This article addresses how the strong link between technology and masculinity is forming the occupational ethos of fire fighters and how the micro-management of disasters in operational service is directly connected to this gendered work practice. The celebrated masculine ethos of the fire-fighting profession is formed through an intricate process of embodied practical skills, technical dexterity and a capacity to act. As such it carries a particular symbolic weight of classic masculine heroism and is also one reason why fireman has been so celebrated historically. The heroic men preventing disasters, accidents and rescuing people are also connected to a wider cultural imaginary of communal unity, protection and safety, where their form of masculinity is epitomizing a cultural ideal and possibly a last bastion of a particular good-hearted masculine heroism. However, this also an explanatory key for why women are directly and indirectly excluded from the fire services in most countries. These exclusionary and inclusionary practices are thus based on the heavily loaded gendered symbolism as well as the close and embodied relation between technology and masculinity.

In this article based on long term empirical work in the Swedish rescue services, we investigate how the concrete practices of the micro-management of crisis and disaster work are guided by such normative structures, excluding most women and many men of the ‘wrong kind’. We also show certain forms of technology are preferred because of their connection to the idealised form of a man of action.