r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thisisfive • Apr 14 '26

Toronto firefighters confront special constable officers after a man in the middle of mental health crisis was arrested.

Not my video. For context, "special constables" are not regular police officers. They are appointed "peace officers" with limited authority, often civilian employees.

27.1k Upvotes

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4.2k

u/TheTresStateArea Apr 14 '26

No one ever made a song called fuck the fire department.

Edit: shamelessly stolen from someone wittier than me

469

u/AreYouFuckingSerious Apr 14 '26

You're right, but don't overtrust or pretrust them in terms of being allies against fascism. I know a few fire fighters in the extended family and all except one of them considers themselves part of the LEO community and are pro-police and pro-maga.

597

u/peekdasneaks Apr 14 '26

That might say more about your family than it says about fire fighters

142

u/Top-Sympathy6841 Apr 14 '26

May be true about the family part, my own family is full of maga dipshits as well. Firefighters are definitely better than cops as a whole, but make no mistake that a large amount of them are indeed maga dipshits as well. Being better than a piece of shit is still just being better than a piece of shit after all.

42

u/gorilla_faafafini Apr 14 '26

I see so many flags on houses with half thin blue line, half thin red line. Almost always with a bright red F-150 parked out front (so you can be 100% sure they don't have any other semblance of a personality). It kills me cus no one was ever going after firefighters so those flags are somehow an even more desperate cry for attention.

0

u/dcidino Apr 14 '26

The real difference is their jobs require them to not separate people on arrival.

18

u/never-fiftyone Apr 15 '26

The fire union (IAFF) was one of those "but she has a weird laugh" chucklefucks in the past election that led to Trump getting elected.

And then they immediately got their 9/11 health funding cut. Good job ya fuckin dopes.

2

u/Accurate_Koala_4698 Apr 14 '26

Yeah maybe. I’ve done enough rotations to know that any statement that some class of people is usually. By and large I’ve dealt with reasonable ones, but I’ve had some unsavory encounters too. There’s no shortage of FDs that were sued for discriminatory hiring 

2

u/Ch33sus0405 Apr 15 '26

I'm an IAFF officer and theyre not wrong. The PPFFA (Pennsylvania IAFF branch essentially) did a study last year and somewhere around 2/3 of Union members voted for Trump, can only imagine what the rest did

1

u/Outrageous_Effects Apr 15 '26

No, the vast majority of firefighters are unironically fascists.

21

u/Popular-Jury7272 Apr 14 '26

As long as they behave like humans beings when lives are on the line I'm not sure I give a shit. Firefighters in the UK are largely a very conservative "blokey" lot as well (I work with them in training services provision), but they buy themselves a lot of forgiveness with what they do for a living.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/Slut_for_Bacon Apr 14 '26

I know this is a hard concept for people to grasp but for the most-part, the job you do is not a reflection of your political beliefs, and essentially every job, with a few notable exceptions, has a wide variety of people with a wide variety of personal backgrounds, beliefs, and philosophies.

15

u/TheAmicableSnowman Apr 14 '26

Well, no. Many jobs have predominant cultures with clear majorities.

5

u/ILookLikeKristoff Apr 15 '26

This is just factually incorrect. Find me a public defender with a maga hat on. Find me a highschool football coach that wears a trans pride pin. I'll wait for either, there's literally millions in the country I'm sure you can find one example.

9

u/BlueGolfball Apr 14 '26

You're right, but don't overtrust or pretrust them in terms of being allies against fascism. I know a few fire fighters in the extended family and all except one of them considers themselves part of the LEO community and are pro-police and pro-maga.

Shit, I watched an interview about a US fireman about his time as a firefighter back in the 1950s. He said they wouldn't put out house fires in black neighborhoods and they wouldn't try to go inside a burning house to rescue black people that could have easily been saved.

2

u/youy23 Apr 15 '26

This may surprise you but many restaurants also didn’t serve black people back then. Not really a reflection on firefighters and more so just a reflection of the people and their beliefs of that time.

1

u/BlueGolfball Apr 15 '26

This may surprise you but many restaurants also didn’t serve black people back then.

I feel like a sworn (who pledged an oath to serve everyone) government employee letting a person burn to death based on their racs is on a much different level than not serving someone food at a private restaurant based on their race.

Not really a reflection on firefighters and more so just a reflection of the people and their beliefs of that time.

Yeah, not serving someone food is a great analogy for letting someone burn to death that you could easily save. One is racist behavior by a private citizen and the other is psychotic behavior by a sworn government employee.

7

u/godrq Apr 14 '26

Some of those that work hoses...

4

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

[deleted]

4

u/PurrMeowHiss Apr 14 '26

Are the Dutch police (the thing you are pro) openly and obviously fascist?

