Thanks to the thousands of Kerrian’s Notebook readers who have spoken! Here are the Readers’ Choice Top Ten new posts for 2021. Read them for the first time or enjoy them again. 🙂
I have several pals around the country who are firefighters. Some put out wildfires, some work in rural areas, others in big cities. A couple of them helped out during and after September 11th. Firefighters have a dangerous job and a whole lot of guts. No doubt about it. They save lives, they help people, they serve the community in countless ways. Yet, many civilians assume that the job is just about putting out the flames. In most towns, there is much more to it. Their duties can include:
responding to requests for help
putting out fires
assisting at highway accidents
rescuing people during floods or other natural disasters
rendering safe any bombs
rescuing trapped people and animals
And, after they do all that, firefighters are usually responsible for the cleanup and checking the incident site afterward.
One of the first ways children meet firefighters is in school. Each year in October (National Fire Prevention Month in the USA) firefighters educate the community by visiting schools and public venues, demonstrating how to avoid getting hurt during a fire. “Stop, Drop & Roll” is taught everywhere, so that children will know what to do if they smell smoke in their own homes. In communities where wildfires are an unfortunate fact of life, wildfire preparedness is taught, with a focus on how to protect the house year-round and what to do when it’s time to evacuate.
Sound like a career you’d like to have? Read on to discover the job requirements. It’s a competitive field and not for everyone, but it is highly rewarding for the guys and gals who qualify.
You must be 18 and have a High School diploma. Beyond that?
Education
Because of the changing demands on firefighters, many fire departments now ask that applicants complete some kind of coursework beyond high school.
Some departments (generally in larger cities) even require a full bachelor or associate’s degree in fire science or fire engineering.
Most potential firefighters will then have to undergo five areas of testing in order to determine readiness for training:
Testing for Firefighter Qualification:
Written Exam – 150 to 200 multiple choice questions including reading comprehension, math, judgment, listening comprehension, oral & written communication, etc.
Physical Agility – the various parts of this test simulate situations a firefighter would encounter on the job and depending on the town/city, all must be completed in under ten minutes (in some cases as little as seven minutes)
Hose drag – in general, 200 feet of hose line is dragged at least 75 feet while walking or running upright, and then perhaps dragged an additional distance after dropping to one knee
Stair Climb – a set number of stairs is climbed while wearing or carrying equipment
Equipment Carry – some versions of the test require hauling equipment through a second story window via rope; others require carrying equipment for 75 feet while walking on the ground.
Ladder Raise – those tall ladders have extensions that must be managed and adjusted while several feet off the ground.
Forcible Entry – using a sledgehammer, the applicant has to hit and move a device a certain distance in order to demonstrate an ability to use force when smashing through a wall, etc.
Search – the applicant has to crawl through a tunnel maze with right angles and limited visibility – about 3’x4’ in some spots, smaller in others
Rescue – a full-sized dummy (about 165 pounds) must be dragged 75 feet in one direction and then 75 feet back.
Ceiling Breach – tools are used to poke and pull at a hole in a ceiling – sometimes including a sixty pound door.
This video from Cuyahoga Community College demonstrates some of the challenges to be met:
If the applicant fails the physical part of the test, he/she is typically allowed to sign up for a later attempt, usually after several months.
Other sections of the test battery include:
Medical Exam – thorough checkup, plus drug testing
Psychological Exam – are you psychologically suited for the job – are you afraid of dark, tight spaces? Do you work well in teams? Can you take orders? Why do you want to work in such a dangerous field?
Oral Interview (pass/fail section of testing) Possible questions might include: Why do you want to be a firefighter? What are your strengths/weaknesses? What is the job? Are you qualified? Why should we hire you?
After passing all five areas, the applicant will be permitted to apply to a fire academy and/or fire department for the training program.
Some towns are set up to allow for on-the-job training after the testing is complete. The applicants become candidates at the firehouse and complete their training with the firefighters they will be working with, but most towns require attendance at a formal program before this step.
Training Program
A several weeks/months long training program must be completed at a fire department or academy.
Recruits learn about hazardous materials control
Recruits learn emergency medical procedures, including CPR.
Local building codes are taught
Firefighting techniques are practiced, including handling axes, ladders, chainsaws, fire hoses and fire extinguishers.
Think you’d like to know more? Call for an appointment at your local firehouse to drop in and introduce yourself. Chances are, if the guys have the time, they’ll chew your ear off with stories of calls they’ve gone out on. The job is not like what you see on “Chicago Fire.” Fun show, but not realistic. Ask a pro.
