The Fire Wife Life

Sound the alarm cause it's hot, hot, hot, when it comes to firefighters. I mean let's get serious here, a man saving lives of cute little animals and delivering babies on the sides of roads. Let's not forget him all hot and sweaty after saving someone's house from burning to the ground. We’ve all dreamed about that sexy fireman coming over to us and calling us his one and only, not to mention him going all Fifty Shades of Grey on you when you're alone. Well, ladies and gentlemen it's time for the reality check.

You see, I've been on the other side that many women dream about being on and let me just say, it's not all turnout gear and cute Dalmatian dogs at the department. Now depending on how your local fire department is set up and your local area will determine how your fireman works. Our department (yes, you end up calling it "ours" even if you don't work on it) is not a full time department, meaning most times our station is not manned and most of our men come from home when a tone is dropped.

With this being said, a lot of things will be changed to fit the needs of your fireman. That fancy dinner for date night you just made for six hours is now going to be eaten alone and heated up in the microwave so that the elderly man just a few roads away has a chance at life again. Your bed will grow cold at night when he jumps out and kisses you goodbye when the tone goes off for a car accident on a major highway where he will spend most of his night out in the negative temperatures saving the lives of the people involved. Kids' sporting events, weddings, funerals, all of this will go interrupted at some point in your life. Speaking of funerals, a firefighter's funeral is one of the hardest things you will ever go through because you can't help but wonder about your fireman as you hear the “last call” ring out on everyone's pager.

Now before I have you all freaking out over all of the bad things about being a firemen’s significant other, let me go into the positive things about it. Now my firefighter and I have been together even before he became a fireman so this was a huge adjustment for both of us to jump into. Most firemen you find to be rough around the edges but deep down, they're probably the most soft hearted people you would ever meet. A lot of the reasons fireman get bad reputations for bad attitudes in situations is due to PTSD, which is rather common in firemen. Another bonus because of this traumatic career path is that you build a special bond with your department and become a family of fellow supporters who know exactly what you are going through. Helping out in your local parades and schools bring you closer to your community members and you can even make a difference in a child's life. Not only all of this, but it can also bring you and your fireman much closer together.

Now unfortunately, not all people can make a fire marriage work and research has found that firemen divorce rates are right up their at the top of the list with Police and EMS workers. That is a bad rating, yes, but it also shows how committed the significant others who stayed are. This bond is a hard one to break and many believe that it is a rather unique type of love between the two that rarely gets noticed and is one of the most selfless loves there is.

A fireman's life is not an easy one nor is it for the faint hearted. It's not the life romance or erotic novels write about when they want to sell you a story. This is the raw truth of the life of a fireman and his fiancé of five years. This is the reality that nobody ever speaks of.