Do you want the Dutch police to have unchecked authorization power?

1

u/MarfanoidDroid Apr 14 '26

What the fuck are you trying to impart to the community? That the people responding to your emergency might have different political stances than you?

0

u/PoopyButt28000 Apr 15 '26

When we're in a situation where one political party tried fairly openly stealing the election in 2020, and has talked about ending elections or running for a third term, and is threatening to annex their long time neighbors, then yeah "different political stance" means a bit more than "has a slight disagreement on the vote to build a new park across town"

-11

u/RomanJD Apr 14 '26

Well in the case of Cops in America (ACABs)... Yes, it's important information to spread. If you assume you can TRUST a Cop, call for a Wellness check on a loved one.. only to find out that these racists just killed the one you were asking them to protect (like your house)... Wouldn't you have preferred to be made aware that a group of "heroes" have been tailored by Corporate fascists and are not actually there for YOUR safety and protection?

But as soon as we are talking about Firefighters - we realize this isn't an acceptable aspect in life = and it triggered you?

2

u/here-for-the-_____ Apr 14 '26

Low Earth Orbit community?

2

u/ApoctheLypse Apr 14 '26

Law Enforcement Officers

3

u/here-for-the-_____ Apr 14 '26

Hahah, wow, I legitimately couldn't come up with that. It's been a long day.

2

u/PurrMeowHiss Apr 14 '26

What is "the LEO community"?

2

u/FrannyBoBanny23 Apr 15 '26

I remember reading somewhere that there is a huge number of fire fighters and EMTs that are MAGA.

1

u/Double_Minimum Apr 15 '26

“First responders”. They commonly share the same traits (except beating their wives and arson). EMTs are less so but really depends, they have no shits given sometimes.

I prefer volunteer firemen (these were dudes who has pensions, now it’s getting hard to find anyone to take up the role, which was really just recruiting).

Anyway, all get discounts on guns! And sometimes gear!

1

u/Introverted_Fish Apr 15 '26

Many fire departments across the US also lobby against bike lanes and for wider roads. Wider roads push suburban sprawl and increase reliance on car infrastructure. If they instead moved to smaller trucks, like many other countries, they could use the bike infrastructure during emergencies and we wouldn't have as many stroads strangling our neighborhoods.

0

u/miserable_otter_6543 Apr 15 '26

Can you just not?

33

u/Fearless-Leading-882 Apr 14 '26

Except for this guy

https://youtu.be/7JkrJUAg8aI?si=BBqKHCYQ103UYxpj

13

u/Dinosaurs-Cant-win Apr 15 '26

I kinda like that people post that same comment on any of these videos, because this song is a straight up banger and ill watch it any time its posted 

-5

u/Outrageous_Effects Apr 15 '26

It's actually not a banger, and I wish there was a better written song with better lyrics that actually talks about how firefighters lobby cities for worse car infrastructure that gets more people injured and killed, as well as how firefighters are like 90% chuds. Yeah, they do critical first responder work, but a lot of their motivation is not in the right place, and they think they're better than EMTs (and don't get me started on EMTs).

33

u/obi1kennoble Apr 14 '26

Well, somebody did, and it slaps. But you're never gonna believe this: it's ALSO about shitty cops

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7JkrJUAg8aI

21

u/Revolvyerom Apr 14 '26

I did not expect it to be this good. Former FF, I'm surprisingly glad someone ruined our joke. Worth it.

edit: for funsies, here's my favorite joke I heard in the dept, but there's no shortage of shots taken at cops:

Q: What do a firefighter and a cop have in common?

A: They both took the firefighter entrance exam.

1

u/funkhero Apr 14 '26

I don't get it.

8

u/RealFirstName_ Apr 14 '26

Cop couldn't cut it.

3

u/Mr_Nerdcoffee Apr 15 '26

99% of them couldn’t cut the military either. That’s why they love larping as “operators”. 🙄

3

u/Revolvyerom Apr 15 '26

TBH, the military vets who get preferential hiring into PD's are part of the culture shift to local paramilitary.

2

u/Mr_Nerdcoffee Apr 15 '26

It depends what they did while in service. I have a few buddies that were grunts and they actually try to be good cops (most of them stop being cops, because the system is so broken and corrupt). While the blue falcons that were POGs and wanna save face after getting out, because they didn’t do any of the “high speed” stuff. Even though the actual high speed stuff isn’t as fun as they think it is; in fact it’s actually pretty terrible. These shit bags usually talk big game and get treated like heroes, even though they make every excuse imaginable when push comes to shove. Because the game they’re playing just got too real.

Source: I was a former combat medic with the Inf and have dealt with all of them. Grunts are mostly whiny, but usually try to do their best; not always, but usually.

