Today while on the ambulance responding to a call, I actually shut the siren off because I was tired of hearing it. We've all done it. "Tired of hearing the sirens Brian!" Then I remembered something I learned a long time ago about the sirens. I'd like to share, if you'd like to learn please read on.
The Federal Q. That fire truck sound. It all started with a vacuum cleaner believe it or not. A young inventor saw the design and heard the noise, and with some tweaking came up with an "electro-mechanical" sound that has become iconic and directly married to fire trucks. There is only one place that sound comes from. Fire trucks.
Long before my recent days on the ambulance, I was strictly a fire fighter. A firefighter's firefighter as I've been called. I'm soul deep into this. Always have been, always will be. Until they put me in the ground, I'll always be a firefighter. And even on that day, I won't know, but if you're there you will see and feel what "this" means to all of us.
"Lights and Sirens"..... Very early in my career I learned how this was supposed to work, and what Light & Sirens were supposed to do. This is also the title of a book a friend of mine, Kevin Grange has written, a VERY good read! Shortly after, I was finding my own firefighter within. I was figuring out "who" Billy was. I learned from some so many others, that I cannot even begin to list them here. But taking a little from all of them, I was slowly but surely figuring out where I fit into all of this brotherhood, and was in all accounts becoming a respected young firefighter willing to learn and carry on the traditions of those that came before me. One of those traditions was, and still is, that Federal Q siren. As my first few years progressed, I became fascinated with the fire truck sound. Every time I left the station was an actual tribute to those before me. My contribution to the brotherhood. Air horns and "Q" coming out of the station. Count on it. It progressed to the point where citizens would comment on how they knew I was on duty because of how that rig sounded coming down the street.
I did it mostly for myself. I was obnoxious about it. But I loved it. I was falling in love with being accepted as a brother. I was learning. I began teaching some of what I had learned. It took some 20 years and another book to actually describe what I was feeling back then. This is from a book written by Kevin Hazzard titled "A Thousand Naked Strangers"
"Loud and terrible, ten thousand pounds of speeding menace with the lunatic wail of a screaming banshee … a street bound locomotive that can't stop, so get the hell out of the way."
That's the way I left my fire station. EVERY time. But then the tradition of my noise making ways of clearing traffic started to teach me something. It became apparent that I could clear traffic not just in front of me, not just the approaching intersection, but I was clearing traffic two, sometimes three intersections in front of me. I didn't know it at the time, but I was loud. I was terrible. I was an obnoxious asshole. I was coming though that intersection. How you wanted your car to look afterwards was up to you, but I was coming through. I was Moses parting the red sea.
I'm sure I heard it way before I realized the lesson here. I just wasn't paying attention. I started to listen to the people that needed our help.
"I was so frantic, I didn't know what to do!!! But I heard your siren...."
"I didn't think you would make it in time, but then I heard your siren...."
"I was so scared, but I heard your siren..."
"I didn't know what to do, but I knew you'd be here soon, I heard you coming.."
That siren we all love isn't just to clear traffic. I'm tired of hearing it at this point in my career honestly. It's caused permanent damage and deafness. "Tinnitus" the call it. I can't sleep at night without a TV on because without it all I hear is a ringing annoying "meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,"
Just like everything else we do. That siren isn't about "us." It's about THEM. Don't ever shut it off. As annoying as it may seem to you, me and all of us.
It's the "bat signal" in the city. It tells those in need that help is on the way. It's the storm and chaos in our world, but it represents the calm after the storm coming to them.
It's a sound of comfort, caring, and reassurance that professionals are on the way.
Don't shut it off.
