In 1986 I was a young kid living in Boca Raton, Florida and at age 5 I wanted to be one of two things when I grew up.

The goal was to either play football for the Miami Hurricanes or be the next Karate Kid. Of course if all had gone as planned I would have accomplished both goals.

Knowing what it would take to win the All- Valley Karate Tournament against the kids from the Cobra Kai dojo, I began waxing my father’s car regularly. Knowing what it would take to play for the Canes, I began working on my Michael Irvin celebration moves regularly.

Daniel LaRusso was the new kid from New Jersey who was tired of getting punched in the face by the kids at his new California high school.

So, somehow that lead to the maintenance man at his apartment building convincing him to sand his deck and wax all five of his cars. When Daniel finally completed his chores he was pretty pissed off because he felt like he had just been duped into completing some crazy old man’s chores for him.

But when the maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi, tried to punch Daniel in the face he realized that the only thing that waxing on and waxing off duped him into doing was developing the muscle memory to block punches from landing on his previously damaged face.

It was a win/win situation: Mr. Miyagi’s 1948 Ford Super DeLuxe Club convertible was shining like a beaut and Daniel LaRusso was impervious to face punches.

Fast forward to the year 2017 and I have admittedly failed on both of my goals to be the next Vinny Testarverde and Daniel LaRusso.

I was, however, fortunate enough to fall back on the greatest job on planet earth. I was also fortunate enough to be duped into cleaning to develop muscle memory.

That’s right, the lessons of Mr. Miyagi were not lost on the American Fire Service. For years we have been instructing the younger generations of our chosen profession to run their tools across the wire wheel.

Certainly we wanted them to learn how to knock the rust off of the tools but we also wanted them to become intimately familiar with the tools of our trade.

Just as a framer with a framing hammer understands when to choke up or down on the handle or a mechanic under a car that can reach for and grab a tool by feel alone.

By running a Halligan Bar, hook, or axe across the infamous wire wheel Firefighters visualize every inch of the working parts of these tools and, more importantly, they begin to feel to different parts of the tools.

By continuously running our tools across the wire wheel, under the guise of cleaning, we discover the balance points and gain a solid feel for the different parts of the tool eventually creating muscle memory.

Over time, those members of the department that run these tools through the wire wheel with consistency begin to spin them like a baton and truly look like the samurai of our profession.

This becomes incredibly valuable in low visibility or high stress types of environments.

As an example, firefighters should not have to wonder or feel for examination as to whether the bevel or concaved side of the fork end the Halligan Bar is towards or away from them when they are forcing a door.

Instead the weight and feel of the bar, as well as the understanding of which direction the adz or pike end is facing is plenty of indication as to how we should be placing our tool for the next move.

This is not achieved by simply the best, most talented, or brightest of firefighters, instead it’s achieved by diligent firefighters who are simply willing to clean tools in order to become intimately familiar with them.

From there, an understanding of how to force doors, pull ceiling, properly sound a roof, and pull boards completes the equation of being successful and proficient at utilizing these tools to accomplish the basic tasks that should be expected of us.

In a small way, many of us have had the opportunity to become the next karate kid and we didn’t have to become the recipient of a round house kick to the face by a kid wearing a skeleton suit to do it.

Rather, we just had to embrace the win/ win opportunity that made Mr. Miyagi’s cars shine and created the impervious muscle memory that made it difficult for the new kid to be punched in the face.

For those of us that chose this profession, we need to have an intimate working knowledge of our tools and when that
is combined with a plan of attack, and eventually experience, then we will have created job proficiency.

These skills are critical to accomplishing our mission and they go hand in hand towards achieving a successful outcome.

Wax On, Wax Off, Paint The Fence and now Run The Tools Through The Wire Wheel should be mentioned in the same breath when discussing the chores that have duped individuals into awesomeness.