Typically between 17:00 and 06:00 I am trying to learn something other than EMS and Fire... in between calls of course. Lots of my buddies watch sports and/or read during that time.

If you are at a busy station that typically is the time you get the snot kicked out of you. That is, every time you put your head down the "tones" go off and you get back into the truck to handle a problem for the citizens of your community. Some problems are real, some are perceived, and most just need a firefighter/EMS person to tell them what they should do.

Flag down was captured perfectly by @throwanem.