ADAM: I look forward to breakfast here, especially on the weekends. This morning we had sausage, eggs, homemade biscuits, and — he squints, thinking, and then smiles — tater tots. I love tater tots; they have to be baked just right. Kind of crunchy. You’ve got to cook them at a lower heat for longer. I don’t like them soggy.

JEREMY: Rick made the biscuits with a secret ingredient. We had no milk, so he used sour cream instead. They turned out great.

ADAM: Jack cans things and makes jams. He puts in a garden every year — he’s the country boy among us… What do you can, Jack?

JACK: Tomatoes, green beans, spicy beans with lots of garlic, peaches, plums, pears. Most of it is from my garden — the apples are out of my yard, but the peaches and the plums we buy.

ADAM: Last week Jack brought in fresh seafood. He goes clamming. We had Surf & Turf — homemade clam chowder and steaks.

JEREMY: The one thing we don’t do is tell our wives what we’re having for dinner. We eat really well here.

ADAM: In 16 years of being a professional firefighter, I’ve had maybe three meals that weren’t good. For the things that I cook, I’m harder on myself. My specialty is probably firehouse fajitas. There’s no real recipe. I’ve cooked enough and the guys have all cooked enough that we just make it happen.

As Adam slices two extra-long baguettes with a bread knife and slathers the freshly cut pieces with butter, John slips the lasagna into the oven, then turns his attention to making a salad. Cooking at the station is an integral part of these men’s way of life, but given the nature of their work, getting to the actual meal can sometimes prove a little difficult.

ADAM: Today we were headed toward the line [at the grocery store], cart full. Call comes in — we need to take it. We have a good relationship with our local Safeway, so the produce guys roll our cart into the cooler. When we come back, they wheel it out, and we go up and pay. It happens regularly.

JEREMY: Years ago, we burned the kitchen. A guy was frying fish. They got a call and took off. When they came back, the fire alarm was going off. Now the appliances are wired so that when the bells go off, they kill all of the electrical outlets. The ovens and stovetops all shut off

As if it were planned, a message comes in over the intercom. The men lay down their spatulas and knives and rush out the door.

ADAM: We’ll be right back.

Everything shuts off. Twenty minutes later, the A-Shift returns.

ADAM: Medical call. Somebody had chest pain. We have paramedics and can do everything an ambulance can do, except drive you to the hospital.

The kitchen comes back to life. Firefighters move in and out of the room as the smell of melting cheese grows stronger. Soon John is pulling the lasagna out of one oven while Adam grabs the garlic bread from another and Jeremy takes the salad out of the fridge. Everyone sits down at the dining table to eat.

ADAM: We call dinner Family Time. It’s that one time of the day to sit together. On a normal day, we have lots of other things to do, but we make a point of Family Time. The fire service is built on camaraderie: meals are social; meals are bonding. So many of the world’s problems get solved once you step into the kitchen because you’re close; you’re talking.