Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff on October 9, 2007 at 9:36pm

funny you should mention that... Our shift guys for years have been clamoring for some time during recruit school, doing some legitimate "shift life" training. The perception being that fire school teaches the job (somewhat), but this would teach "the life". Finally, this year, our training division asked for comments and ideas for overhauling the system. Verdict is still out on whether or not they'll take that into consideration.
I think a well-established mentoring program is vitally important, and sorely lacking in the fire service. Too often, the guys with the most knowledge and skills are the most loathe to share them, or their time, with a new guy. Sadly, there's just no substitute for that kind of experience.

Permalink Reply by Russ on October 11, 2007 at 12:40pm

i have had the same response here. mentoring seems to be the right way to go so far (i alredy do that), but i believe that the prime resistance seems to be preventing "bad habits" being taught to probies. i can understand that because i would not want to teah a new guy or gal a technique that could get them killed in their first year...the first thing i teach them is to absorbe as much as you can while you are on probation...cause...once you are considered to be a "veteran" you will have to perform-period. Thanks for the reply and to all that read this please add your comments positive and negative. isee this forum as a place to network and learn

Permalink Reply by eric on October 13, 2007 at 7:23pm

i agree that there is a need to "complete" the formal education process with the inner workings and the information that can only be learned on the job ie. reading smoke, situational awareness, and calling a mayday i also agree that once youre off probation you are expected to do the job i always come across those that feel that kind of informatioin should be learned on your own as a way to prove your self to the elder statesmen in the department the concept of mentoring hasnt caught on as a safety issue in my area yet and i cant seem to push it through as that the harder i push the more resistance i seem to get some one help me understand why

Permalink Reply by Todd Duncan on December 4, 2007 at 7:10am

But in order to impart our collective experience, the recipient has to be willing to listen and apply what we are trying to pass on... not a very common occurance with today's "Pepsi Generation" firefighters. This is not a statement about ALL of the younger FF's. I have seen this as being a growing "problem".

Permalink Reply by Jeff on December 28, 2007 at 12:17pm

sadly, very true... There seems to be a general lack of respect for others that pervades today... I think if someone doesn't respect another, he or she is less willing to listen to what the other has to say. When I came into the fire service, Respect for the service and those who went before was one of the primary lessons, along with hoses, fire streams et al... Learning that respect was on equal footing with learning the skills to become a firefighter.

It seems that it is an important task to re-instill that lesson of respect from day one in recruit class. Maybe then, we can produce younger firefighters who will eagerly seek the advice of those deservedly respected senior firefighters.

Permalink Reply by Ric Smith on February 8, 2008 at 11:17pm

A-MEN!!!! to that. I was just recently asked by my deputy chief to take a couple of our "new" guys under my wing & show them how "things are done".

Permalink Reply by Ric Smith on February 8, 2008 at 11:22pm

Yep, I just recently posted a similar response in the "Old Hats" group on just that... It's funny, there are several members of my dept that call me a "criminaI" or a "thief" because I can force a door in an instant without damaging anything or seem to gain entry through some other means. Yet, they really don't care to learn how to do it themselves.......

Permalink Reply by Stephen Russell on October 30, 2008 at 3:27pm

Hi All, I think this is a wide spread problem, those of us with 10 or more yrs in remember how we got to where we are today, under someone else's wing. The things the "Senior"man can teach you is irreplaceable. I'm a Lt. with a combination dept, the "kids" that come in today were not like us when we joined. Today we give them an orange helmet until they 're 1403 compliant ( then they get a black helmet ) and then they are expected to function as a ff with 10yrs +. I personnally think this is unexceptable. After different talks with the "powers that be" they will not budge, it's a manpower thing I guess. We have rookies riding as a third person on an engine that have never fought a vehicle fire let alone arrived at a fully envolved structure and knew where to start( if they had to act alone- rescue, forcible entry, etc..... ) I think this will end but only after an LOD injury or (god help us) an LODD. The question I will leave you with is Is there an end to this in sight???

Thank you for listening, It is our jobs to prevent injuries and deaths on the fireground, and if more of us had these discussions I believe we would prevent alot of injuries and/ or deaths in our field. Please keep the talks going may be we can save some of the worlds problems this way. Be safe keep training and "Buckle Up" always.

Permalink Reply by Ed Veitch on December 28, 2008 at 3:42pm

Reading fire come with experience. A lot of my teaching comes on the incident scene. If we come up on something small, with not a lot to it. I pick one of my guys and turn the reigns over to them. I'm always there, but I try to give them some experience making decissions. Decission making comes with taking in all the information that can be gathered. Sometimes I've found that a plugman may have some good ideas. Don't cut off good ideas just because they came from a subordinate. Some officers become blind. No one has all the knowledge. Once I make a decission, that usually it. You can't make a good decission without all the information.