WTF?

[da]

That's odd.

We just got a visit from a uniformed member of our local Fire Department.

They were asking whether we had a smoke detector. I said "yes," and he said great, that's all he needs to know. He handed me a pamphlet on fire-prevention and walked past the fire truck in front of our house, on to the next house.

I'm sure there was a study somewhere saying this is a good use of their resources. At least, I certainly hope there was.

Unfortunately, it interrupted my lie-down before prepping dinner... Ah well.

Comments

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

It's really useful for the firefighters to know what kind of roofs all the houses in a neighborhood have, so that when they go to fight a fire, they know what tactics they need to use. (i.e., we know all the neighboring houses have wood shake roofs, so we need to make sure to wet them down, tool.) Ditto information about house construction, nearby trees, etc. They can get all of that information just by looking at the houses.

Probably, somebody figured that while they were out doing the visual surveys, they might as well knock on each door and ask if the residents have a smoke detector. Because if you DON'T have one, now you'll think about getting one...

That's my guess what he was probably doing.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea. [...It even occurred to me that they might be doing a survey at the same time, but I didn't know what they would survey for, more than rags sitting in cans of gasoline in plain sight...]

[kraig.livejournal.com]

(Found you via a link from slc.com. Now you get to figure out who I am. Shouldn't be difficult.)

My First Real Job Evar was a programming job for a village, supporting the volunteer fire brigade. They'd hired me to write the backend (in dBase IV, as it turned out) and user interface (ditto) and a couple of girls to go around and do interviews. The things they were asking were the smoke detector question, but also things like - and this was of special interest to the firefighters - where the house's electrical panel was, how many occupants, any pets, etc. The followup to a no answer re: smoke detectors was "Would you like one?" The fire brigade would sell the occupant one (at cost, or maybe it had a very reasonable markup, I forget) and if they wanted, set up an appointment to help them install it.

So, that's likely why they were asking - mostly PR, but I would bet they'd encourage you in some way or another if you'd said you didn't have one.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I think he just was hoping that if he came by in his sexy uniform and with his sexy truck, da_lj would just run away with him.

That's what I think.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Hm, while the uniform was reasonably sexy, alas for him, Mr. Fireman was not. Nor, truth be told, was the firetruck. ;)

the day of a fireman

[(Anonymous)]

Firemen have to be ready to spring into action at any time, but between emergencies they often have a lot of slacktime. My uncle was a fire chief and they did things like make birdhouses and cook dinners for the adjacent nursing home. They key is to pick something useful and not too boring, and that can be abandoned on a moment's notice.

[dawn-guy.livejournal.com]

I've seen firemen doing neighbourhood surveys (going door to door, presumably also doing a visual check) in Hamilton and Waterloo, so I guess it's fairly standard practice. My mum used to never answer the door when they came around every few years, which put the notion in my childhood mind that we lived in a fire trap.