My Friend, Battalion Chief Joe Sioui - His Path to Secess - 25 - Page 2

As a Captain I was in charge of a fire house all four shifts, my house consisted of two companies an Engine and the Rescue Squad, I ran a tight ship and had the best company in the city. My guide was a Dept. Rule book that we all had to follow and adhere to and my firehouse was by the book, no room for mistakes as we (each fireman) depended on each other as we had a dangerous job and we had to be at our best.

Whatever I learned at various fire and Rescue school I took it back to our company and taught it to my crew, the more they knew the easier my job and the safer we all could be. As I mentioned earlier the FD pay wasn't the greatest, so most of the firemen had extra jobs to support our families, at one time I had three jobs, I would leave the firehouse after a twenty four shift and drive a van for a nursing home then go home about 5 eat get some rest and go drive a cab from 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM then to the firehouse by 7 AM the next day.

Today a firefighter's job is much better, working conditions, pay, vacation and much more training and education. I am in full support of all those conditions as our generation of firefighters fought for those better conditions. Our firefighter brothers of today have a better life with a decent wage and don't have to work two or three jobs to feed their families, and a firefighter is respected today he's not looked upon as a hose jockey, as he was in the past. If you are in need of help your firefighter is there 24/7.