My
first assignment as a new lieutenant was to fire headquarters. I was an Assistant Training officer. A Captain was in charge of the training
unit. It was our job to train small
classes of new probationary firefighters.
Large classes of recruits would go to the fire academy. A year later, the Captain retired and I ran
the training and re-training unit myself.
If a large class of probationary firefighters were recruited, I would be
sent to the fire academy to help with the training. After 3 years I requested a transfer to a
firehouse. I wanted to get back to
firefighting.
I
was sent to a firehouse that was built into the side of a huge rock cliff. There was a parking driveway on the left side
of the station, a small back yard, and a good sized side yard which was carved
out of the rock cliff. The firemen
wanted to build a brick barbeque grill.
They showed me their plans and wanted me to ask the Captain of the house
for permission. I suggested that they
first get permission to pour a cement slab.
I told the Captain that the men wanted to pour a large slab outside the
kitchen door, which was on the second floor, so they could put a picnic table,
chairs and a grill. The space wasn’t usable
as it was because it was too rocky. The
Captain approved.
The
men used picks and shovels to dig out the rocks and to make a flat slab. After the slab cured, everyone chipped in and
we bought a large picnic table and benches.
Now I told the Captain that the men wanted to build a brick barbeque
grill. Since they did such a good job on
the slab, the Captain approved. The
firemen showed me the plans they drew up for the grill. It was really big – about 8 feet wide. They had a pit in the middle with a tall 6
foot chimney. On either side of the chimney were doors – on the left storage
for wood – on the right storage for charcoal – and in the back was a
compartment for propane tanks. This
grill could be fired up using wood, charcoal or propane. I returned the plans and told the men that I never
saw them and not to show them to the Captain.
Just build it and then see what the Captain says.
When
it was finished, the Captain loved it.
He said had he known how big it was going to be, he probably would have
rejected the plans. I told him no one
told me how big it was going to be either.
The
next project the men wanted to build was a thatched roof over the whole
slab. I said NO! NO! NO!! The taxpayers walking past the firehouse could
look up and see the Tiki Bar Roof outside a firehouse and complain to the city that
their tax dollars were being used to build a Tiki Bar on firehouse
property. The firefighters in the house
paid for everything on the porch deck but the taxpayers didn’t know that. I also told them that the Assistant Chief,
who came to the house every morning to pick up reports, would see this Tiki
Roof and we would get in trouble for building something on city property
without a permit. The firefighters
agreed no more building on City property – but the barbeque and patio improved
the meals and the downtime for all firefighters for years to come. 