Wearing a wedding band/ring on duty? Hummm.....Risk vs gain. If you are wearing your ring on duty, you do run the risk of having that ring catch on something and then having your finger shredded or torn off altogether. No finger to wear a wedding band on then? Hummmmmm. Heck of a "public" statement.

Other options?

Best wishes

Please allow me to offer my US $0.02 on what is truly an excellent question. I hope other Firefighters and especially their spouses will chime in.

My wife and I came to an agreement early on that I would not normally wear my wedding ring when on duty. While I certainly have some latitude in my current position, the potential for being a first responder to a witnessed incident or handling/demonstrating tools and the like led us to believe that the needs for safety outweighed making a statement.

Our sentiment is identical: When I'm on duty, I'm part of a team. Not a man or a woman, married or single, but rather a Firefighter. As Firefighters, we gain strength in our solidarity and uniformity, and there is little benefit to our mission by making an individual statement, no matter how subtle.

My wedding ring remains safely in my locker alongside my wife's picture, and putting it and my street clothes back on at the end of a 24-hour shift serves as a very bold reminder of where 210% of my focus and commitment lies before I again return to duty.

Brian
Please no e-mail. Public replies only. Thank you!

My wife and I agree that not risking injury over a wedding ring is an easy decision for us. For me personally, I don't need a ring on to know that we are married.

I have been in the fire service for 24 years and have been married for 20 of those years. I have always worn my wedding ring (it might be that I couldn't get it off without a ring cutter) and I have never been in a situation where it has caused a problem. (KNOCK, KNOCK) That's me knocking on wood, because I probably just jinxed myself. :8o:

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Curt Cozad
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FIREHIRE Inc.
P.O. Box 1822
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800-755-5891 x12
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Career Begins!"
This message was edited by SacMetroFF on 5-3-05 @ 10:49 PM

A retired captain from my department has worn his wedding ring on a chain around his neck for years. This captain only has nine fingers...and well, he wasn't born that way.
My ring stays in the locker. I like having all ten.

Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas. I believe that I am gaining a better understanding of it all.
Our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real.

Before my very recent hire as a Firefighter, I was in the construction business. I never wore my ring then because I would come home with cement all over it. One day I noticed my wife's ring looked a little bigger than I remember it. She told me if I wasn't going to wear my ring......... well, someone should.
She had my ring melted down and added to hers! Brilliant!! Solves my ring problems forever. Haven't worn one in 13 years. Still as happily married as ever. Jim

Love Hurts. ;)
Thanks

I'm recently married, going on two whole weeks now, and have decided to wear my ring while on duty. Though there is a risk of injury, it's one that I do recognize, and it's one that I am ok with.

It's a decision my wife and I came to and I think it's a very personal decision. It's not that I want to make a public statement to the world that "I'm taken", rather it's my way of having my wife close to me while on duty.

I always find it humerous how many men claim that they do not, could not or should not wear a wedding ring on duty because of possible injury, yet I see many of these same firefighters who wear academy rings, skull n crossbone rings, family rings etc....must just be the wedding band that is so darn dangerous
Grab that BRASS RING with all you have

I have been in the Fire Service fire 21 years now and have been married for 14. I have always worn my ring at work. I have heard of one ring injury in my 21 years experience. When we respond on medicals we have on latex gloves. When we respond to and work at fires we have on our structural gloves. Is the threat there? I am sure it is. I really don't think it is any more real at work than it is at home doing half the things we do on our off days. Sorry gents to go up stream on this one but I have never been one afraid to stir the pot and not about to stop now. You can sign me happily banded.
"Sarge"

Good post Sarge....you wouldnt happen to be a BC in a major southbay fire department would u? Possibly in charge of the new A/O program???
Grab that BRASS RING with all you have

Could be!!!???
"Sarge"

My husband wears his ring when he is on duty. As a woman though, I would not wear a ring that had any stones on it for fear of it getting caught and/or losing the stones. I would, if I were a firefighter, wear a simple band. Just my 2 cents. My husbands ring is a very simple band and has never caused a problem for him. He is generally wearing gloves as well when out on calls anyways.

Well, I know my officers really frown on us wearing our rings on duty. I fixed the problem with my wife by taking her with me to a grea tatoo parlor downtown and had her name tatooed around my ring finger. small enough to be hidden when wearing the ring, but able to be seen when I am on duty. I did it for the same reason I have a picture of her in my helmet, I always want her near to me, and like she ways, she is my gaurdian angel. Just a sappy thought.
What did you do today to become a professional firefighter?

