I saw those guys and realized that was what I wanted to do. The next week I began the entry process. Four years later, in 1986, he was appointed to the training program. Suddenly, an alarm sounds and concern marks the faces of the crew. But it's only a test, and dinner preparations continue.
Someone has left on a flame, left the apartment, the fire alarm goes off, and the neighbors call.
Details of domesticity are always mysterious, but the cooking rituals of firefighters in a landscape of continual disruption make each meal a small triumph of both organization and flexibility. In the old days, many stations had permanent cooks, who prepared both lunch and dinner. Now the midday meal is often eaten out. We move around the neighborhood. If there's an alarm while we're eating, the forks hang in midair.