"Nobody tells you that the job is maybe 5% fire and 95% this..."

I'm a Southern California-based writer on the Lifestyle team who likes to try and rank viral foodsย and read and recommend awesome books.

"Bingo. Just the call volume in general for my hall. Really stands out why this isn't a career station once you're seeing it from the inside. We had 350 'events' last year, including calls, training, volunteer requests (at events, schools, etc.), and whatever else we get involved in. While yeah, that'll average out to almost one a day, it's not that at all. We rarely get a weekend call, but if we do, we get six. We get fewer than 20 'fires' per year, and that'll be anything โ€” from a home to a trash can in a park and everything in between."

"It broke me, mentally and physically (I got injured on the job and had three back surgeries). I should have become an artist or deep-sea welder. You lose your innocence and naivete in horrible ways, and you can never go back."

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.