The Cost of Firefighting

Lately I have been doing a lot of research on all aspects of firefighting and I am honestly surprised about how much information is available to the general public.   Firefighters pay a very heavy price to perform their job emotionally and physically. For examples firefighter usually have to buy all of their protective clothing including the following: fire retardant pants, boots, jacket, and helmet. These items can cost to thousands of dollars, also firefighters have to use their own money to buy food for them selves. Firefighters also use their own money to buy cleaning supplies so that there equipment will look clean. But the biggest prices firefighters pay would be the emotional toll their jobs take on them. Depending on which fire department they work for, firefighters could be on duty for 48 straight hours, and if there is a big disaster some were they could be gone for months at a time. Being away from their family plays a big emotional toll on the firefighters themselves and their families. The children of the firefighters probably don’t get to see that parent to often and if a child has an absent parental figure they may develop social problems in the future. If worse comes to worse a firefighter may die in the line of duty and that will destroy a family. But firefighters know that they might not come back home that night from work,  but that is just the job and all firefighters know that they might have to pay that very high price.