Pranks, Jokes, and what's Funny

[wraftery 1,275]

Take a look at the line above my name that refers to lime yellow fire engines. I didn't put it there. Apparently someone hacked into my profile and put it there. I noticed it the other day and I figured the culprit would fess up. One day, the perpetrator will admit it was him. People who do things like this can't keep it secret because they have to have the credit fot it.

Lime yellow is kind of an inside joke in central Westchester, so I will briefly explain that I had a Chief for 34 years that firmly believed in the color yellow based on the Solomon study on visibility. I believed that red is a color that is universally recognized for fire engines. For 34 years we agreed to disagree (but the Chief gets the color he wants), and remained both coworkers and friends for all that time.

Back to "what's funny."

Was the title I was given funny? YES

Was it harmless? YES

Am I mad at the hacker ? NO (AS long as he doesn't mess with important stuff)

Will I retaliate? YES Once I find him, I am duty bound as a Fireman to retaliate

Are my feelings hurt? Hell no...I'm a Fireman

Wait! There's a lesson in this whole prank thing:

Today, in our politically correct fire service, a prank like this would potentially warrant a complaint to the Chief, a letter to the FCC, EMT-Bravo Board, a written reprimand, an EEOC complaint,and more.

In the old days, we laughed and moved on to construct the next prank. I truly believe that I worked with some of the funniest men on the face of the earth. Anyone and anything was fair game as long as it did no damage. Well, except for the guy that stuck a lit firecracker in a homemade peach pie because the crust was hard. That caused a two-hour all-hands cleanup, and the "pie man" and the "pyrotechnic expert" didn't talk for a week.

So what happened to my fire service that caused us to lose our sense of humor and our crust? Perhaps it is a good item for discussion.

[EMTbravo 312]

My apologies. This was meant for another member and did not realize my mistake, and any relation is purely coincidental. I don't feel like getting into the technicalities but I've had a very rough week and am trying to get to everything that needs attention as fast as I can. I realized the error and some other issues with forum accounts but put it off because of a personal issue. As for the humor part, I am in no mood for humor right now.

[mfc2257 464]

Humor... The cornerstone of the non-emergency side of the fire service.... So many great ways to have innocent fun....

Like when I was a newbie and after a drill a bunch of the old-timers told me that I had to become "familiar" with the mechanical aspects of all the rigs. I was instructed to go to the apparatus floor and check the brake fluid on the engine.... Twenty minutes later it dawned on me that the engine had air brakes.... No brake fluid to be found.... As I walked back to the radio room all I could hear was the deep laughing of a few guys who probably had the same thing done to them 30 years earlier. No harm no foul.

[JTF429 37]

I am pretty sure for many humor went away with there love for the job. Humor and pranks in the firehouse was away to show acceptence. It is like coffee table training. Now everybody's feelings get hurt. Some of my darkest days went away because of jokes played on me and played on others. I was out at FDIC and alot of discussion went on about what happend to th fire service. It is a shame...

[wraftery 1,275]

FYI I talked to Seth and all is good. ''Nuff said.

I still want to know where firehouse fun went

[RocklandFires 44]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwTY7wydstE

[RocklandFires 44]

A good prank from across the river. Nanuet FD turning Pearl River's Rescue from Yellow to Red while standing by for them during their annual dinner.

[RocklandFires 44]

Congers FD having fun with New City's sign while covering them for their annual dinner !

[Bnechis 3,961]

How many probies have been sent to go get the:

1) sky hook

2) the squeeggee sharpener

3) left handed axe

or the ever popular

Bucket of steam?

[wraftery 1,275]

How many probies have been sent to go get the:

1) sky hook

2) the squeeggee sharpener

3) left handed axe

or the ever popular

Bucket of steam?

In the USN I saw the Bucket of Steam backfire when the Seaman Apprentice came back with a can of emergency drinking water from a liferaft.

When told "That's not steam" he replied "It's condensed...you just have to heat it up."

[hudson144 150]

For the past few yrs working at station #3 in FDMV we have put soda cans under the legs of the beds on the "newguys" as they come into the bunk room they usually are nervous about hittin the rack in fear of missing an alarm, being anxious etc. As they get into the bed the cans collapse in a thundering roar where we all know we got the new guy and yes for minutes after you can hear us all laughing.

[abaduck 123]

Pranks. I'll give you pranks. Nobody pranks like the British Royal Air Force:

http://static.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-48117.html

http://static.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-243545.html

http://static.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-138299.html

Are any of these staples of the US fire service?

[M' Ave 1,466]

For the past few yrs working at station #3 in FDMV we have put soda cans under the legs of the beds on the "newguys" as they come into the bunk room they usually are nervous about hittin the rack in fear of missing an alarm, being anxious etc. As they get into the bed the cans collapse in a thundering roar where we all know we got the new guy and yes for minutes after you can hear us all laughing.

That's a GOOD one! I'm going to have to file that one away.

The HUGE water balloon at the end of the Niederman track is always a good one. Guy comes to hook the rig up as it backs in, pulls the Niederman up to the front.....splash....

There are more, but I'm not gonna tell!

[dashield 61]

Here are a few that seem to never get old.....

Place ketchup packets between the toilet seat and the top of the bowl, so when someone sits down they explode....

Use scoth tape to tape the kitchen sprayer so when one of your unsuspecting coworkers turn the faucet on they get blasted.

Put grease on every door handle imaginable...

If you usually keep your coffee mugs in the kitchen cabinet upside down fill the "top" of the bottom of the mugs with water. So whenever someone takes a mug down they get a small bath.

