The final version of this superb video is finally available. Brought to us by our friends over at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and
featuring my fine friends at the Chicago Fire Department, this is excellent training and should be seen by every firefighter everywhere.
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“What’s most important is that we all go home. We’re not Superman. We have families that need you to, so…we have other obligations as well. “
“When you’re a young kid, you got that cape on. you wanna go through walls. And if you don’t have the old timers, they’ll kinda pull you back a little bit, They say hold on kid, understand what your doing, and why you’re doing what you’re doing, and to give yourself a way out.”
“Have a wife turn to you, and look at you and say, “What the hell happened here? Where the hell was his hood? Who was in charge? How did you guys let this happen to him? Why him? What do I say to them?”
“If you think you’ve got some good reason for not wearing this or for not doing things the right way , write it down. Because I need to read that to your widow. Because I’m not going to know what to say. You say it for me.”
I think the worse day I’ve ever had in my life is when I was five years old and my father was killed in the line of duty. That day stays with me forever. It’s like it happened yesterday. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that. And I don’t speak just for myself, I speak for my family, I speak for the firefighters that worked with my father that were next to him when he got killed. It never leaves you. It’s a scar you’ll always have.
“We don’t have any more room for badges on the wall.”
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Any kid can smear on the war paint. It’s what you do once you’re all “warriored-up” that shows your true worth on our battlefields.
The firefighter I want with me on a line or with a tool by my side is a brother who is not only aggressive and eager to do the job, but also has the knowledge and seasoning to know when to go and when to think twice when it’s appropriate. I don’t need young, dumb, and full of a battle cry and a death wish.
If he aint got no brains, send him the f*&% away..
Stay stoked.
-J
Can I warm up your tea for you? Bub-bye 12 finely trained firefighter/paramedics. 
On December 3, 1999, the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire took the lives of six firefighters. Unless you are very, very new to the fire service you have already heard this horrific story.
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