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Comment by Jason Smith on April 3, 2009 at 10:45pm

Tether them to the training officer!!!??? OH HECK NO! That just ain't right Chief!!!!!!

Comment by firemen52 on March 31, 2009 at 9:04pm

I am a probie at my department mainly due to the fact that yes i need to learn more but also because there hasn't been any new guys. i'm wearing old chief white gear around the fire grounds. everyone knows somethings out of the ordinary when a guys walking around with white gear but a yellow helmet. i see no difference in gear though i mean as long as i can go into a structure without getting hurt it doesn't matter what color it is.

Comment by Palmyra Chief Donaghey on March 31, 2009 at 7:20pm

I like the pink helmet idea. The yellow gear is our old turnouts, so there is no added exspense to the dept. Thought about tethering them to the training officer.............no.......Jason might kill me!

Comment by FETC on March 31, 2009 at 6:57pm

Making them wear a pink helmet might be over the line Chief but different color gear? They should be happy that they are wearing gear at all. Training, education and RESPECT comes with time served

Comment by chief gerald wilson on March 31, 2009 at 6:55pm

our probies wear a orange safty vest and are in the shadows of an officer outside the working area copying the officer durring training and working fires we only allow 1 probie per working fire

Comment by Tim Wood on March 31, 2009 at 4:59pm

Our probies get gear and a green helmet the rest of our firefighters helmets are yellow. A nice way to pick them out of crowd!!

Comment by Robert on March 31, 2009 at 3:20pm

I see no problems with this. I know that the probies on our dept. wear the same turn out as fire fighter's. They just have a different set of numbers, for instance firefighters are between 118 and 159, ems is 160 to 180 and probies are 181 to 199. Never had a problem with this. They usually have a probation crest on there helmet as well. Once they either get certified or prove themselves they get a normal number and remove the crest. Also I agree that if they do get offended that you should most certainly watch them closer than the rest. If they are really mature and ready for this job they will be understanding to this requirement.

Comment by Jake Fireman on March 31, 2009 at 11:55am

Oh and chief...we can NEVER go to far in "identifying" our rookies. We have a duty to protect and watch over them as much as anything else!

Comment by Jake Fireman on March 31, 2009 at 11:53am

...and can we put neon lights and bells and whistles on them too? and FIREBEAR..You chose to leave one department for another..if it wasnt a "lateral" hiring, then yup....you da rookie. It happened to me too. I was proud when I got to my new department to be probie again! It helped that most guys didn't know I had worked somewhere else first. It was AMAZING how much they thought I learned in the academy and my first week "on the job"!

Comment by Scott on March 31, 2009 at 11:13am

I am assuming you are a volunteer/paid on call dept. Sounds like a reasonable way to go. I agree it might be cheaper to change helmet color.
In our dept and most of the suburban Dept's (paid) around us only hire certified FF/EMT's to start. We put them through a short academy to acclimate them to our way of doing business. Once they are out they are read to hit the street, but the are assigned to an officer and a field training officer (FTO) we stole.... Borrowed that from Law Enforcement. I know the volunteer/POC Dept's around us do this a bunch of different ways. I see a lot of different helmet colors and title arcs used to differentiate the "new guys" that have use restrictions due to training or time on. In WI you must be certified FF I to enter a working fire.

We do put our Cadets, Interns & Explorers in different colors. The reason is they can't be used for interior fire fighting or other hazardous environments.

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