One more last working class hero

3.6. NOT ‘FITTING-IN’
There was one interesting example of a firefighter who may not ‘fit-in’. His evidence is almost a corroboration of much of
my argument that firefighters might encourage their public image:
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Bob:
No I don’t, not so far as sort of a macho sort of buzz. I get a sort of buzz as far as ‘oh good it breaking
the monotony, oh good we can go out, I wonder what we are going to have’. I don’t get what I call a
huge sort of adrenaline, if you like. Maybe I did sort of at first sort of month, but now I think, and I
don’t know whether or not that is to do with the fact that all the jobs that we have been on, none of them
really. I have never sort of got to a job that’s been yunnoo, a job.
(Brigade one, firefighter, 1.25 years’ service) [My emphases].
Bob’s words are suggesting some resistance to the norm. I make this argument particularly because, contrary to his
argument here, Bob had been to a large fire. In another part of the interview he explains how, unlike Ted, he did not
queue up to get-in. He chose instead to help the pump operator. Is Bob ‘different’ to other firefighters?
Bob:
I enjoy coming to work; I enjoy the shifts; I love working nights; I like the way we work. … When I sort
of started, I thought that it’s macho and what not … the only experiences I can go on from the time I
have been on station, none of it has been particularly brave and macho. Em so I don’t, I have never felt
as I am some big brave macho type.
[My emphases]
Bob is uncompromisingly critical of firefighters’ image with the public.
Bob, cont.: I sort of laugh at it with my girl friend now, yunnoo. She sort of says, she, she, I mean
her work colleagues and that, when they all sort of say, ‘ah come on, you’re a fireman, you’re a
fireman’. She just looks at them and thinks, ‘what are you like’, because she knows obviously what the
majority of this job entails. And she looks and thinks, and I think, ‘if they only knew what the majority
of it was like’. Yeah I am not about to say there aren’t some firemen that haven't done some incredibly
brave things, but I haven’t. … On nights, my other half compares me just to going round my mate’s
house. And eh sitting down and having a meal and watching telly and having a laugh. Probably from
what I say to her that is the impression she gets. Em, and, em, that is probably the impression I give her.
Even when friends ask, I find myself, sort of, playing it down and I think to myself, ‘why do I say that,
we are all going to be found out’. And I think, I dunnoo if there is this big fear that firemen are afraid
of being found out, because if this is the job, what I am doing? Yunnoo, a lot of the time doing nothing.
Em, then the big myths, I still think that there is still that myth out there that people, especially women,
how they regard firemen if you like. Now I am experiencing it, it aint true. I know I used, em, to sort of
yunnoo, when I saw a fire engine go past and it was at the stage when I was applying, I sort of thought,
‘Oh my God, I couldn’t’. Yunnoo, ‘they must be brave, big and strong’.
[My emphases].
Has Bob ‘spilt the beans’? In many ways what Bob has said challenges some of the predominant images given by most
firefighters: “none of it has been particularly brave and macho … if they only knew what the majority of it was like …
watching telly and having a laugh … being found out … myth out there, especially women.” Bob’s extract reveals that
firefighters support, if not provide, much of the image that the public have of them. Bob lacks dramaturgical loyalty (that
males/firefighters keep secrets). However, Bob did give the impression that one reason for him joining the fire service
was to ‘prove’ himself. “I sort of thought, ‘Oh my God, I couldn’t’. Yunnoo, ‘they must be brave big and strong’.” Bob
may have ‘proved’ himself right. It may be that Bob failed when he tested himself against the standard of a good
firefighter. That may explain why Bob helped the pump operator rather than behaving like Ted in queuing up to get-in.
Bob has not left the fire service, but he may be destined for ‘better things’. Having already passed his first promotion
examination, Bob may choose to leave the firestation and become an officer (see Chapters 4 and 5). It is possible that Bob
may not actually have ‘the backbone’ for firefighting, something firefighters do not like in their colleagues 138 .
Bob is not the only one who may have concerns about firefighting. Dominic explains:
Dominic:
There was a fellow on this watch a few years’ ago; everybody thought he was a big tough guy. He had
been in the military police. He left this job and went into the police in London to join a special unit to
go out and beat up people who have a punch up. He was just a bully, but he had two BA jobs in the time
he was on the watch and he ran out of both of them. This was the big tough guy who could do anything.
(in a focus group) [My emphases].
138 Firefighters do not take kindly to colleagues who run away because they cannot overcome their fear (see Howell 1996). One of firefighters’ prime
rules is that firefighters never get-in alone, they must always be in at least pairs and they must stay together. If circumstances are such that one of them
thinks that they should withdraw from the fire, then the understanding is that they should both withdraw. However, withdrawing from a fire will have to
be explained to the watch and the pressure to get-in and stay in is considerable. As with Alf (above) firefighters consider it to be a potentially
‘humiliating’ experience if they withdraw.