Free teas / coffees for on a shout firefighters?

[R1 Dave]

poo at Paul's said:

Badda said:

He chose a life which was inherently more risky than most in order to help people. If you don't understand why people empathise with his family more than the families of foreign nationals here on holiday, then I suspect you're some way, quite far along, the autistic spectrum.

Inherently more risky? Maybe, but on what scale? How many officers are there in the Met, how many killed on duty, how many by terrorists?

Is it any more risky that people who drive trucks hundreds of thousands of miles per year? Any more risky that people doing a million miles in planes a year and being sent around the world to places that they don't know, being cared for by people they don't know and cannot vet in anyway?
I had sympathy for all those killed in those attacks and in other terror attacks also. But in, say, the case of 911, thousands of people killed, hundreds or FDNY and NYPD guys included. But who should people have more sympathy for, those trained to get involved, who went in to try to help and lost their lives, left behind families but with the weight of the FDNY, NYPD and City of New York behind them. Or the people who were wiped out because they got to work early that day? You say I am along some spectrum, because it makes you feel big and clever, but it is absurd to automatically focus on the people whose job it is to help and save people everyday, those who have the kit, have the training and who knowingly got involved that day, and paid the ultimate price, when there were thousands of bankers, lawyers, office managers, cleaners, maintenance people etc, who got caught up in stuff they had no say about, had no training for and no equipment to try to help themselves. And of course, all the people on the planes to, pilots, crew, passengers etc.
It seem to me to be a total kneejerk reaction and almost jumping on the bandwagon of praising our brave police and public servants, showing it by chucking paypal at it, without actually thinking about the horror that all including the "regular joes" went through, and what they may leave behind and how they may be looked after? The truth is that there are quite rightly substantial facilities, finances and support structure and help in place for those in some sectors of public service, that give massive and necessary comfort to those that work in those sectors. But not all. As any ex Services people will tell you, many could only dream of such peace of mind. And as for "regular joes", in jobs, or tourists on holiday travel insurance, the level of comfort is hugely limited by comparison and by no means a given.

As someone else mentioned, the Facebook page that gave rise to this "story" really does seem to be inhabited by imbeciles! Perhaps if more of them thought things through in such an "autistic" manner, they'd not make themselves look so fking stupid?

Exactly - all the 'regular joes' were there through misfortune, the Fire/Police/Ambulance personnel CHOSE to risk their lives to save others. They ran towards that which others ran from. All the lives lost were equally tragic but I do think that people who knowingly risk it all purely to help others deserve extra recognition.

That said, I don't believe that emergency service personnel should be able to walk into McDs and demand free stuff and I say that as an emergency service worker myself. I do suspect that this story bears little resemblance to the actual events tho.

[carlove]

Rick101 said:

I'm fairly local and I suspect this is bullst.

A more likely story is a woman walked into McDonalds and demanded drinks for the firefighters expecting it to be free. Chinese whispers and all and now it is all over Facebook with all the council types sticking their beak in.

Point to note, just off the top of my head I can think of at least twelve other outlets serving hot drinks between the site of the fire and that particular McDonalds.

I agree with you and suspect this is either bullst or there is a whole lot more to this. If it is as says then I think McDonalds should have offered free drinks, but I'm not outraged or that surprised.

I believe this 'incident' happened at about 1am and I believe McDonalds is the only one still open, could be wrong though.

It was a surprise though to be in gridlock on Wiggington Road, wondering why and then passing the Skoda garage and seeing the massive cloud of smoke, was almost surreal having not seen any smoke before.
Also people are thick, went past this morning behind a car, and we pass what's left of B&M and she does an emergency stop to take a photo, idiot. I will confess I took a photo but parked safely and walked over.

[TooMany2cvs]

Rick101 said:

Also from the article
Steve Brown, a crew manager at North Yorkshire Fire Service, wrote: "I was one of the firefighters there last night, thank you to the lady and young man who brought us the teas and coffees, really appreciated."