Edited May 1, 2010 by dashield

[TCD0415 26]

In the USN I saw the Bucket of Steam backfire when the Seaman Apprentice came back with a can of emergency drinking water from a liferaft.

When told "That's not steam" he replied "It's condensed...you just have to heat it up."

That guy is probably an Admiral now.........

How about 100 feet of Shoreline ?

[Guest Firediver]

In the USN I saw the Bucket of Steam backfire when the Seaman Apprentice came back with a can of emergency drinking water from a liferaft.

When told "That's not steam" he replied "It's condensed...you just have to heat it up."

Chief, how much time did you spend looking out for the "Mail Buoy"??

[x134 46]

How many probies have been sent to go get the:

1) sky hook

2) the squeeggee sharpener

3) left handed axe

or the ever popular

Bucket of steam?

what about the water hammer?

[CFFD117 19]

dont forget about grease for the relative bearing

[WAS967 97]

Hey now, I have water hammer in my house.

[wraftery 1,275]

Keep on the subject! Navy pranks are not allowed unless they can be converted to the FD.

Hudson144: Know anything abouut Saving the Manatee?

A newer 21st Century prank..Black electrical tape neatly placed over the transmitter eye of the TV remote.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Congers FD having fun with New City's sign while covering them for their annual dinner !

This was done to Putnam Lake FD back in '08 when us Ball Pond guys were standing by at their firehouse. Here's a tip, lock up your letters for your signs.

There was a mini "prank war" which stayed within the bounds of tastefulness but was nonetheless hilarious.

My favorite one is "Probie, get me the winter air for the tires."

[WAS967 97]

Where's all the Somers people? We must have some pictures around of when they were doing standbys and they kept putting up signs labeling other departments as Somers Station # X. I think they got up to 9 or 10 if I recall.

[Guest Firediver]

Anyone find the keys to the rig yet?

[wraftery 1,275]

Ok. Time to evaluate this thread.

So far, the pranks were harmless and pretty good. The people that posted are people we have seen here over and over. They are senior guys and for the most part have a reputation for giving good advice when serious questions are asked.

There were no negative replies and no one said that they were offended by a prank played on them.

So what is different in quarters? What causes people to file complaints, call the lawyers, etc.? Any body have input on that?

I'm trying to get serious, but stories are still being accepted.

[rfdu39 89]

Here is an old pranks thread from here from 2004.

http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopic=1016

[Ladder44 73]

Didn't someone back a few years ago do something with goldfish??? I thought it was Bedford Hills or another town up that way.....

[psyanide 11]

Yes to the goldfish question.

short version: During a standby, Chappaqua pranked Kisco by purchasing 200+ goldfish. Most goldfish were distributed into individual glasses, bowl TROPHIES, containers, etc, ALL OVER their fire house. The original emtbravo pics & posting is here -> http://www.emtbravo.com/Spec2/MKFish.html

Longer version + story: The night before their open house, Kisco asked us for a standby. We thought it was a prime opportunity to prank them BACK because the week prior, Kisco had "stolen" the license plate off out ladder truck and still had it. We searched high & low for our plate but never found it, so instead we opted to prank them back as creatively as we could. We knew Kisco's Open House in in the next day or two, so we tried to think of a prank that would be both funny and interesting. So we called the pet store down the street and bought every single goldfish in the store... "As a present for the open house". We decided we would also help decorate for the open house by using every glass, cup, mug, bowl, some trophies... toilet bowls, etc and filling them with water & fish. We placed them on almost every flat surface in the house in each room and the steps of the trucks. It was done in good spirit and we knew Kisco would put them to good use by giving them away to kids during the Open House (which they did). It was hilarious to see the looks on their faces when they walked through their house and had to organize 200+ goldfish. Kisco responded by making a new license plate for our ladder truck... a red plate with a large yellow goldfish emblem instead of the number. We eventually got our real plate back, but the "creative" plate was used on our ladder for a long time. The whole prank took us only a couple hours to lay out & execute. It was not preplanned, all spur of the moment.

edit: grammer

Edited July 6, 2010 by psyanide

[psyanide 11]

Please note - there was one set of mugs we deemed "off limits". Kisco has a wall of mugs where each mug is dedicated to a specific past member of the department. We specifically left those untouched out of respect (you can see them in the background of one of the pics).

[ex-commish 490]

Ok. Time to evaluate this thread.

So far, the pranks were harmless and pretty good. The people that posted are people we have seen here over and over. They are senior guys and for the most part have a reputation for giving good advice when serious questions are asked.

There were no negative replies and no one said that they were offended by a prank played on them.

So what is different in quarters? What causes people to file complaints, call the lawyers, etc.? Any body have input on that?

I'm trying to get serious, but stories are still being accepted.

As a "victim" and " culprit" of many pranks over the years I would never dream that a prank could actually end up where complaints were filed, lawyers, etc. There was always a time to be serious and a time to have some fun and in my day the one who would be the brunt of a joke usually took it on the chin, laughed and proved that he could take it. I was the brunt of many pranks and jokes and believe me they were some of the best times as I felt a sense of belonging and felt I could be trusted. Now the climate is much different ( and I am speaking for the volunteers). I was taught you have to be thick skinned in this business which is something I firmly believe today.

[FFFORD 27]

about a year ago there was an officer running radar across the street from our firehouse. A junior member was watching TV and we made a plan. Our officer from downstairs called upstairs and asked for the probie. He pretended that he was the officer across the street and that he needed to speak with him right away. the kid got red in the face and was almost shaking, the kid was like 16 at the time. he slowly walked outside, and across the street to the police cruiser. He knocked on the car window as we watched from upstairs. the officer started laughing hysterically when he saw/heard what we did to him. it was a long walk back to the FD for the kid. lol