Clean Your Gear and do some Pull-Ups

So lately I've been sitting around at home looking at my wife, thinking about the kids we'll have soon, and pondering about how the job I have can affect my life outside of work. Obviously, there's some inherent risks day to day when you are dealing with fires, electricity, communicable diseases, etc.. But what a lot of people don't focus on is the risks that can follow you home.

For fire calls, we wake up in the middle of the night to pure adrenaline, heavy lifting with our backs and high intensity workouts. Also, while we're engaging in these workouts, we're breathing in all sorts of crap that the EPA doesn't trust the ATMOSPHERE to absorb, let alone us. Now to be fair, we have some solid safety initiatives in place that have improved our health and safety greatly in the past several decades. Still though, I can't help but think sometimes about how many of us on this job die of heart attacks and cancer. At the same time, just as many of us go out crippled with injuries. The statistics are pretty scary and noone in this job has to look far to know someone with these issues. So lately, I've been thinking more about making sure I get home to may family after EVERY shift and here's what I think could help;

1. Train all the time. Be hungry to get better at this job.

2. Work out like you're working at a fire. Beach muscle workouts and donut curls do little on the fireground. Practice like you play. You are much less likely to get injured this way too.

3. Wash your gear after every fire you're in. The particles that your gear collects and holds will cause cancer. Whats scary is that statistics say it will be ball cancer. Plus, rolling around the public with some nasty gear smelling like hot garbage shows a lack of pride in your job. Even if you don't see a ton of fire, wash your gear every few months. You wouldn't wear the same t-shirt for six months without some detergent love.

4. See some doctors and get screened for things. I just got some moles hacked off and caught a bad one in time. We need to take care of our hearts too. Insurance covers this stuff so make time for it.

We have the best job on the planet but at the end of our shift, we owe it to the people we love to come home. And to be honest, I'm not interested in shortchanging or missing anything with my family if I don't have to. I guess thats my point.