BROUGHT not bought.

I admire your optimism in assuming that's deliberate.

[Troubleatmill]

R1 Dave said:

That said, I don't believe that emergency service personnel should be able to walk into McDs and demand free stuff

Of all the people I know in the services ( Now I only know of 6 - so not close to being a representative sample) - but I cannot imagine any of them DEMANDING anything.


I can envisage a scenario where after a horrific shift - a few go in and politely ask along the lines of "Hello, see that hoofing big bloom of smoke over there? ..... we have spend the last 2 hours trying to put it out, we normally have a support vehicle to assist with refreshments, tonight we don't. Our colleagues have taken over.....We are going back in - in 2 hours, I know it is a cheeky ask, but you don't pack your wallet when someone calls 999.....is there any chance while we recharge our batteries of a tea or coffee please."

Retail cost of a hot drink is nada.
Retail price of a hot drink is £2 ish. +/-

[yellowjack]

TooMany2cvs said:

Rick101 said:

Also from the article
Steve Brown, a crew manager at North Yorkshire Fire Service, wrote: "I was one of the firefighters there last night, thank you to the lady and young man who brought us the teas and coffees, really appreciated."

BROUGHT not bought.

I admire your optimism in assuming that's deliberate.

"I went to the shop and brought you a newspaper, a loaf, and a bar of chocolate, Granny"

"Don't you mean bought?"

"Listen here, you ignorant old so-and-so, do you want the feckin' stuff I just BROUGHT half a mile from the nearest shop, or would you rather I took it back...?"

[anonymous-user]

If it were the police I’d expect them to fail to arrange any welfare provisions for an atypical event. The fire services tend to be a bit better in this area.

As others have said, free stuff is nice but shouldn’t be an expectation.

The police often get discount / free things as there’s a business benefit to having police officers around e.g. a retail store and preventing theft.

[B17NNS]

It wasn’t 9/11. It was a fire at B&M

[R1 Dave]

Troubleatmill said:

R1 Dave said:

That said, I don't believe that emergency service personnel should be able to walk into McDs and demand free stuff

Of all the people I know in the services ( Now I only know of 6 - so not close to being a representative sample) - but I cannot imagine any of them DEMANDING anything.


I can envisage a scenario where after a horrific shift - a few go in and politely ask along the lines of "Hello, see that hoofing big bloom of smoke over there? ..... we have spend the last 2 hours trying to put it out, we normally have a support vehicle to assist with refreshments, tonight we don't. Our colleagues have taken over.....We are going back in - in 2 hours, I know it is a cheeky ask, but you don't pack your wallet when someone calls 999.....is there any chance while we recharge our batteries of a tea or coffee please."

Retail cost of a hot drink is nada.
Retail price of a hot drink is £2 ish. +/-

Totally agree with you, as I said, I suspect the writeup bears little resemblance to the actual event. I maybe should have used the word 'expect' rather than 'demand'.

[hutchst]

What's the point of fast tracking all these women into the top jobs in the fire service if they can't even make a decent cup of tea?

[rodericb]

The service needs to have a look at its procedures and preparedness if it can't mobilise adequate resources for a given event and their people have to go clomping off in their turnout gear to a McDonalds a mile away. Yeah by all means hit up some businesses nearby for some quid-pro-quo but don't go depending on it - what happens the next time when McDonalds is shut?

[Rick101]

B17NNS said:

It wasn’t 9/11. It was a fire at B&M

I'll be honest. I did breath a sign of relief.
I was worried my beloved go to KFC was no more.
Thankfully, she is still there providing nutritious delights to an eager audience.

[Roofless Toothless]

My dad was a fireman. He told me he was once brought a mug of tea by an old lady in a Salvation Army uniform. This was in the East End, in the middle of the Blitz.

[anonymous-user]

Troubleatmill said:

Anyway - here's hoping your kiddies never need them to save them in fire.