That is sappy! But I like it
Grab that BRASS RING with all you have

My husband always wears his ring. Everyone at his department, who is married, wears their ring. He said that he doesn't see the potential danger in wearing a wedding ring to work because in everything he does (medical calls, fires/wildland..training) they always wear some sort of gloves.

:)

ffwife...even though we wear gloves on many calls there is still a risk. I have had a ring get caught twice at work, so I guess I can be considered stupid for wearing the ring after it got snagged the first time. Both incidents occurred inside the station while coming down from a fire engine and luckily I wasn't injured. The second time, I got the ring caught on a door handle as I was stepping down to ground. The ring fit very snug around my finger and the end of the door handle had a rather blunt end, so I was very surprised that the ring could actually get snagged on that handle. I'm lucky I didn't injure myself because I already had a foot on the ground and had pivoted away from the engine very quickly while descending. I was somehow able to stop my momentum away from the fire engine before I hurt myself. It was probably a one in a million chance that the ring got caught on that door handle, but I decided not to wear it anymore.

Most fire engines are high off the ground and they have lots of equipment mounted on the exterior with brackets, steel pins, hooks, etc. If you catch a ring on something while coming down off the apparatus you can really do a number on yourself. You might end up coming down with enough momentum to rip your finger clean off.

GoRed...thanks for the insight. Something to think about! I have several friends who have had bad injuries from the rings getting caught or snagged on something unexpectedly but none of them were firefighters. I guess it can happend to anyone, regardless of their career choice. :)

I work in one of the busiest firehouses in the Bay area...We go to a lot of fires/horrific calls etc etc; If anyone is to get hurt in any fashion it will probably be one of our guys/gals. The wedding ring and the injury story is what I call an urban myth. We all know there are many of those floating around in the FIRE SERVICE.
I have chosen to wear my wedding ring..heck people in my deparment wear all kind of jewlery from earings to multiple rings in their hands etc etc..SO FAR SO GOOD. I will venture to say you probably have a better chance to get hit by a car at an emergency scene than your ring giving you any problems.
We wear so many other things that can get caught on our turn outs already; dont we?
oakland13engine.com

I am an aspiring Firefighter but I am currently in the military so when I am working I swith my metal (titanium) wedding ring for a black rubber o ring. It is a symbol just as the metel ring is but God forbid something were to happen the rubber ring will break before my finger does. That is just my .02
SW2(SCW) Slipich

I had a captian who had his finger de-gloved because his ring caught on one of the set screws of the grab bar on the side of the rig. When he jumped out of the cab, his hand slide down the side of the grab bar, his ring got snagged and whoosh, off comes his finger!

But hey, that could happen ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. If you are worried about your ring getting snagged on something while on a job then maybe you should be wearing your gloves.

I wear mine somedays, and somedays I don't.

Awesome website Pumper 13! Nice audio files.
This message was edited by Matt_from_CA on 6-29-08 @ 8:45 PM

I have large knuckles and my ring won?t come off without a lot of effort and pain. Needless to say I have worn it since I was married 16 years ago.

I also have met firefighters and trades people that have lost a finger. Well not lost, they know where it is; it just isn?t attached to their hand anymore. One captain jumped out of the cap of the engine, his ring caught and he caught his finger in his right hand.

What I did was to go to the local jeweler and have him put a breakaway in it. He cut about a 1mm hole in the backside of the ring that is about 70% of the width. In the 14 years since I did that, I have caught it 3 times. All three times the ring broke at the breakaway and slid down my finger.

Once, rock climbing, I slipped and there is no doubt it would have either removed or seriously damaged my finger. It was easy to have it put back together. About 3 years ago it got a little thin and the jeweler soldered a new section in.

The only problem I ran across was some jewelers did want to do it for fear of liability if it didn?t work right. I found one who didn?t care.

Good Luck, Captain Rob

www.myfireinterview.com
707-869-1330

Wear your safety gear properly and any ring should not be a problem.

If you feel so strongly that you need to to check your wedding ring at the door...maybe you should recheck your vows!

Patch, that was a moronic thing to say. I have seen a guy get the finger degloved just climbing over a fence. As most fireman know there are plenty of times you have to jump a fence on an ems run where you won't have your gloves with you. In any case, if you need something like a small piece of metal shaped to fit your finger to show you are true to your vows then you might need to get your commitment checked. I personally don't wear a ring and that doesn?t make me any less committed to my wife. Hell I found I got hit on more with the ring then without it.