From: What Do Your Call Your Apparatus Operator?

[Doc 11]

We call the driver...

"Oldtimer"

For quite some time it was unspoken dogma that you only got on the drivers list when you were "too old" to be of use inside. It was either learn to drive or grab some cones and a flashlight and play in traffic.

Now, I feel, things have changed for the better. We don't really have designated "drivers" like we did in the past. Yes, we have some people who prefer driving above all things. But we stress that every member get qualified to drive every vehicle they and the department training staff agree a person is capable of handling... following completion of our training program.

Our SOP's call all these people Emergency Vehicle Driver / Operator's.

If the vehicle is on the road, they're the Driver. All the detail and roster sheets call them "Driver". Operationally, if we're on the scene and the vehicle has a pump, they're the pump operator or operator. If the vehicle doesn't pump, and the vehicle is in park, they're a still a Driver. In the case of our aerial tower, we still have the Pump Operator or Operator and then we get another one called Turntable.

But mostly we call them names we'd never say to their faces and then we call them something even worse to their faces... after they drive us back home.