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Firie Speak
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When you meet a firefighter, you soon realise they speak a language of their own.
Here is a list of some fightfighter "speak" you might hear when talking fire brigade history with a "Firie".
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Firie |
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A firefighter |
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MFB |
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Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Melbourne area) |
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CFA |
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Country Fire Brigade (Victorian Country area) |
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SES
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State Emergency Services |
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Appliance |
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Equipment or vehicle used to fight fires, ie. breathing apparatus, trucks, pumps, etc.
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Turn out |
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Respond to a fire call with all fire fighting gear turned on, fully loaded and ready to race to the fire |
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What gear are you catching ? |
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Which appliance have you been assigned to drive or ride on when the fire alarm sounds? |
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Who's got the front ? |
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Who is on duty in the watchroom. Someone had to be on duty in the watchroom 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
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"Put the bells on" |
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When the duty watchperson received notice of a fire, he or she would put the "bells on". When activated, the bells and all the firestation lights would come on for 38 seconds so firies could find their way from their beds, down the pole and onto their assigned appliance to dash to the fire site. |
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"Did you press the button on your way through" |
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The watchroom supervisory unit (like a big clock with an alarm) would sound an alarm every few minutes unless someone was on duty to switch it back to zero by the watchperson. This alarm was designed to make sure that the watchperson was at the watch desk and was awake and watching from the tower for fires and answering calls for assistance. Whenever someone was walking past the watch unit the watchperson would yell to them to flick the switch so that they alarm would not go off and the watchperson would not have to jump up and re-arm the switch themselves. |
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"Whose turn to test the alarms" |
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The Melbourne area had approx. 2500 fire alarms which had to tested up to 5 days a week. Each fire station in Melbourne was responsible for testing a number of the alarms, usually 60 to 80 per station. Firemen would often find themselves out all day testing alarms throughout the city. |
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© 2008 Fire Services Museum of Victoria
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