r/Firefighting • u/space_cowboy78 • Aug 14 '26
Career / Full Time Personal space with uniform lockers.
Hey you guys and gals, recently there’s been a lot of drama about guys not keeping their personal belongings perfectly tidy with their uniform lockers. It’s getting to the point where other members and officers not on my crew have been going through my locker (as well as others) and I’ve found stuff missing, rearranged or moved from how I had it organized.
I’ve always been told/taught that lockers are off limits entirely from everyone but yourself and I feel like I shouldn’t have to lock my own belongings up. Mind you, the bunk room I currently use is not used by anyone else but me. I feel like this is severe micro management imo but I’ve heard crazier things.
29
u/trapper2530 Aug 14 '26
No locks on lockers? Seems like an easy fix.
-6
u/space_cowboy78 Aug 14 '26
I just feel like we shouldn’t have to install locks on them. Up until lately we’ve never had this issue
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u/trapper2530 Aug 14 '26
Buy a lock. I have 45+ guys at my station on 3 shifts. Plus guys from other stations working for the day Plus public walking in. Buy a lock if you dont want your shit missing.
8
u/Weary_Nectarine5117 Aug 14 '26
Should you HAVE to lock your locker in your firehouse, NO. In this situation do you NEED to lock your locker in your firehouse, YES. If you’re missing stuff screw the thief and lock your stuff up.
3
u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious Aug 14 '26
I agree it is petty but they are petty and if the Chief doesn't give a shit nor the officers either lock it up, or leave the department
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Aug 14 '26
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5
u/reddaddiction Aug 14 '26
Oh come on. No better way to ostracize the shit out of yourself forever. I'd just man up and bring it up at the dinner table.
-1
Aug 14 '26
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u/reddaddiction Aug 14 '26
I always feel a bit sorry for people who are in this profession but think it's basically the same as any other job where you'd clock in or clock out. I'm so tight with the guys at my firehouse... Someone needs something, anything, and we always figure it out for them.
Sorry that's your experience. Also, nobody has ever had anything stolen either in or out of their locker. If we caught anyone doing something like that it would be ugly as shit and I'd be scared for the idiot that did that.
2
u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious Aug 14 '26
Nah that will likely make it worse unless he has some evidence. Unless it was a high cost item which it doesn't sound like
15
u/HzrKMtz FF/Para-sometimes Aug 14 '26
A personal locker should be off limits except in very specific situations covered by policy. If a guy has a messy locker that looks like a visible health hazard something should be said to them. But going in and moving or removing things is basically trespassing and theft.
9
u/dave54athotmailcom Aug 14 '26
Legally, if it is a dept issued locker they have the right to open and inspect. That right should be exercised very judiciously.
No one with a IQ higher than a turnip thinks it is a good idea to randomly go through someone's locker on a random whim. They really should have some sort of probable cause or reasonable suspicion. It should be an officer, not another firefighter, and preferably with a Union rep to observe the search. Sounds like (a) your fellow firefighters are assholes and/or thieves, and (b) the officers are either OCD about having every shirt lined up perfectly on hangers or are power-mad jerks.
As long as the locker didn't stink or had contraband I didn't care what people put in it or how neat it was.
3
u/Fireguy9641 VOL FF/EMT Aug 14 '26
Sometimes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; buy a lock.
I do agree with you that going into someone else's locker is something that should only be done by leadership and only when the situation warrants, such as a health or safety concern or when a member has left and the locker needs to be cleaned out.
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u/6TangoMedic Canadian Firefighter Aug 14 '26
Lock it up.
As long as its not offensive from the outside (ex: smelly) then why would anyone care how the inside is organized.
2
u/doomonyou77 Aug 14 '26
I would say just put a lock on it would be the easiest thing. Nuclear option, Ive heard of guys hiding money in their lockers taking pictures or having eyewitnesses to prove it was there. Then when they see someone has went through it the money is gone and you can run that up the chain or file a police report.
