Housekeeping

After coffee and oatmeal, the usual order of the morning is house chores. As junior man on my shift, I take the initiative, starting in the kitchen. I'll grab the garbage from the previous day and make my rounds through the station. In the bathrooms, I'll tidy up, wipe the mirror if needed, and hit the toilet with Comet and a toidy brush. By the time I'm finished, the kitchen table is vacant, and someone's pushing a dust broom or mopping. If a call comes in for us, I can expect to return to a clean station, the rest of the crews finishing in our absence.

On Saturdays, though, in department t-shirts, we clean the apparatus bay, moving all the rigs out onto the apron for extended rig and equipment checks by the drivers. The engines are normally parked over large galvanized drip pans, and these are dragged outside to be cleaned, any errant oil spots wiped up. Someone grabs a hose and sprays down the concrete floor. Without any direction, two or three firefighters work together to clear the floor with giant squeegees on broomsticks. In a staggered phalanx, the water is pushed outside and into waiting drains. I lean down, pressing the rubber into the floor, pushing a wave, across the concrete, in front of the tool. I am reminded of curling and wonder if the sport was developed from some similar industrial cleaning process - maybe sweeping the ice at a hockey game? The doors are left open, and, if the humidity is low, the remaining moisture evaporates quickly in the cross breeze. When we bunk up for a fire alarm, we doff our pants and shoes in the bay. With my hand, I will sweep the bottom of my socks for dirt before pushing them into my bunker boots, but they are always clean.

We will pick up garbage, pluck weeds, and if the grass is getting long, we mow. Today, Mike C. and I consulted over the lawn, assessing the length and the noting the tire tracks persisting from last week. We agreed that it looked fine, but in a few weeks the leaves will start to drop from the maples and we'll need to mow, if only to bag the fallen leaves.

By 1030 the chores are done, and the only official duty remaining is to run calls.