Do they waste a lot of food at fire stations?

[Alpo]

You would be watching some fireman TV show, and they either have food on the stove, or they've all just sat down to eat, when

 

Brillll, Honk, Whannn

 

It's a three-alarm fire and they've all got to go.

 

I would hope they don't take time to put the food away. My house is on fire but they got to get out the Tupperware.

 

And then 3 hours later they come back to the station.

 

Is that realistic or is that just television?

[watab kid]

thats a good question , 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Is there ever anybody who stays behind?

 

there’s also this… #5 stops at Bridge st cafe, double parked, guys go in and place their orders and the call comes.   CANCEL THE ORDER, GOTTA GO….

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

was a volunteer firefighter in a past life.  We did have a few calls during meals on Saturday which were our work days.  

 

Left the food where it was, picked up eating after we got back and cleaned the trucks and equipment--some food went in trash but we ate most of it--fire fighing is hard work

[Cypress Sun]

The fire stations that I worked on had a kill switch that turned off the gas, or electric, to the stove/oven. One of them was a manual STOP button and the other two stations had a manual STOP button that worked in conjunction with the alarm/alert. That way they didn't have to come back and put out a fire at the station. All three had ANSUL systems in the hood over the cooking equipment.

 

From what I remember, the firefighters didn't like the automatic system much.

[Dr. Zook]

Usually, it was left on the table and reheated whenever we returned from a run(s). You learned/developed an iron stomach as your next run could be a structure fire or cardiac arrest. Vomiting in your SCBA is not a fun experience....

[Chief Rick]

2 hours ago, Alpo said:

I would hope they don't take time to put the food away. My house is on fire but they got to get out the Tupperware.

So you would rather an entire shift (or volunteer department) get sick and not be able to respond?

 

At the volunteer department that I was a member of, raw/uncooked stuff was put away and cooked stuff was usually left on the table/stove.

 

When eating at a restaurant, fast food or otherwise, sometimes it was left on a table and sometimes it was quickly bagged and thrown in the truck.

 

At our department, the volunteers had to buy the food out of pocket.  That's in addition to not getting paid to respond to calls.

 

The amount of time it takes to put stuff away is minimal in the total response time and serves to help keep the responders and their fire station safe and clean.

 

I would hope your house doesn't catch on fire.  If it does, I would hope you had the decency to thank whoever responds with gratitude. Maybe go visit your closest fire station beforehand, get to know how they operate and offer to buy them a meal. 

[John Kloehr]

If a department gets a call while on real break, it must be bad. Or everyone else is already on a call. Windy days during dry winters are a pain here in the Smoky Mountains, when trees take down lines and spark fires, contractors burn without permits on prohibited days, and more... Many of our responders are volunteers.

 

At least here, locals step up quickly in the first few hours to feed the responders. they will not go hungry for abandoning what they had on the stove or in the oven, they are welcome to just take a moment to turn off the heat and get on the truck. We have their backs.

 

Our firefighters rock!

[Rip Snorter]

Been there, done that - with VFD you don't usually eat at the firehouse, you respond from home.  If you are out on a big fire, for a couple of shifts,  food is provided on site.  Food offered by folks near the fire can be anywhere from very good to inedible.  Many times, there wasn't much.  I kept energy bars in my turnout gear and and always brought two canteens, though bottled water was always in the trucks.

[Michigan Slim]

My son are a lot of reheated food. Most of the food places understood that them being in line and or ordering did not mean they would be there when the order was ready. 

[Wallaby Damned]

Former military firefighter here. We made a lot of stuff that could be be

left mid-process and/or could be reheated later. Think casseroles, pasta, etc. Also, it was rare that the entire station would roll out. Usually there’d be a chief or station captain behind, sometimes someone in the radio room. In the cases where something big required all hands, you just shut down and rolled and then dealt with whatever the fallout when you got back. If it was bad enough to require all hands, you usually weren’t hungry on return anyway.  On the other hand, we did get called to standby in local towns somewhat frequently to support civilian resources. In those cases we’d usually hit a store or Walmart or something which was always a special treat. Only once did we eat what the civilian station had left behind. 😆 they got mad we heard but we also left them some unit t-shirts as an apology so I think they forgave us. 

[John Kloehr]

Sorry to hear about bad food experiences. Around here, many of the food truck (trailer) owners are or were first responders. Fire, EMT. LE. They step up.