Responsible Consumption

A few months back, one of the firefighters at the hall decided he wasn't going to continue with firefighting. He'd been a forest fire supervisor for many years, but he hated wearing bunker gear, so he left the department. While he was with us, he'd taken over managing the canteen at the hall. Well, canteen manager might be a slightly grandiose title - he kept the beer fridge full.

After he left, I volunteered to take over his responsibilities. After working in a bank, this is pretty simple stuff - record your costs, make change for people, and occasionally go on a massive beer run. Nothing like rolling out of the liquor store at 9:30 on a Wednesday with 10 flats of beer to get weird looks from people on the street. Now, I haven't been in the Fire Service that long, but my impression so far is that pretty much every Fire Hall has some sort of beer dispensing system, be it a vending machine or fridge or one of those hats with the can-holders and flexible straws.

This led into a conversation I had with a local resident when I was discussing my responsibilities at the hall. "Beer?" he said, "Should you be drinking beer in the hall? It's public property, I don't think that's appropriate."

I thought about this for a few moments, because I realized that this was a valid concern. The Fire Hall is public property, after all. My eventual response was this:
As volunteer firefighters, we aren't paid anything for the time that we put in, either for training, community work or calls. Even paid on-call departments don't really receive "fair wage" for the time they put in. We do it because it's an important service, and because we like it. One of the big benefits that we get for volunteering is to utilize the hall for social purposes. We drink responsibly, keep the place clean and generally behave in an appropriate manner… Generally.

He decided that this was reasonable, so hopefully we won't be getting a call from the Regional District anytime soon. Still, it was interesting to be called on something that you pretty much take for granted, and considering things like alcohol consumption from an outside perspective definitely gives me extra reasons to make sure that I behave in a responsible and professional manner - even if I'm not getting paid.

Connecting with Clayton

We're having a beautiful fall out here in BC, which I've managed to enjoy very little of - because I'm renovating my house. As I'm sure many of you know, house renovations are not for the faint of heart (or skinny of wallet, apparently). I'm done now, though, and it looks spectacular. So my wife is looking at other rooms… Guess I did too good a job.

I did take an afternoon off this week and spent some time with my Mom and Dad, and while we were visiting, I learned something really interesting. My Grandfather was apparently a volunteer fireman for many years in Madison, Wisconsin. Clayton passed away a decade ago, and he and I were very close when he was alive - despite the fact that we lived so far away.

Hearing that he had been involved in his local Fire Department immediately filled me with a strong sense of connection to him, one that I'm not sure I ever felt when he was alive. I was close to him, but we never really had a lot in common. He liked fishing and owned a mink ranch, and I like computers and mostly work in offices. Rolling hoses (and don't forget washing them) makes me think about him now - which is good, because rolling hoses gives you lots of time to think.

The shared experience of being a volunteer firefighter allowed me to see him in a different way. He was definitely the kind of man I'd be happy to have on my team, and I hope my grandkids will carry on the practice of volunteering, be it the Fire Department or some other place. I know now that it's something Clayton would have approved of.