Your story about the abuse you endured is shocking. Is that abuse against firemen common?
Probably not in the more civilized areas in our country, and that was spread out over 25 years. I do not feel that firefighters are commonly “abused”. But we do get more hands on experiences with the public than the police who tend to handle people at an arms length.
And it also depends largely on the community that you are serving. I happened to work in an area that went through a violent time with a lot of drugs, alcohol and gang violence. Even then nearly all of the problems were with drugged up, drunk, or mentally ill people. Sometimes people also lash out when they are injured or ill.
It is similar to when you find an animal that has been injured. They will bite or scratch you when you are trying to help them. And unlike Aesop's tale about the slave who pulled the thorn out of the lion's paw... they typically do not remember that you helped them even a few moments later.