Pyrate is a word I coined.  Pyr is a greek prefix for fire.  Obviously, a pirate was someone in the eighteenth century who went about taking things that didn't belong to him.  So I came up with the play on words, Pyrate.  (It isn't in the dictionary)

 

In the fire service we take pride in being the first to arrive at a fire that is in our own designated territory.  We are extremely competitive.  It would really be a disgrace for one fire company to get to a rival fire company's incident before they arrived.  That would be similar to a football team sneaking to a rival high school and igniting their bonfire the night before the big homecoming game.  

 

With all that said, to me the term pyrate is someone willing to steal another engine company's fire. Meaning, get there first. 

 

I still can't believe I get paid to do this. I love this job!