What Fire Pump Operations Taught me About CICD Pipelines

I recently earned my certification as a fire pump operator. For those unfamiliar, that means I am responsible for operating the panel that controls a fire engine’s water system, adjusting pressure, maintaining flow, and ensuring that the team on the hose line has what they need to battle a blaze. As someone who also works in software development as a DevOps engineer, I couldn’t help but notice some parallels between my two worlds. 

Flow Matters in Water and Code

As a pump operator, your primary job is to ensure water flows at the right pressure, to the right places, at the right time. Too little pressure and the hose line is ineffective. Too much pressure, and you risk injury and damaging equipment. 

The same concept can apply in DevOps. CICD pipelines are about a smooth, consistent flow from development to testing to production. A clogged or misconfigured pipeline can delay a release or allow buggy code to make it to production. Just like water flow, code flow needs constant attention, tuning, and monitoring. 

Precision Prevents Problems

Operating a fire pump requires constant reading from gauges and calculated adjustments to keep everything running safely. There is no room for guesswork.

Similarly, a solid CICD pipeline requires meticulous configuration. Automated tests, deployment scripts—everything must be precise. One misstep, whether it’s a faulty build, a missing dependency, or a permissions issue, and everything can grind to a halt. Precision in setup, monitoring, and execution is crucial in both domains.

Communication is Everything

When you’re operating a pump, you’re not just twisting valves. You’re listening to radio updates, coordinating with the incident commander, and watching for visual cues. Constant communication keeps everyone safe and effective.

In a CICD context, strong communication across the team is what keeps the pipeline flowing. Knowing what changes are coming, what tests need to be run, and when it's safe to deploy all require timely and clear communication. Silence or assumptions can be costly.

Train for the Worst, Expect the Unexpected

Fire crews regularly do drills because incidents never go as planned. As a pump operator, you have to train not only for ideal scenarios but also for the unexpected failures. What if a hydrant runs dry, equipment malfunctions, or there is a sudden change in fire behavior?

CICD is no different. Your pipeline should be thoroughly tested. What happens if a build server goes down or a deployment fails partway through? How quickly can you roll back? Resilient systems and operators anticipate failure and are ready to respond. 

Flexibility Wins

Conditions on a fireground can change fast. Maybe the wind changes, or a new water source is needed. Pump operators have to adapt on the fly.

DevOps engineers face similar unpredictability. Sudden production bugs, infrastructure outages, last-minute feature pushes. Your CICD setup and team need to be just as agile. Flexibility keeps you moving.

Closing Thoughts

When signing up for and taking the pump operator class, I thought I was just going to learn a new skill that would help me better serve my community. I didn’t anticipate that it would also give me a new perspective to help my customers as well. At first glance, DevOps and firefighting seem like they are entirely different worlds. But when you break down the principles of flow, precision, communication, preparation, and flexibility, you realize they are surprisingly aligned. 

It’s a great reminder that engineering isn’t always about code. It’s about systems of thinking, coordination under pressure, and always being ready for the unexpected. 

Whether I’m at the pump panel or pushing to prod, those principles are there to guide me. And now, I always carry a bit of the fireground with me, even when I’m behind the keyboard.