Being a fire fighter in a large urban city such as the District of Columbia is a tough enough job without being used as Clay Pigeons between calls when they should be resting. I will explain:

There is a section of the District of Columbia notable for its high crime rate. To help stem crime in this area overnight; the assistant mayor with the approval of the Fire Chief is having Fire Trucks staffed at street corners idling between call as a show of the flag to deter crime. Firefighters are not cops; there is nothing they can do to prevent crime. Second there are law abiding as well as the less than law abiding citizens that will need the help of these firefighters. There is a respect earned by the firefighters of the less than law abiding that allows them to do their jobs in relative safety because the firefighters are seen as the good guys who come to save lives not take lives. Firefighters turn a blind eye to what they see around them and see only what needs to be seen to do the job they were called to do. That trust which has long allowed the citizens to get the services they need when they need them is now endangered as the firefighters are now in a position of being witnesses to crimes.

By prepositioning fire equipment away from the fire station other citizens are placed in danger as well. In a profession where life and death is measured in seconds; these fire fighters are now out of position to respond in a timely manner to other calls for service. Firefighting is also a very stressful job one where DC fire fighters work a twenty-four hour shift. While firefighting is no longer the major part of the job the other parts such as providing emergency medical care and rescuing people in car accidents and other dangerous situations; is where the higher amount of stress is. They deserve any bunkroom time they can get, not sitting in a cramped sometimes old, without a working heater or A/C, fire truck.

They are firefighter not police officers. The two jobs are not interchangeable. By asking one to do the others job they are placing them in danger they have not been trained to do.