Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
Drinking in the Fire House
Last week I went to lunch with some co-workers (non-FFs) and the discussion rolled around to my involvement with the FD. One of the guys said "well, you must have guys that just join the department for the drinking". This recalled to mind another comment by someone, some years back, who swore that ALL volunteer FFs drank at the station and "those who say they don't are lying".
In my department you might find a 6-pack or two if you look in every nook and cranny, but we really don't touch the stuff on drill night or after calls, or meetings. There just isn't stuff to touch. In the late 80s we had the converted soda machine that dispensed several brands of beer but we got rid of it because the Jr. FFs were becoming interested in the stuff.
So - what is your department policy or practice regarding alcohol in the firehouse?
NOTE: 10/16/09: I started this thread over two years ago to gather input from other volunteer firefighters on FFN as it was then. The new theme is, what steps can we take to make America's fire houses 100% dry?
In my department you might find a 6-pack or two if you look in every nook and cranny, but we really don't touch the stuff on drill night or after calls, or meetings. There just isn't stuff to touch. In the late 80s we had the converted soda machine that dispensed several brands of beer but we got rid of it because the Jr. FFs were becoming interested in the stuff.
So - what is your department policy or practice regarding alcohol in the firehouse?
NOTE: 10/16/09: I started this thread over two years ago to gather input from other volunteer firefighters on FFN as it was then. The new theme is, what steps can we take to make America's fire houses 100% dry?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ray W on -
We just need to agree that we disagree on this subject.
I dont agree with your logic on the subject & you dont agree with mine
As to be viewed as "Professional" as a paid department;A volunteer department is way different than a paid department. and the 2 will never be viewed the same.
I can't ride the truck anymore so maybe my opinion shouldn't be weighed in this discussion
I too used to ride a motorcycle; & I never drove it after drinking
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Ray;
So we agree that it is not a good idea to get on a motorcycle after drinking.
Come on; we're almost there on this.
Your opinion matters, even if I disagree.
Let's discuss this a little more and then, you will completely agree with me!
Art
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Permalink Reply by Ray W on
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I can agree that access to the alcohol should be limited; & that it should not be readily available {i.e. the converted pop machine} but that is as far as I will go. I don’t see the need to get rid of the beer / alcohol. I used to enjoy a nice beer or two after a meeting {as I stated before} and then go home after a hard days work. The beer is not the problem; it is the people who are irresponsible and put their lives & the other people on the truck or engine @ risk. If you take the alcohol out of the hall they will drink somewhere else. The line of thinking that making a fire hall dry will solve the problem of a FEW bad apples is flawed.
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Ray:
Now; you're talking.
The only issue that remains is responding after a few beers, whereever they are consumed. You are absolutely correct. Taking it out of the fire hall WON'T stop those who wish to drink, then respond. And if common sense was the rule of the day, there would be no issue, but we know that is not the case. That is why there are so many policies with a drug/alcohol rider attached to them. Because we can't rely on people to exercise good judgment, it has to be legislated.
What you should consider is this: if two, 12 ounce beers are consumed very quickly, your BAC will be above .08 and you could be arrested for DUI. Theoretically, if you have cops who aren't real fond of FFs, they could nail you responding from the bar or pulling the engine out onto the apron. Is it worth it?
My point is: don't drink and respond. If you drink and I do, then stay where you are. The job will get done without you.
Thanks for keeping the discussion civil.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on -
Not if the public weren't in the firehouse itself, but could only see the apparatus bays through a large window.
We have the public in fire stations all the time on tours and just to ask questions. At my station in Georgia, it wasn't uncommon for neighbor to bring their kids, or grandkids, over to see the trucks and we'd show them around. But I never said to let the public just wander into our workspaces as part of the coffee house, just be in the same building. It's not very hard to build separation between separate occupancies within a single structure; I think we've all seen multiple occupancy structures, right?
Besides, it's got be less of a liability than having "Haligan's bar and grill" on the side of the fire house.
