Pride and Love of the Probies Duties

So you're a probie, so you have to clean the bathrooms, or the kitchens, or whatever other task that the men and women on your crew have lovingly saved just for you to do.  Maybe when you choose this career you didn't think about being the low person on the totem pole and what kinds of things that would entail.  Or maybe you did think about them but not how you would feel having to do them day in and day out when on shift.  It's true that these tasks were not given to you because they are enjoyable, but you should enjoy them.

I can hear you now, "Who the hell finds scrubbing a toilet enjoyable?"  Okay, so maybe you can't find the actual job fun and exciting at all times, I get that.  Yet at the very least you should find some pleasure in doing a good job.  

Take pride in what you do.  At times, easier said than done, but if done at all times you'll probably find life at the station easier.  The guys you work with are watching you, and how you handle these duties.  Lets face it, if they can't trust you to mop the floors, how can the trust you in a burning building.  If you work hard at everything you do they'll see that, and though they may still give you a hard time, you'll earn their respect over time.

Another reason is just for your personal satisfaction.  Again, everyone at the station will know your work ethic and maybe, JUST MAYBE, someone will crack and give you praise for a job well done, and as a probie getting any praise is worth all the hard work.  I don't care who you are, everyone likes to hear they did a good job.  Especially when you do take pride in what you are doing and put forth effort.

After you see that working hard has plenty of benefits you'll take more pride in what you are doing and eventually maybe learn to love the little jobs given to you.  If nothing else, these probie tasks are ones that every firefighter before you has done.  It's a part of the life in the career and its one of the best careers out there.  The kind of career in which you could be sweeping floors one minute and racing to a car wreck to save a life the next.

Learning the streets

Being a probie, no one is about to give you the keys to the BRT (big red truck) and let you flip on the lights and sirens and race around town. That doesn't mean you can't start learning your area in preparation for when that time comes. It is possible that the first time you get to drive will be because your needed too get somewhere and fast. By then it'll be to late to try to learn the best route. If your brand new you don't need to cram all that info into your head ASAP, but there are a few things you can be doing now that'll give you that extra edge when the time does near.

First of all pay attention to where you are when your running calls, look at street signs, notice what way your experienced chauffeur goes to get to certain parts of town. Obviously if your going to the scene you may be needing to focus on what you need to do to be ready for arrival, but certainly on the way back to the station you have time to look at street signs.

When your at the station and you hear a call go out for another company, go to the map and see where they are going. Try to think about how you would get there from your station. If your station doesn't have a map, which is probably unlikely ask about getting one. Not only will you have a map, but probably score some bonus points for showing some initiative. Just remember your the probie so you may catch a little jabs for it. You can also take a few minutes everyday and browse the map just to get familiar with the streets.

If your truly motivated take some time off duty and drive your territory. Of course be careful, as firefighters we may be asked to go to the bad parts of town. Driving around in your POV is much different then showing up in those parts with the BRT a team of guys with axes and sledges in hand.

Driving probably isn't something you will do for a little while but it never hurts to prepare yourself for the future. This of course can pretty much be applied to all aspects of your career. If your not preparing to advance your career now you'll have a lot of catching up to do when the time comes, and you may look around and realize all the probies you came in with are now giving you orders to go clean the bathrooms.

Double LODD in Houston

If you haven't already heard Houston lost two of their bravest over the holiday weekend.  Keep them, their families, friends, and fellow firefighters in your thoughts and prayers.  Firehouse.com has the details here.  

Get Fit Stay Fit

If you've recently completed a rookie school/firefighter academy you should be in at least some sort of decent physical conditioning. If you're about to start one you better get yourself prepared, it'll only help you in the long run and I just don't mean getting you through an academy.  If you keep up with the LODD then you know what I am talking about.  Heart attacks are a danger that we face in this career.  Either during operations or even back at the station afterwards.  So cardio workouts are very important to keep your heart in shape.  Of course everyone wants to be stronger and that will only make doing our job easier so you need to get some weight training in too.

Let's face it, we put ourselves in some risky situations, the kind that can really get the heart pumping, isn't that part of what makes this job so great.  We also may find ourselves in a situation that you need as much strength as possible to get yourself out of.  Not to mention maybe get someone else out.  The better condition you are in the longer and farther you can go during fireground ops.

So you're asking how? Well the options are out there and you really don't need much. The PT in our academy actually didn't use any equipment, instead used our own body weight, and for some that could be asking a lot.  Not to mention I haven't been to a station yet that didn't have at least some sort of gym or equipment. As for the cardio... RUN!!!  Seriously I wasn't as strong runner and I hated it at first, but after years of doing it I have learned to enjoy it and its kept my resting heart rate under 60bpm.  That's not to say I won't clutch my chest and fall out of my chair this very instant but I feel my odds are at least a little bit improved.

