There are a lot of prestigious jobs that kids and adults both appreciate and aspire to be themselves. Anyone in the medical field is lauded for their courage and intelligence. Teachers have become more appreciated during the pandemic as they navigated the volatility of remote learning.
Perhaps the most celebrated job in the U.S. though is being a firefighter. We put up calendars with firemen in our bedrooms. We think that the equipment they use is awesome, along with the history of fire trucks that are driven to the scene of an emergency. We often feel safe around firefighters, and this is because they save so many lives.
Why is this profession not only so important but also treated with almost a celebrity-like reverence? Firefighters are loved like superheroes in a movie or a television show, and many pieces of fiction do revolve around the firefighting profession. We’ll try to discuss the main reasons for the love that people have for firefighters.
#1 – Firefighters Are Always There to Help
Unlike other service jobs like police work, firefighters are always on the side of the citizens. This makes both adults and children very comfortable when a firefighter is around. Policing in the U.S. has become very political and started to revolve around tough conversations about racism and classism.
Firefighters get to avoid those situations. They aren’t there to arrest people or get involved in solving crimes. They simply arrive at the scene of an emergency, usually fire, and try to put it out. Because we see this overwhelmingly positive involvement in our lives and communities, firefighters start to feel like real-life superheroes. This is in part why, TV shows about firefighters are such a hit.
Firefighters are versatile, too. They not only show up when there is a fire, but they are also at the scene when someone is having a health problem or there is a car accident. When 9-1-1 is called, for whatever reason, firefighters are there to help.
What firefighters do on the job is only one part of their allure to adults and children alike. It’s how they do it and how they look while doing the job that also makes everyone naturally gravitate towards them.
#2 – Firefighters Have Awesome Equipment
Firefighters have cool-looking outfits. Even though they are designed for practical reasons, children don’t think that way. Their imagination runs wild and they imagine themselves wearing bright, puffy firefighter coats that look unlike anything else. And then there’s the main attraction of a firefighter’s equipment arsenal: the fire truck.
What a lot of kids, and maybe even some adults, don’t realize is that a fire truck and a fire engine are two different things. When we see these big vehicles that firefighters are driving around to their emergencies, they are controlling a truck that is carrying a fire engine. The fire engine is what supplies the water that puts out the fires.
Technology has evolved mightily that helps control these enormous vehicles. Back in the 1700s, the Newsham engine was the primitive version of the modern fire engine that we associate with firefighting today. This was the first mobile pump that could be attached to a wooden chassis and reach fires on upper levels of buildings.
This is different from the method of transportation that the pump is attached to though. There has been a long evolution of how to transport the water, and horses were the next step in this process. Dalmations would also run ahead of horses to let people know that firefighters were on the way. This was a substitute for an alarm system that all fire trucks now have.
The modern fire truck is a much sturdier-looking vehicle. They are very capable of getting through difficult terrain and they can not only transport the water to the fire, but they are high-tech and can take tremendous amounts of impact on the road.
This makes firefighters seem invincible, something that kids are very interested in. This hero-like image of firefighters is also represented by their courage. During the early 90’s, Fireman Sam was one of the most popular cartoon characters who portrayed the role of a firefighter.
#3 – Firefighters Are Courageous
Being a firefighter is one of the most dangerous jobs you can choose to do. Even though doctors and nurses also save lives, they are not usually putting themselves in harm’s way like a firefighter is.
This gives firefighters an opportunity to be very courageous. Kids and adults both appreciate the bravery that firefighters possess, as not everybody has the capability to demonstrate those qualities.
This was never more evident than after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Hundreds of firefighters lost their lives trying to save others as the buildings collapsed in New York City. As the media coverage focused on the heroic people who tried their best to prevent even more deaths from the tragedy, firefighters’ reputations went up even more than before.
Children are very impressionable. They take one event or thing they see, and it often sticks with them for the rest of their lives. Firefighters being the symbol of good in one of the worst events in history is perhaps the main reason they are viewed as so courageous in 2022.
#4 – Firefighters Represent Traditional Masculinity
We know that people often tie someone’s job to their gender. In the U.S., there are male jobs and there are female jobs. Without getting too much into the discussion on gender norms, it’s important to recognize that firefighters are often loved because they represent the purest form of masculinity.
Men are supposed to protect others. Men are supposed to be ready to embrace danger and come out on the other side unscathed. Men are supposed to be physically superior, to use strength and muscle to do their jobs. Firefighting combines all of these traits into one package, making it the ultimate masculine job.
This is why firefighting is one of the jobs that are idealized on television and film so often. It’s why firefighters are in calendars and posters. Firefighters seem too perfect to be real.
While it’s great to appreciate all that firefighters do for us, it’s also vital that we treat them like real people. They have families and interests and lives outside of their job. Firefighters are subjected to some of the same labor difficulties that others are. Better retirements, better salaries, and occupational discounts including auto insurance are all things that firefighters deserve to receive for doing their jobs.
Shawn Laib writes and researches for the auto insurance site, BuyAutoInsurance.com. He wants to educate people on jobs that involve driving, like firefighting.