Does your department hire 18 year olds? I don't think so. We do not hire until 19 and then very rarely, why because they are not mature enough. Our members cannot even consider sitting in the officers seat with less that 6 years on the job. High school kid, no way.
Permalink Reply by Nate on September 29, 2010 at 10:14pm
That is my take on this situation. I am a Junior in College right now, and even when I miss a class, or am late to one because of being on a call, I am behind. I just can't justify someone in high school being pulled from class. If there is that much need for manpower, then call mutual aid. The members of our dept. that got their FF1 when they were still in high school were not allowed to run calls if it was during school hours or after 10PM on a school night until they graduated. There is just something wrong with pulling them from classes. Not to mention the fact that they will get a big head, being able to run out in front of an entire class. If you do pull them from class, how do you regulate it? If it is called in as a structure fire, but turns out to be someone burning popcorn, do you still think it was okay for them to miss a class or two? Get your high school diploma, then run all of the calls you want.
Permalink Reply by Doyle on September 29, 2010 at 10:23pm
Its not just a fire, its a fire probly from someone you know, go to school with or have passed at the local store. Granted you are in school to learn, but the average guy at work is there to provide a service to customers and make a paycheck for his family. Thats why volunteering is so vital, if every boss and upper management said no to the volunteers who would be left? If it is there house on fire or loved one that needs to be extricated, you can bet they appreciate the local piggly wiggly letting the three stock boys do what they have been trained to do, and are not offeneded they have to push there own cart to the car.
Permalink Reply by Doyle on September 29, 2010 at 10:31pm
Your right the lady about to burn up in the 3 story apartment is gonna be very upset if I cant spell. Good thing they teach common sense in the home and in church these days. When i took my civil service test, served in the military and fight fire and take ems calls I have yet for one victim to be upset that my spelling suxs(noticed I spelled s-u-x-s) It takes more than a brain surgeon sometimes to have the proper skills for a decent rewarding job.
I just graduated highschool, we were able to leave for structure fire calls or MVA's as long as we were passing the class we were in with a C or better and if our GPA was above 2.5, and if we missed anything while we were out it was our responsibility to get caught up and our fire chief kept in touch with our principle to see how are grades were, if they were slacking hed take our pagers away for a little bit