A wink usually means you are not being serious. What a horrible, passive-aggressive thing to say.

[anonymous-user]

Rick101 said:

I can't really be arsed to dig into the detail of the story but I am aware the reporting is a lot of allegedly and reportedly, even on the BBC news article.

Also from the article
Steve Brown, a crew manager at North Yorkshire Fire Service, wrote: "I was one of the firefighters there last night, thank you to the lady and young man who brought us the teas and coffees, really appreciated."


BROUGHT not bought. Which suggests that the firefighters may have been at the fire site and not a mile away eating chicken nuggets.


In reply to the earlier question. Other closer outlets are
Tenpin
Vue cinema
Wilkinsons cafe
Tescos cafe
Costa
Tescos garage
Burger King
KFC
Francie & Bennies
Harvester
Chiquitos
Flying Legends pub

If you had no money and were full gear would you really walk past all these places to a different site around 20 min away in the hope of getting a free drink
Im not sure it even happened. People love to make this sort of thing up and get on a high horse about it.

A complete non-story then

[Camoradi]

Noodle1982 said:

Why on earth should McDonalds, or any other shop for that matter, provide free hot drinks to fire fighters?

Because it would give McDonalds some cheap but welcome good publicity, and portray them as a community spirited company.

[Volvo1956]

So not one member of Fire Brigade Staff had any payment method on them???
Firstly it's up to the FB to provide refreshments for their staff not McDonald's or any other retail outlet.
Surely someone from the FB could have gone somewhere and bought whatever was needed or at least arranged a later payment.
To roll up expecting freebies is just downright cheeky.
This is nonsense non news ... much more important things to get your knickers in a twist.
If the FB can't afford/ provide a few brews for their staff then it's pretty poor.

[juice]

Well, they had water & fire - all they needed was tea bags and instant !

[markcoznottz]

Camoradi said:

Noodle1982 said:

Why on earth should McDonalds, or any other shop for that matter, provide free hot drinks to fire fighters?

Because it would give McDonalds some cheap but welcome good publicity, and portray them as a community spirited company.

Who's this 'mcdonalds' you talk of. Most sites are franchises, the owner may not be on site etc. The staff may be busy, with, let's say running a business?

[Dinoboy]

poo at Paul's said:

exactly, st happens, and if the worst thing that happened to them that day was they did not get a cup of fking tea for free, they should count themselves fking lucky.

As for the other bit, in 2000 I rescued three young lads from a house fire in our street, on my own at 2pm. I saw smoke from the back of the house from my home office, called 999, then broke in and got them out, I even went back in to rescue their pet gecko who was in a plastic house that had melted in the heat in the front room. I slashed my arm breaking open the fibreglass door that I ripped open to turn off the gas at the outside meter, cut my leg kicking through the glass of the back door, and got them out from smoke filled upstairs when their fridge freezer set the kitchen and house alight. They were "stoners" (nice lads but a bit dozy) worked but did nights were still in bed. They had not a clue what was going on. The speed that the place went up was pretty terrifying, and smoke in the upstairs, thick, acrid and made navigation near impossible. It was only that I knew the layout of my mates house across the road, and this was the same type of house that I could get to them, waked them, and get them out.
When the fire brigade turned up, i'd got them all out, and had even run a hose down the road from my house and was tackling the blaze. The lads in the house were very dazed, but thanked me, the FB treated me like some wannabe , they were proper rude tbh. I went home, bandaged up my arm, cleaned up my leg, and made myself a cuppa. They even watched as I rolled up my own hose reel.

So I reckon having saved three human lives that day and one Gecko, if anyone FB or not reciprocates, it's no less than I deserve.

The bit about rolling the hose reel made me laugh

[hutchst]

The real story here is that mainstream media is increasingly picking up its content straight from facebook/twitter/instagram etc. without even lipservice to any form of authentication or verification. Their right to any form of special treatment to maintain the freedom of the press is diminishing rapidly.

They will publish anything to get a click.