Defeating a Gated Entry

There are numerous obstacles that firemen will encounter on daily basis that can leave us feeling frustrated, or even defeated. Among them are locked doors and gates that stand between us and the people we are trying to get to in a hurry. Unfortunately, working in a city with thousands of gated residences, both single-family and multi-family occupancies, has the tendency to bring up this feeling often. We can do our best to log gate codes and carry a universal key, Knox or otherwise, but the fact remains that these efforts do not guarantee simple access. Firefighters aren't the type to admit defeat. We will find a way in. 

We're Bringing it On Ourselves: The Downside of Social Media

How many times a day does something on social media leave you thinking, "why would you post that?" Depending on the people you follow, you may have that thought quite often. What I am sure of is that it is not at all an uncommon scenario for each one of us. There are any number of posts that have left me shaking my head. Take for example: Bro taking his daily shirtless selfie in the mirror #madgains #protein. The 100th video showing a kitten chasing a laser pointer. The random plate of food #VEGAN #paleo???. I have also come to absolutely loath game requests and their accompanying "accomplishments." More recently, however, I am finding that the posts that leave me wanting to beg the creator to take them down are in some way fire service related.

Let me be more specific because, obviously, I am in favor of seeing fire related content in social media. What I do not want to see is firefighters creating their own negative publicity.