They would be:

- On stand-by at bonfires all round the country on bonfire night when the fire-brigades resources are already stretched.
- Available for cat shows being held in the proximity of forests.
- Ready and waiting behind the scenes of “Can’t Cook – Won’t Cook”.
- On regular fire-watch patrol over the Australian bush.
-- stupop, Jun 11 2002

(?) St. John's Ambulance http://www.communit...com/comm/stjohn.asp
Often seen at large concerts & festivals - a kind of 'soft-core' emergency service. [stupop, Jun 11 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(?) Saint John’s Volunteer Fire Department http://www.csbsju.e...alplant/sjfire.html
Baked in Minnesota, U.S.A. though their equipment looks a bit more modern [FarmerJohn, Jun 11 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto http://www.stanford...yborgManifesto.html
a classic of its kind [earl, Jun 12 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

St John's Police Service http://www.rnchs.ca/oldstjohns.html
Newfoundland [8th of 7, Oct 31 2010]

By any chance is their enemy St Elmo's Fire?
-- [ sctld ], Jun 11 2002


St. Elmo's Fire Brigade sounds like a halfbakery idea.
-- beauxeault, Jun 11 2002


send them to Colorado...oh, wait, you said "small fires"....nevermind.

I agree with beaux, St. Elmo's Fire Brigade is a catchier title.... who was St. John and what's he got to do with fire? Link!
-- runforrestrun, Jun 11 2002


- prowling college dorms, looking for students courting disaster with the old candle-in-the-wine-bottle trick
- scattered discreetly among the rows of revelers at rock concerts, waiting for someone to get a little too careless during a ballad
- backstage at child beauty pageants, hovering next to nervous stage moms spraying their daughters' hairdos while chain-smoking
-- 1percent, Jun 11 2002


The idea is based on St. John's Ambulance (which admittedly makes it a possible 'me too'). I'll post a link, but you'd really have to have seen them around to see what I'm getting at.
-- stupop, Jun 11 2002


Will someone from the U.K. tell me if I should vote for or against this idea, please?
-- phoenix, Jun 11 2002


Either way, it doesn't really matter.
-- [ sctld ], Jun 11 2002


We have StAndrews Ambulance service in Scotland, and they do a good job, but they are no-where near as enthusiastic as St John's.
-- [ sctld ], Jun 11 2002


vote aye phoenix, and don't let anyone post "W.I. Anti Terrorist Unit" I claim it as my own.
-- po, Jun 11 2002


Vote 'aye' aye-aye.
-- phoenix, Jun 11 2002


Is the St. Elmo's fire brigade responsible for extinguishing the careers of Emilio "Mighty Ducks" Estevez and Andrew McCarthy? And have they finally turned their hoses on Demi Moore?
-- pottedstu, Jun 11 2002


We can hope.
-- angel, Jun 12 2002


A promising idea, but what next ? A St. John's Police Force ?

Where would THEY practice ?? :-7 Who would their patron saint be ? We nominate St Peter Ad Vincula ....
-- 8th of 7, Jun 12 2002


//Who would their patron saint be ? //
St John, of course.
-- angel, Jun 12 2002


The argument can be made that anyone who has ever had a vaccination is a cyborg, because the body's immune system has been reprogrammed. I guess this and other, similar modifications would make one a "soft cyborg," versus the "hard cyborgs" we're more accustomed to in science fiction. Someone like Donna Haraway would argue that as members of a cybernetic culture, we are all already cyborgs. See link.

I can think of a number of cyborg modifications that would improve the performance of the young volunteers of the St. John's Fire Brigade.
-- earl, Jun 12 2002


Very fitting name for a fire brigade, actually. St John's day (which I think is the 25th of June) i.e. Midsummer Night is celebrated with bonfires in some countries.
-- herilane, Jun 13 2002


<pedant> "St John Ambulance". Note, no possessive. </pedant>
Possibly, if you're posh, it is pronounced "Sinjun Ambulance".
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 23 2005


We are the Borg - resistance is futile.
-- froglet, Mar 23 2005


<link>
-- 8th of 7, Oct 31 2010


Perhaps Saint Barbara? Patron saint of firefighters, miners, architects, armourers, gunners, brewers, hatters and bomb technicians.
-- infidel, Nov 01 2010



random, halfbakery