T and Willy D, go upstairs to change their wet clothes. Neither one of us was ready for that at all, but it was fun. Espically on the very hot/humid day we were having.

Lesson Learned - Next time either Jimmy T or myself worked that ladder truck, we didn't only watch backing it into quarters, but also the upper floor window to make sure that no water would be coming down. Espically if there's a lady across the street watching us.

 

[columbusfire]

We did the same thing from the roof of a 3 story station that I worked at most of my career. Other companies would come to get fuel and would get soaked sometimes. We called it a ''sudden pop up rainstorm''! Paybacks ALWAYS came.

 

[jbendick]

  In these trying times, where people are losing their jobs or worse losing a loved one or a close friend we must stay strong.. At this time, we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. So it is up us to follow the instructions of our local authorities, the President and the experts.
      It is said that laughter or even a smile is the best medicine. Help people keep their spirits up.
      In my experience, firemen (firefighters) no matter where they are from, are the same,. Every firehouse has it cast of clowns. We love our job and look forward to going to work. Many of us are small children in a big persons body. Having fun at work helps us with the stress and misery we see every day.
      When I talk to a new kid they want to known what is was like before the PC Police. If you have a story to share from whatever dept. you are from lets hear it. Lets see  if we can get a glimpse of that light at the end of the tunnel.
      Please stay safe and those of you still on the line Thank You.
  God Bless

 

[lucky]

One of the guys from the truck came in for a day tour with a box of Dunkin Donuts. He had powdered sugar on his shirt. The guys opened the box to find 10 donuts. They immediately started on the guy. His retort, the bi-ch must have shorted me. That kept the kitchen going for a few days.

 

[johnd248]

Know a certain firehouse in CT where they had a "mascot" who was slightly mentally challenged.  He visited the firehouse every day.  One day a police car on patrol stopped for a bathroom break.  The firefighters working complained that the "mascot" had been mouthing off.  The policeman took the individual to the pole and handcuffed him to the pole.  When the cop got a call, the "mascot" yelled to the firefighters to let him loose.  Just then the firefighters got a call and the poor sole was left handcuffed to the pole with no one in the house.

 

[columbusfire]

Well said. I was thinking that this might be a great thread even before the events that we all are experiencing now. It seems like Firefighters everywhere have good/funny stories and practical jokes from the job. One thing is for sure, if you dish it out.................you better be able to take it! We called it agitating each other. But when the tones go off on the PA, we were all brothers/sisters again and the job becomes serious. Thanks for the input everyone. Let's keep it going.

 

[68jk09]

Those around here for awhile may have seen these but for those who might have not here are 3 pages of another thread "Back When" ....check my Reply # 22 as well as the other pages http://nycfire.net/forums/index.php/topic,13118.msg50918.html#msg50918

 

[NFDTillerman1971]

The department I worked for had a policy that firefighters would go and remove bats from peoples homes, imagine seeing a fire truck pull up to a house 2 firefighters get out and grab a crab net to catch a bat with. I was working an overtime shift at a 2 man Engine company with an old timer when we get a call to go to an address for a stupid bat in the house. I grabbed the crab net and Jack B grabbed a bath towel when we get to the house in question the place is pitch black. Jack says turn on the lights when a voice from inside says no friggin way there is a damn bat in here. Jack finally convinces the occupant to turn on the light and standing there is a grown man with a three foot long sword. Jack says what's with the sword and the guy says it for the bat. The bat was on the curtains in a bedroom I scoop it off but it is escaping from the net when Jack nails it with the towel and it ends up at the top of the stairs. The guy with the sword is at the bottom of the stairs when Jack says to me watch this as he proceeds to kick the bat off the landing as he yells look out below. The guy sees the bat coming and takes about four good swings at it and runs out the back door. Jack kicked the bat out on the porch where the guy proceeds to stab the dead thing about a dozen time, Then duty Captain had a great time writing up that report. I hated going on bat calls got bit by on one night and the trip to the hospital was not fun, but that is another story.