Several of our pals are firefighters so when we visited the North Carolina cousins, we made sure to stop by the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo in Raleigh. We had a blast looking at all the trucks, and I mean ALLLL the trucks, big and small. It’s a terrific family event, with demos all day long, classes for the working firefighters and other rescue personnel, and opportunities for the money guys in the departments to plunk down orders for new, specialized trucks.
Heavy Duty Rescue Truck
When a fire truck rolled down the street, I never used to pay attention to what kind it was. Red was all I remembered as it passed by. Turns out, there are many different types, designed for distinctive situations. Fires are not always the same. There are industrial fires, apartment building fires, private home fires, brush fires miles away from a water supply…and more…so there are a variety of trucks to fit the needs.
On the TV show, “Chicago Fire,” two of the teams at the fire station are assigned to different trucks and have different responsibilities – the men and women on squad and the men and women on engine. They even sit at different tables when relaxing between calls. The squad fire truck has extra material and equipment (big ladders and other tools) for ground support, rescue, and site cleanup. It’s usually more specialized than the fire engine and would be called out for structure fires. The fire engine has hoses and water to fight the fires and is usually the first one sent out to a scene.
The multiple hoses needed are called ‘lines’ at the fire. If they kink while being used, the water won’t flow, so the engine has ladders and equipment to aid in the positioning of the lines, along with the smaller equipment the fire station considers important for the area/fires being fought.
Need more light at the scene for those difficult night fires? The Nightscan can be mounted on the trucks to light up the ground around the work area.
Here are a few of the firefighting vehicles we saw:
Heavy Duty Truck with Aerial Lift
The Heavy Duty Rescue trucks are generally 17’ or longer and carry about 4,000 pounds of equipment. That equipment will vary depending on the type of fires or rescue duty the firefighters face in their region. It might be rigged for wet or dry situations, hazmat, search and rescue, incident command, or even be set up for S.W.A.T. teams, and more. They are built to suit the demands of the purchasing city.
Aerial Truck with Basket
The Aerial trucks are the ones the crowds like to see in action. Small towns with no industrial plants or high rise apartment buildings would rarely, if ever, need one, but big cities often do. The price tag on a new, customized Aerial truck can reach a million dollars, and take over two months to construct, but even so, there is a waiting list at some truck companies of more than six months. While we were at the show, a similar big boy to the one in the photo was sold and paid for. The city had waited a while to get it into the town budget, and considered it a necessary tool for fighting industrial fires and below grade rescues, etc. in their miles long, multi-use municipality. The Aerial truck picture above shows a ladder that extends 100 feet when needed. Some extended ladders have baskets/boxes at the top end for the firefighter to stand in, but many do not.
When that ladder is extended, there are stabilizing ‘legs’ (outriggers) that pull out to keep the truck rock solid steady.
The Aerial trucks in this photo have their ladders extended the full length of their design – one reached 107 feet.
Rotary Lift
That’s a full-sized truck securely supported by this Rotary Lift. Before these came along, trucks had to be driven to the closest service area when needing to be worked on. It’s not like you can drive one of the trucks into your local car dealership or gas station, so the drive might have been 200 miles each way. Now, the Rotary Lift can be transported to the local fire station. Much easier, and most likely a faster turnaround for repair.
Tanker Truck
Sometimes, water is not available at the scene. There are trucks specially built for carrying thousands of gallons to areas with no central water supply.
ATVs are used in places that the big trucks can’t go. This one is used at area football games and can carry a Stokes style basket, as well as a hose (and liquid) to put out a small fire.
This 1905 Steamer is fully functional after having been restored in 2012. It cost $4,500. in 1905.
This year’s Fire Prevention Week messages apply all year round. 80% of U.S. fire deaths happen at home each year, and the actual count had risen from previous years. With that in mind, most Fire Safety campaigns focus on home fire prevention:
Look for places fire can start
Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm
Learn two ways out of each room
Stay safe everyone!
*Photo credits above: taken by Patti Phillips at the 2018 Fire Rescue Expo, Raleigh, NC.
One of the Kerrian’s Notebook readers sent us this photo:
Courtesy of Ken Shoemaker:
“These firefighting vehicles are at the Cooksville Station of the Octavia Fire Protection District in Illinois. Our 1995 tanker pumper front mount pump on a Peterbilt chassis holds 3000 gallons with a front mount pump. It was the first 3000 gallon tanker pumper in central Illinois. We can put 6000 gallons of water on a structure before we drop a porra tank.”