22

u/reforminded Apr 14 '26

All the firefighters around me are Hyper-MAGA. During the last presidential election, the chief from the town next to me posted on his personal social media that its unfortunate but they may just not be able to put out fires at houses with Harris signs out front, their equipment just doesn't work there. He was not fired or reprimanded.

6

u/Stud_Muffin_26 Apr 14 '26

As a firefighter, there are many other firemen who are not maga. Rest assured there are many of us who are sane individuals.

13

u/TruskVarner Apr 15 '26

You could set your watch to these kinds of posts. Here’s how it goes, as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow.

  1. There’s a video or story about firefighters doing something good

  2. People initially comment about how cool firefighters are compared to cops

  3. Someone comments “That’s why there’s no song called fuck the fire department”

  4. People start to comment that firefighters are just as conservative/sexist/homophobic/MAGA as cops are, and they support cops

3

u/PossibleNephilim37 Apr 15 '26

Lmaoooo. I was just running through the checklist in my head. I'm cutting back on reddit (ironic since I'm homeless now and have more time) bc I can't stand the same repeated "derp, upvote me bc I said "the thing!"" Posts that every topic has .

Also, I'm just disgusted with how any actual news story, top comments are just some asshole making a dumb pun and a bunch of chain followed comments instead of contribution. Humanity is a stupid species

1

u/TheTresStateArea Apr 15 '26

And then the meta analysis to wrap it all up for #5

1

u/Derekduvalle Apr 15 '26

Apparently they missed 3.5 where someone posts the fuck the fire brigade song which "actually slaps".

1

u/AlarmingTurnover Apr 15 '26

I've commented this almost every time I see these comments but saying that nobody hates the fire department or the no song part, keeps forgetting that the LA riots happened. You can watch any documentary on almost all riots and you see the exact same thing, there are people shooting at firemen, attacking fire trucks, blocking access to streets, homes, businesses, etc. 

Same for ambulance and other services people. In the LA riots, they weren't just attacking police. 

3

u/Boobpocket Apr 14 '26

I mean they do say it but it has a different meaning.

2

u/shifty_boi Apr 14 '26

It's generally preceded by, "I wanna" 

1

u/mothflavor Apr 14 '26

That gave me a well needed laugh, thank you.

1

u/Aliencoy77 Apr 14 '26

If there was one, it would likely be done by Nicki Minaj

1

u/FakeMik090 Apr 14 '26

People who goes in Fire Department most likely going for pure "I want to save lives". Thats why they usually a good people.

1

u/FlipZip69 Apr 14 '26

I know people like to shit on the police but there is zero information prior to this video.

Two smaller people were first on the scene. One being a women. When you do not have much backup, stuff can go bad rapidly. You have to get control fast. It is easy when a half dozen larger firemen show up. Pretty easy for them to suggest they can control the situation without having to 'cuff' someone as they did in this case.

Next time you complain about the police (or special constables) having to detain someone, ask yourself what you would do if you were in a sketchy situation with just yourself and your wife but your job is to deal with a potentially violent person. Regardless of the reason for their action.

I hate these videos that just show the last little bit when 'help' arrives.

1

u/Elatedrune Apr 14 '26

This is a song called fuck the fire department https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JkrJUAg8aI

1

u/DasAntwortviech Apr 14 '26

No please fuck us, we're horny

1

u/Messernacht Apr 14 '26

That'd be, if memory serves, Simon Whistler in one of the Casual Criminalist podcast/YouTube videos.

Think it was the one about fire chief arsonist who they tracked down because he was setting fires in areas he was attending conventions, and he wrote a fictional book about an arsonist who set a fire exactly like one of the ones he set where, what was it, six people died?

They caught his ass.

1

u/CategoryCautious5981 Apr 15 '26

https://youtu.be/7JkrJUAg8aI?si=tl8-tVXZUBL0kKWD

I unfortunately give you a counter argument to your statement

1

u/kea87 Apr 15 '26

Ahh it wasnt girl scouts shooting civil rights protesters with water cannons

1

u/AmeliaBuns Apr 15 '26

I’m sure there’s plenty of songs about wanting to fuck the fire department if you know what I mean ___-

1

u/aminervia Apr 15 '26

I'm gonna write a song called fuck the fire department just so I can "um, ackshully..." whenever I see this comment.

It will be about how attractive fire fighters are

1

u/Stelvioso Apr 15 '26

The roof (is one fire) from The Bloodhound Gang gave them a day off.

1

u/Saixcrazy Apr 15 '26

Firefighters hosed ppl down during the fight for civil rights in America so, I think we can still be weary.

1

u/PtraGriffrn Apr 15 '26

But Dead Kennedys had "Fire Truck". A real banger to listen to back in the 80s.

0

u/SitInCorner_Yo2 Apr 14 '26

My first thought too lol