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Permalink Reply by Lewis Letts III on -
my company buys beer for meeting nights and after drills, which is way better than it used to be. I personally have sat at the fd drinking and when the tones went out, I walked home, so yes some people can wave to the truck and go home. Unfortunately, some dont walk away. The fd is byob all the time, which is fine but it gets very abused. Right now is probably the most sober this department has ever been
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Permalink Reply by nita on -
I guess this concept is foreign to me. I have seen this discussion going on for some time...and I see it's a popular one. I can't believe this goes on in any firehouse, really. I guess I should say I am a paid FF. Maybe that's the difference. We don't really hang out at the firehouse when we're off duty...except for an occasional class or something. Hell....we don't even drink at our union meetings. What's gonna happen when someone leaves the firehouse...driving.....and kills someone? Or maybe yall have a limit or something...like 2 beers? I like to drink.....don't get me wrong...but for a fire dept. paid or vol. to condone drinking during training or any other fire dept. sponsored event...is just wrong. There is always a debate between paid and vol. FF's and I don't think drinking at the firehouse does anything to further a volunteer FF's cause. How could it? It makes it appear more like a social club than a calling. Go train..... or go meet.....then go to the damn bar like everyone else....but don't do it at the firehouse. Some of us paid FF's consider ourselves "professional"...and I know it steps on toes but it is my profession. So if volunteers want to be lumped in that catagory...maybe drinking at the firehouse shouldn't happen under any circumstances. Just a thought.........
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The good ole boys will tell you that, if we don't allow members to drink, membership will dive, morale will tank and departments everywhere will be taken over by temperance leagues. It's like Prohibition, they will tell you.
Oh, it happens occasionally in the paid houses, too, but is still VERY prevalent in the mostly volunteer sector.
If there is anything that STILL causes the career vs. vollie thing; it is the alcohol consumption and responding in POVs issues.
I read it all the time; the bewilderment of new forum members all declaring the same theory: paid or volunteer; we are all professionals. And though, I would like to think so, the reality is that until we deal with the idiots that drink and respond and drive too damn fast in their POVs to get there, it will only be a nice thought.
At the personal and local level, we don't have the problem. In general, it is still a national, volunteer fire service issue. And one or two that must be addressed...soon; again.
TCSS.
Art
Art
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Permalink Reply by Greenman on
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Nita,
You nailed it on the head!
Unfortunately there are still "Firefighting Social Clubs" out there. I've read quite a bit about all of the little Volunteer departments on Long Island, NY who use the Social Club aspect to recruit and retain their members. I on't have personal knowledge of those.
I have seen, however a couple of the small Volunteer departments in georgia where the station consists of a Cinder block shed with a tin roof for THE Engine, and a nice kitchen/meeting room with a large 'fridge full of beer and hamburger fixin's. OF course these are more and more the exception, rather than the rule and these station where always out in the pines, and never in the large towns (Population over 500).
In the immediate area around where I lived, there were a half-dozen little rinky-dink Volunteer departments at one time, then they were consolidated into one Large Vollie Dept with four, or five stations and all of that went away and it became a more 'professional' volunteer department. Of course less than a year later the Paid Fire Department the county was expanded and the Volunteer department went the way of the Dodo bird. I think the perception in the county of the "Keystone Vollies" on the County Bourd had a big part in that decision...and of course the good ole' days of drinking beer in lawn chairs in fornt of the station were still an image in people's minds at the time of consolidation...
GM
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Permalink Reply by FireRescue1.com on
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Obviously firehouses are tightkint groups, and its only natural members want to drink togeather. However, there should be a zero tolerence policy in all Stations. From drinking on a night shift to responding to calls after a couple of drinks, these practices must be eliminated.
In one of my departments a cheif needed one beer to make his storied beer can chicken. He thought about going to the store and buying a sixpack, but decided he didnt want to do it in uniform. He ended up paging out a local off duty trainee, and having him pick up the beer. Drinking can be a sensative subject, but when you are a professional (or professional volunteer) rescuer there is no place for it.
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Permalink Reply by Tina on -
NO Alcohol in the fire house. Not to mention we're a dry county!
We have a lot of young volunteers, and quiet frankly, since we are a volunteer department we work hard to look professional, knowledgeable and efficient. Allowing alcohol in the station OR allowing those who have had a drink or two to hop in ANY apparatus and go on a call would definitely not portray a good impression.
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Permalink Reply by Beckah Priebe on -
NO Beer in the firehouse and none of the hard stuff either. However, the local bar is always safe, as most of the people end up there.
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