Get To Know Me
The Brotherhood and what it means to be firefighter.

I spent 12 and a bit years as a firefighter and moved up to become senior firefighter with the Rolleston Volunteer Fire Brigade, one of the best groups of people you could wish to meet. Based at a small station just outside Christchurch, New Zealand, Rolleston is one of the busiest volunteer stations in the country with callouts in excess of 250 a year.

New Zealand has some large buildings but most wouldn't come close to scratching the ground floor ceiling of the World Trade Centre or the other buildings in the New York business district. This means that our firefighters will never be asked to carry large amounts of rescue equipment up 100 or more flights of stairs. The fact remains that hundreds of New York firefighters, unaware and unmindful of the impending dangers, did exactly that, making their way up the smoke laden stairwells of the World Trade Centre. They were fighting against panicking people trying to get out and carrying lengths of hose, axes, breathing apparatus and other equipment. This is the job of a firefighter. I've tried to explain this to people but unless you are part of the firefighting community you can't understand why firefighters rush in while others run out. It's what we do.

Given the same set of circumstances I believe that any firefighter would have done exactly the same thing. The common bond we share are the dangers we face on the job. Every firefighter would put their life on the line to pull a buddy out; we're all family.

For the many firefighters who lost their lives when the twin towers collapsed, these are the terms of engagement; we battle the beast to the best of our ability and follow the rules of combat.

Buildings come in all shapes and sizes and a situation in a single storey home can be as unpredictable as a huge skyscraper. The danger is always the same and if something goes wrong, you're just as dead.

We do the same job as other firefighters in any part of the world. People in the service everywhere who watched the World Trade Centre collapse must have agreed amongst themselves that if it had happened on our turf it could have been us. Then it would be our friends and family suffering the same grief.

We will likely never have to experience the magnitude of the disaster in New York but scale is irrelevant. Everytime a firefighter is killed in the line of duty the news is met with a deep feeling of loss by all in the service.

We leave the station on the truck to go to a call thinking of the plans we have for the day. The things we must catch up on when we get back to the station, the fishing trip we have to pack for, the kids birthday you have to attend or that sports match you just have to see, for some it was that girl you met the night before.

No doubt on the morning of September 11, hundreds of New Yorks finest were having the same thoughts as they jumped on their trucks, unaware that this would be their final duty to the city.

I am probably merely echoing your thoughts but therein lies the crux of the matter for they are the thoughts of every firefighter the world over and this is what links us together as brothers.
The Brotherhood of Firefighters.


John Scott