Life in a firehouse is stressful at the best of times, we are constantly running out the door to other people's emergencies, and a quick break is helpful sometimes! We have a few rules about pranks...
1) No prank should ever put a truck or a firefighter out of service...
2) No pranks until ALL of the work is finished...
3) No pranks that will reflect badly on the department...
4) You NEVER mess with someone's gear or equipment...
Other than that, pretty much anything goes, and usually does. One of the easiest places to prank people is with food because we eat communal meals, and there are lots of opportunities to slip something into somebody else's food.
One of the hazards of being the probationary firefighter, or "probie" in the house is that you have to put up with endless pranks. I lost count of the number of times that my bed was short-sheeted, or my station shoes were filled with some liquid or another. It got so bad that I kept a spare pair of shoes in my car so that I would always have a dry pair if I needed them.
The worst one though...let me tell you about that.
I was riding the Medic that day, doing a shift on the ambulance to keep my skills up. I'd been partnered with an older EMT who'd been on the job for almost 30 years, and had been warned about his penchant for pranks.
We'd had a busy shift, and had been assigned out to as rehab and medical sector for a working fire out in the boonies. We'd arrived and with nothing to do I'd quickly fallen asleep in the cab, remembering to keep an ear open for our number on the radio.
Next thing I knew, I woke up to the sound of an air horn and opened my eyes to the sight of our massive tanker sitting nose to nose with our ambulance. I sat bolt upright and tried to get my seatbelt on, thinking that I was about to be crushed by a speeding tanker truck.
Of course, we hadn't actually gone anywhere. My partner had talked the tanker driver into the prank after the fire was out and I snoozed along, blissfully unaware of anything but the radio. Once the tanker was pulled up to our front bumper, the tanker driver had hit the air horn while a bunch of the other firefighters stood around and laughed. I know I saw at least two cell phones out, but I never did see any video from them.
After a couple minutes of laughter and some red-faced wisecracks from me, the Deputy Chief came over and sent everyone back to work.
"I guess that'll be the last time you fall asleep on scene, eh?"
At least with that partner...