Personally, I've been going through the P90X program and I have nothing but good to say about it. It has it everything that can help with all aspects of the job. It takes a little bit of equipment that I was lucky enough to have most of but even if I didn't it'd be worth going out to get it.  The program switches things up enough to keep from getting boring and I've already seen some decent results, which would probably be even greater if I followed the diet plan.

Equipment and programs aside what it really takes to get in shape is the desire.  If you don't want it, you won't get it.  It's not easy to put aside everything else in life and say, "I'm going to workout and forget everything else."  Yet, that's what you really need to do.  I won't lie and say that I stick to my routine to the T, but if I miss a day I just keep going.

You can't even say there is a lack of good reasons to do it.  #1 Of course is your health, which leads to better performance on the job, you'll be better looking (which your significant other will appreciate.)  If you have kids or want to someday you'll be able to play with them for more than five minutes.  Who knows maybe you'll inspire those you work with to join in.

I think I've beat this dead horse enough.  Just get out there and do it, even if all you have is 20 minutes, that's better than none.

First Things First

I figured my first post (after the intro of course) should be something about one of the first things you should be doing when you show up to your station.  I had to think back a long time to my first day, it seems like it was only months ago.  Maybe that's because it was.  I had been assigned to one of the busiest trucks in the city, which I found out very quickly.  I had been on shift for maybe five minutes when we got our first call.  As the truck raced to the scene, I realized I didn't know where anything on the truck was.  Luckily for me the call turned out to be nothing, but you can bet your ass I was going over every inch of that truck when we got back.

That's exactly what every rookie should be doing.  Its one of the most basic parts of the job.  Every fire truck is basically a big tool box on wheels.  Whether you ride an engine, tower, rescue, squad, or whatever else your department has, they are all big tool boxes.  It doesn't matter how proficient you are with those tools, if you can't find them, you can't use them.  Not to mention our jobs rely heavily on time and speed, the longer it takes to get equipment, the longer that fire has to grow, or the more time the condition of a critical injust has to worsen.

So how do you learn your truck?  It seems like common sense and it really probably is but I'm going to give you some pointers anyhow:

1.  Inventory  Get a notebook and write down everything that is in each compartment.  For one, your getting the visual of where everything is and writing it down reinforces what you are seeing.

2. Hands On  Take the equipment out of the truck and get your hands on it.  Get a feel for that halligan bar, or get comfortable with starting the fans and saws.  If you don't know how to work something get someone to show you.  Make sure you put everything back how it was when you are done.

3. Get Tested  Have someone quiz you on things.  They can ask for equipment and you can see how fast you can get it to them.  Most guys on your crew should be more than happy to do this with you.  The better you can do your job the better the crew will function on the fire ground.

4.  Learn Other Trucks  If your station has more than one truck get your butt to the other trucks and do the same for them.  You never know, maybe one day you'll have to ride with them.  Most likely you'll be working fire grounds together and you may have to get equipment off of them as well.

5.  Continuing Ed  Chances are, once you learn your truck and start running calls you'll know where most things are.  Don't forget to occasionally go over the truck, it'll help you remember the tools you have that you don't use as often.  This is especially true if #4 applies to you.  You won't be on those other trucks as much so it'll take a little more effort to know their ins and outs.

Thats all for today... remember you have the best job in the world.  Stay safe!

Intro to The Probie Post

Where do I begin... I guess I decided to start this little blog just for a place to share some experiences and maybe help out a rookie or two.  I realize that my years of experience are certainly limited but I hope that my enthusiasm for the job and desire to learn will make the information I post here worthwhile.

To any rookies who have stumbled upon this, remember that what I say here may or may not apply to your department.  Which it shouldn't take to long for you to realize how things run at your station and what your fellow firefighters are expecting of you.

To any of the veterans that find themselves here, feel free to chime in and provide your knowledge for the rest of us.  Although many people would think that fighting fires would be a fairly basic job and wonder how many ways are there to do it, we all know that every department does things differently.  The more information everyone shares I feel the better.  I hope that some will pass on their ways to skin the cat too.

I hope everyone can take something from this, whether it be a lesson or advice that helps them out, or maybe a reminder for what its like to be a probie that is wided eyed and truly excited to be stepping on truck to help out those in their community.  That's all for now, stay tuned for more....