Does your department require you to complete Emergency Vehicle Operations Course in order to start driving? I have been hearing as of late that not every department does. What are your thoughts about this and how do you feel about the EVOC course? What needs to be improved with it, where does it stive?
Permalink Reply by Bambi on September 27, 2007 at 1:46am
im not really sure about my volunteer department, they have of yet trained me to drive the trucks! but when they do train me i have to have a certain amount of hours on each type of truck.. a class comes around, they like for you to take it.. right now i am working for a private ambulance and i do not have evoc/vanessa k yet, but they are getting a class ready so i will have it soon...
i have not had this class, but i think that some of it should be pushed out into the community... that way the public knows how to react when they see an emergency vehicle coming behind them or towards them... from what i have heard, they keep changing the rules about going through an intersection, so i believe everyone needs to know....
to become an operator in the feds you have to take a engine academy, witch includes pump opps, code 3 driving off road, and EVOC i think it is a good thing so you can feel and see the capibility of an apperatus
In 1 Department you can't drive any vehicle or apparatus unless you take and pass an EVOC Course. But in other Departments I belong it is not mandatory. I have been working with some of them to atlest do an in house training.
Hello...In our department it is very simple.....To drive you HAVE to have EVOC and you HAVE to be able to operate the apparatus that you are driving....Course could include a little more "Wheel-time"....
EVOC is mandatory in our department and every member must train in each vehicle they wish to drive. Everyone recerts every five years as well as annual driver safety training. Each season brings different challenges and it is important to be aware of each one, from frost boils to ice each pose their own problem.
Although it has never been mandatory in my company, as a firefighter who has in fact taken the class, I find it to be a class that everyone should take. As the Captain of my company, and training officer, I have presented this to my Chiefs who have now decided that all members of our company are to take this course. Times have changed since the past when one member who had driven a large truck before, became the guy who would train everyone on the fire trucks. In the sue happy world that we live in now, having this course under your belt "Covers Your Ass" in legal matters! Obviously continuous driver training is a must as well!
In NYS now you must complete apparatus operator or EVOC before you can take Pump Ops or Ladder Ops. I personally feel before a Blue light card is issued a member should take EVOC.
I agree that EVOC should be mandatory!Where I work you go through EVOC then a week or drive time, then take another paper test... Time is the only thing that will prepare you!
My company says that you need to take a course but in reality all you need to know is how to operate the pumps and give and recieve water and know how to drive the truck. The main reason people around here take the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course is because it lowers your personal insurance. Most companies i know of dont require EVOC and have guys drive around with the trucks just to get used to driving and after they pass the stations driving and operations test they are covered on the insurance to drive. Im supposed to start drivers training and i havent been told about any courses, ive just been getting used to operating the pumps for now.
Permalink Reply by T.j. on October 16, 2007 at 11:24pm
We are required to not only have EVOC but also Pump I and II. Now before EVOC we must have some drive time in the vehicle that we take to the class, but no one gets qualified to drive at emergency rate to calls until they have all three classes and the chief gives them his "blessing".