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Home-dog tags
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Firefighter's dog tag...
Most people do not realize that many firefighters
wear dog tags. When firefighters go out to fight a big blaze, it is
important to know which members of the department are on the scene. This
is crucial during emergencies when evacuations are necessary or in the
event of a building collapse. It is usually known what particular fire
departments are on the scene of a fire, but it is not always known which
individual members are actually at the scene.
Firefighters are proud of their occupation and wearing dog tags (or I.D.
tags) is a way of displaying to the public that they are firefighters.
After all, they should be proud of the service they are performing for
the public.
Firefighters are generally given two dog tags. When their shift begins,
the officer is given one tag, and the other is put on a brass ring,
similar to a key ring. The information on the tag shows the company's
designation along with the firefighter's name. At the scene of the
incident the main ring is given to the commander, and the tag is then
affixed to a command board or left in a designated place on the fire
truck or other fire equipment.
When a firefighter is called to the scene of a large scale fire, his
second tag is often used by a sector officer. This provides the sector
officer a means of accountability for the personnel in his section.
The firefighter's dog tags normally contains about five lines of text
with approximately 15 characters per line, along with two split rings
and a snap ring. The tags are simple, durable and inexpensive, but
certainly very crucial in times of need.
Volunteer firemen usually wear dog tags as well. Volunteer firemen don't
always know where they will be when they are called to a fire. So for
the sake of convenience and availability, the volunteers' tags are
normally on a chain. |
