The Firehouse Kitchen Table - The Great Equalizer

By: John Catoul, Platoon Chief, Richmond Hill Fire and Emergency Services

The inside of a firehouse is something few will ever see.

It’s reserved for the men and women who have given everything to pursue a dream profession and who may encounter praise, ridicule, support and professional-grade teasing – all within the first hour of a shift.

This is hallowed ground, and those you meet there don’t care if you’re fresh out of recruit class and stumbling to find your feet, or finishing the last day of an otherwise illustrious career. Everyone’s fair game.

Welcome to the firehouse kitchen table. Meeting around a table is by no means reserved solely for firefighters. For generations, families have gathered around tables to enjoy meals together, gamblers and card players have pulled up a chair to try their luck, while board members have taken high-ranking seats to plan financial futures.

The kitchen, and more specifically the kitchen table, is where everyone sits on a daily basis to be entertained by the comments and actions of their teammates. Whether you’re sharing fascinating facts or suggesting the menu for the day, make no mistake, once you open your mouth you’re setting yourself up for universal support or collective head shaking… or both. Choosing not to sit down with your teammates is a signal that you’re removing yourself and disengaging from the group – rarely a wise move. You need to take your seat at the table and join in the action.

Freedictionary.com defines "kitchen table" as a piece of furniture having a smooth top that is usually supported by one or more vertical legs. That’s a very simple description of something so central to firefighting culture.

On any given day, on any given shift, the kitchen table will be where everything starts. Its magnetic pull is so overpowering we gravitate towards it for many reasons that take us far beyond simply filling our stomachs.

Firefighters are typically Type A personalities, so it never takes long before someone breaks the silence – perhaps with a comment carefully designed to ignite an explosive reaction, kind of like throwing a grenade onto a bigger grenade. Lob “Who saw the game last night?” into the conversation and, bingo, like clockwork it begins. Suddenly, everyone around the table is transformed into a pro athlete or coach, all with a wealth of opinions to share. While the kitchen table recreates last night’s playing field, cups of coffee are poured as the first topic leads into the next and the next,

and the conversation flows for the entirety of the shift, interrupted only by calls and other daily activities.

Once you’ve taken your seat at the table, you’ve become a player. By sitting down, you’ve anteed up and are ready to solve all the problems anyone brings forward, to give input when needed and definitely when not required. Suddenly, you morph into an industry expert, just as you earlier became a pro athlete. Whatever’s needed, that’s what you’ll be – therapist, doctor, teacher, banker, contractor, lawyer or any other profession that fills the bill.

You’ll listen attentively as colleagues discuss in detail whatever they’ve brought to the table, all the while flipping through the mental Rolodex you’ve amassed over the years, searching for the exact qualifications you need to contribute to the conversation. When someone mentions what their kids did at home, yours have done the same! When they relate an experience that happened to them, you can’t wait to share something similar and so on.

We signed up for this profession to help others. If this isn’t the foundation on which you have built or are building your career, then you can get up from the table and leave. The kitchen table is our Sunday gridiron – but the difference is, it’s there 365 days a year. It’s where we show leadership, offer compassion and create inclusion and trust. The brothers and sisters who break bread with you will be the same people who might forget a $20 bill on the table for weeks. The $20 might be moved or have some colorful drawings added to it, but that bill will stay right where the owner left it. (On the other hand, leave a bag of chips or a box of cookies, and they won’t stand a chance!)

The ability to sit quietly and listen and take everything in is trumped only by what you decide to say when the moment arises. Make no mistake, the conversations that take place at the firehouse kitchen table will be forever inscribed on your mind. You’ll recall, without hesitation, all the stories and events that have taken place over your career and you’ll have no problem remembering a single one.

Firefighters know that their kitchen table is the nucleus – the very heart – of the fire station.

Why don’t you pull up a chair and stay a while?

PHOTOS BY: STEPHEN BAER - FIREDOGPHOTOS