Being Married to a Fireman

September 05, 2014

Being Married to a Fireman

Before meeting Brandon I had no idea Lynchburg City had a paid Fire Department. I assumed it was volunteer like Appomattox County and only "big" cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago had paid Fire Departments. I soon learned otherwise. Brandon's Dad is a retired Lynchburg Fire Department (LFD) fireman and was working there when Brandon and I started dating, way back when, so was his brother who is still employed by LFD. It was pretty much a given that one day Brandon would work there too. Sure enough when Brandon was just 18 years old he also went to work for LFD. Four years later we got married. So I guess you could say I know, no different.

Chances are my fellow LFD wives can relate the these things.

Firemen have a different schedule. Brandon works 24 hours and is off for 48 hours. This schedule is year round with no regard to weekends or holidays. In a way it is nice because I know his schedule in advance (pretty much forever unless he changes shifts). There are three different shifts, A shift, B shift, and C shift. If you marry a fireman you will know these shifts like you know the days of the week and every time you are invited to do something or trying to plan something you will count in your head to figure out what shift it will fall on. No one else will understand what you are talking about when you say "Yeah, that should work it's a B shift."
Your husband will be gone 1/3 of the time. Brandon works 48-72 hours a week depending on the way the days fall. Every third night you will sleep alone (if your husbands snores that isn't completely bad :)). You get used to it though, I couldn't imagine what it would be like if he worked a 40 hour work week. Since I am a nurse we can easily have 2 days off together in the middle of the week, even though he's only off Saturday AND Sunday every third weekend. This also allows me to schedule myself around his schedule so we don't have to use daycare or a sitter for our children.
Co-workers are more than just co-workers. Because my husband is gone 1/3 of the time his co-workers become more like family. They live together every third day. You will get to know their spouses and children. These are the people your husband would risk his life to save (God forbid something happened in a fire) and the people who would do the same for him.
Smoke. They are more aware of smoke than the average human being. They will smell it and spot it before you have even noticed. They also tend to be fond of the smell and you might as well get used to it too because after they have a big fire they will smell like smoke for days regardless of how many showers they take.
Your husband will most likely know how to cook and clean. This is a nice added bonus to marrying a fireman. They have to cook and clean every third day so most of the time they get good at it, I am lucky enough to be married to a fireman who is good at it.
Firemen and mustaches just go together and they have for a very long time. At some point your husband will probably have a mustache. Brandon has had one the entire time we've been together. Once he shaved it off and I insisted he grow it back because I thought he looked funny without it.
Man in Uniform. You will be married to a man in uniform and that's pretty sexy. Unfortunately, other women find it pretty sexy too. I had never really thought about this until I witnessed it myself. One day I was in Lynchburg (on Wards Road) and there was an accident I saw one of the LFD Engines and Ambulances and several men in there bunker pants and helmets directing traffic, checking on the drivers, etc. I was busy trying to figure out what engine it was and if I knew anyone and then I notice other women rolling down their windows to whistle at them and beeping their horns...excuse me!
They are like a walking talking GPS. If I need to go anywhere in the City of Lynchburg that I've never been before I just call Brandon and give him the address, 9 times out of 10 he can tell me the fastest way to get to where I need to go. I'm sure all firemen aren't like this but it is a little scary how well Brandon knows the entire City of Lynchburg.
They have never met a stranger. It is their job to talk to strangers and go into strangers homes. When you go somewhere with a fireman they will see at least 3 people they know. Often, Brandon will be talking to someone while we're out and afterwards I'll ask him who it was and he will respond "I don't know."
Fire Alert. When you go on vacation and travel through a new town they will spot the fire station and fire equipment from a mile away. They will hear a siren and stop what they are doing to see what direction it's going. You may also visit random fire stations, because firemen love to talk to other firemen.
Danger. It is no surprise that firefighting is a dangerous job. When everyone else is running out of a building my husband is going in. Not only do they go into burning builds they also go to explosions, train derailments, motor vehicle accidents, shootings, stabbing, domestic disputes, and fights. They deal with angry and belligerent people and unlike police officers they don't care guns, tasers, handcuffs, or anything to defend themselves. When you are married to fireman you push the danger aspect to the back of your mind partly because you would worry yourself sick if you always thought about it and partly because you often forget how dangerous their job really is until someone says something to you or you see something on the news that reminds you.
A different language. Sometimes you will feel like they are talking in a different language. You will pick up on some of it and so will your children. Chances are after a couple years you will be able to understand things about pumping fires, hose lays, fire hydrants, attack techniques, and the difference between a battalion chief, deputy chief, and station captain.
It will happen on their shift. If there is going to be a snow storm, derecho, power outage, one of your children gets sick, your car breaks down, dog runs away, you name it...it will happen during one of your husbands shifts. It never fails.
They are hero's. Often they will deny it but there aren't many people or professions where someone would risk their life to save a complete strange. Firemen are good guys! Chances are your husband would do anything he could to help someone in need, whether he was at work or not, that's just their nature.