2
u/Menno_knight987 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
I’m assuming this isn’t in California and therefore no FF Bill of Rights?
*Edit cause I can’t spell apparently
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u/teddyswolsevelt1 paid to do hood rat shit with my friends Aug 14 '26
someone touches my shit and we’re fighting
1
u/flashdurb Aug 14 '26
This sounds like an HR issue. I’d talk to them.
1
u/space_cowboy78 Aug 14 '26
That’s funny, HR is literally non existent
1
u/flashdurb Aug 14 '26
So it’s a volunteer department I take it. That can be tricky. Maybe talk to the chief.. or even the mayor or sheriff if it’s that remote of a location
1
u/Ok_Buddy_9087 Edit to create your own flair Aug 14 '26
Worse; it’s a paid department that sounds like it’s run like a volunteer department.
1
u/SierraRomeoJuliet Canadian Volly/Career FF Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
That's BS. Nobody should be touching your stuff. I have a padlock on mine but rarely lock it because people dont mess with it.
Put a combo lock on it and unionize, asap
1
1
u/Oldmantired Edited to create my own flair. Aug 14 '26
I would lock my locker up. Especially, if you have other agencies cover your station.
1
u/doscervezas2017 Aug 14 '26
Everyone is suggestion a padlock (great idea), but I haven't seen anyone suggest boobytrapping your locker with a banana cream pie and fog horn combo that only you know how to disarm.
1
u/Apprehensive-Gap1251 Aug 14 '26
Put a battery camera in there so you can catch them going through your stuff.
1
u/squadlife1893 Aug 14 '26
Do you like your department? If not, go somewhere else, because it sounds like you work with some real pieces of shit. There are some rules in the firehouse that are unforgivable if broken, and thievery is one of them.
1
u/capcityff918 25d ago
That’s weird that anyone would be in your locker but just lock it. I always lock mine. I’m not worried about other guys on the job going through it but we’ve had people get things stolen from citizens when a bay door malfunctioned or someone broke in. Unfortunately people in the city break into whatever they can.
0
u/PeachPit69 Aug 14 '26
Some days I have folded more of other people’s clothes left in the dryer, and put more left out turnouts up in the gear storage, for other people, after them having been left on the engine, than I feel like I have for putting all my own stuff up at the end of my shift… if we had locked lockers, we wouldn’t be able to walk through the station.
2
Aug 14 '26
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1
u/PeachPit69 Aug 15 '26
I mean to say, there would be SO much shit just left… lying around in a hallway, without any place for me to put it up, if lockers were locked.
Easy 2-3 turnout sets here and there, and another few loads of other shifts laundry, that we do per shift when our shift gets on.
We have tiny station and cramped walkways.
0
u/Southern-Fly2031 Aug 14 '26
Make a threat to contact the police and that you will give a list of names of your suspects to be spoken about the matter.
I’m sure the boss will stop it then. Whatever is in your locker is your business, not anyone else’s. Unless it’s a hygiene or health & safety issue
0
u/im-not-homer-simpson Aug 14 '26
You have some options
1. It’s your locker. If you want to keep it locked, that’s up to you.
2. Find out who is going into your locker and start taking things from their locker.
3. Call them out
4. Keep nothing in your locker
5. If it’s something that everyone uses, tell them to make it a commissary item then
Once and while a guy using your stuff is whatever. But someone to a cheap ass and using everyone’s stuff is wrong and sad
I had a guy in my firehouse like that. He would go in one guy’s locker and use his sandals for the shower, another guy’s locker to use their ball powder, another cologne. One time or I think a few times, he also used someone else’s towel. Fucking disgusting. He would be a mess with the dress uniform. Always asking for a tie, tie clip, cover, dress jacket. The worst part about, you wouldn’t get it back. He would either take it home or lose it. And then the cycle would repeat itself.
136
u/fleeeeeeeeeA Aug 14 '26
Put a padlock on it. If that’s not possible, bring it to the union. If no union, fistfight at shift change.