From the "Manual of Firemanship"

This exert is from the 1945 book entitled "Manual of Firemanship."  Good to see how diligent and forward thinking our firefighters were over 65 years ago. 

PRELIMINARY

“No two fires are alike,” is an old and very true Fire Service saying, and therefore technical knowledge must be backed up by intelligence and the ability to grasp the fundamentals of a situation, to initiate a plan of action and to improvise on the spur of the moment.

 

1. THE FIREMAN

The fireman must be physically fit, for work at a fire will almost always involve great physical exertion. He must be courageous and yet be calm, for on these qualities will depend his reactions in an emergency. He must be patient, for often he will need patience when dealing with persons whose property is involved or threatened by fire and who are in a state of considerable mental distress. He must have initiative and yet possess the will to keep going for long periods of times under adverse conditions. He must cultivate his powers of observation to the utmost and must also possess an enquiring mind. He must have a keen sense of discipline, for unless he himself is able to obey orders without question he cannot expect other to carry out his orders. Finally he must never forget that as a member of the Fire Service he is a servant of the public, and that it is to him that the public turns in an emergency. His duty may be summed upas, firstly to save lives, secondly, to prevent the destruction of property by fire and, thirdly, to render humanitarian services.
The fireman who wishes to progress in his profession should study every outbreak which he has the good fortune to attend and endeavor to learn something from it. Thus, after a few years, he will have built up a store of practical knowledge which will equip him for dealing with most of the problems which come his way.