Chicago FIRE

[Puller]

I've not watched the "Chicago" themed shows on NBC (FIRE, PD, & MED) until recently. Decided to start from the beginning with Season 1 of Chicago FIRE and as we're finishing up with Season 3 I think it's pretty decent entertainment.

Thought I'd ask the firefighters on the forum what they thought of the show as I have no first hand experience with the trade.

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I suspect the firefighters on the forum think the same about this show as doctors think about Gray's Anatomy or lawyers think about LA Law

[quikdraw67]

I'm neither LEO, EMT or FF.

But I'll take Dragnet, Adam-12, and Emergency over the aforementioned "Chicago" shows.

[Greyman50]

Thought this was going to be about the cow………

[G-Mac]

Chicago PD is my favorite show. Hank Voight is the man!

[Jessie]

I’ve honestly never seen it, but I would bet it’s embellished a bit since the job is usually pretty routine and can be boring.

[UncleEd]

Originally Posted by quikdraw67

I'm neither LEO, EMT or FF.

But I'll take Dragnet, Adam-12, and Emergency over the aforementioned "Chicago" shows.

Can't speak about "Emergency"
but Dragnet and Adam 12 were
certainly about some sort of
urbanized Mayberry and its
Barney Fife. Joe Wambaugh
presented a different
picture of the LAPD and one
that threatened the image
of Jack Webb's efforts.

As for the current Chicago PD,
its violence, its sometimes
crushing of civil rights, its
corruption, it does remind
me of, well, the Chicago PD.

[Targets Guy]

I couldn't take Fire or Med but I do watch Chicago PD. It is getting worse but that is par for the course for a long running series, lazy writers are the kiss of death.

[lkabug]

What ever happened to Car 54 Where Are You?

[quikdraw67]

Originally Posted by UncleEd

Can't speak about "Emergency"
but Dragnet and Adam 12 were
certainly about some sort of
urbanized Mayberry and its
Barney Fife. Joe Wambaugh
presented a different
picture of the LAPD and one
that threatened the image
of Jack Webb's efforts.

As for the current Chicago PD,
its violence, its sometimes
crushing of civil rights, its
corruption, it does remind
me of, well, the Chicago PD.

I guess I prefer living in the past.

[jimmyj]

Hill Street Blues ?

[Beemerguy53]

It was my great privilege to be a member of the Baltimore City Fire Department for 30 years. I've never watched Chicago Fire, but the vast majority of movie or television depictions of firefighters I've ever seen don't really capture what happens either inside a firehouse, or inside a burning building.

I suggest that anyone who wonders what it's like to be an urban firefighter today check out the social media pages or YouTube channel of Baltimore's Engine 8 and Truck 10, which share a station in one of the poorest, meanest, most violent communities you can imagine.

Posting under the handle "BCFD 8x10", my young brothers in that station have really mastered the use of modern devices, including helmet-mounted cameras, to show the reality of what we all regarded as the best job in the world...

YouTube

[ameridaddy]

Originally Posted by Beemerguy53

It was my great privilege to be a member of the Baltimore City Fire Department for 30 years. ...

I have two cousins who served in the BCFD there, one retired years ago and the younger about to retire if he hasn't already. The older one sure saw changes in the department and the city during his career.
I grew up there, and now when I look at all the vacant lots overgrown with weeds where houses used to be, the burned out, boarded up, rotting, sometimes roofless old brick houses my ancestors built and lived in, I want to weep. Jerry told me stories about his experiences, and having heard them, I tip my hat to you for your long service!

[ameridaddy]

Originally Posted by Beemerguy53

It was my great privilege to be a member of the Baltimore City Fire Department for 30 years. ...

I have two cousins who served in the BCFD there, one retired years ago and the younger about to retire if he hasn't already. The older one sure saw changes in the department and the city during his career. Jerry told me stories about his experiences, and having heard them, I tip my hat to you for your long service!
Many of the fires in that vid are in what appear to be abandoned houses - are they mostly arson?

I grew up in Baltimore City, my ancestors lived there since 1819, and now when I see all the vacant lots overgrown with weeds where houses used to be, mom & pop stores I shopped in gone, the burned out, boarded up, rotting, sometimes roofless old brick houses my family of masons, carpenters, tinners, foundrymen, stonecutters, plasterers and plumbers built and lived in, I want to weep.
The attachment is my g-g-g-grandfather's house where he lived from 1870 until he died in 1884. I remember when it was a fine looking house.

[Jessie]

Beemerguy I’m sure your tour was much less routine than mine at a rural locale. Most structure fires were fully involved by the time we’d get on scene and it was more a surround and drown op.
The ones we did make entry on were always an adrenaline rush though.
We did a lot of cleaning and polishing during my only 8 years there.

[Greyman50]

Sadly many large cities have gone the way of Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago and others. Used to go to Baltimore when stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, nice neighborhoods but lots of areas would not go back to, but many good places to eat. Fast forward to 90’s when our “ group” would go to gun shows there. We were told flat out, “ Do not go “in to certain areas. We stayed kind of out of town as hotel rates were better. Absolutely the BEST Crab Cakes there.
My grandparents lived in Detroit around turn of century,1903-before WWI. Heard many stories from them as how nice Detroit was. Fast forward to 1980’s when installing, repairing machine tools and ended up near Detroit on a job. Well , what a Surprise, blocks and blocks of deserted , some burned out buildings and homes, sad, really sad.
Chicago, we don’t even want to start on it other than was there in late 70’s, good ole Jane Byrne ( sp?);was mayor, what a wild place! Have to say, BEST FOOD of anywhere I’ve been. I wanted to take the grandkids to the Aquarium, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry as one can get such an education you won’t get in public school, but crime put that out. Grandkids are grown or almost grown now, which is good.

[Beemerguy53]

Originally Posted by ameridaddy

I have two cousins who served in the BCFD there, one retired years ago and the younger about to retire if he hasn't already. The older one sure saw changes in the department and the city during his career.
I grew up there, and now when I look at all the vacant lots overgrown with weeds where houses used to be, the burned out, boarded up, rotting, sometimes roofless old brick houses my ancestors built and lived in, I want to weep. Jerry told me stories about his experiences, and having heard them, I tip my hat to you for your long service!

Thank you for your kind words. I was very fortunate: I graduated from high school in 1971, with no college plans and no career goals. That fall, on a whim, I joined a volunteer fire company in Baltimore County, and realized immediately what I wanted to do with my life. I started my career in November of 1974, and always had the satisfaction of feeling like I was never really "working"...that I was just doing what I was born to do.

I tell people that I got paid to make noise, squirt water, and break things...every little boy's dream job!

[Beemerguy53]

Originally Posted by Jessie

Beemerguy I’m sure your tour was much less routine than mine at a rural locale. Most structure fires were fully involved by the time we’d get on scene and it was more a surround and drown op.
The ones we did make entry on were always an adrenaline rush though.
We did a lot of cleaning and polishing during my only 8 years there.

Baltimore's Fire Department -- along with every other big-city FD in the country -- is very busy, both with fire calls and with EMS assists. (On many emergency medical calls, fire apparatus accompanies the medics, to assist them as needed.) I used to chuckle when I encountered people who thought we sat around, played checkers, and got cats out of trees; the reality of our lives was far different.

We did have quiet shifts, but there weren't many of them. At the time I retired, in 2004, my engine was getting about 2200 calls per year. (They're now getting about 4000 calls.) Every day I went to work, I expected that at some point I would be inside a burning building...definitely not your ordinary job!