FF1 Required - Not terribly thrilled

[mp5dude]

My volly Department is making it mandatory for members to be FF1.. I'm not terribly thrilled about the idea (I have my reasons why I dont consider it to be an interesting thing) and I'm looking for pointers on the class.. anything that I need to be careful of, or whatever....

Thanks...

-_-

 

[Veneficus]

firefighting is very paramilitary and a team sport.

 

[46Young]

My volly Department is making it mandatory for members to be FF1.. I'm not terribly thrilled about the idea (I have my reasons why I dont consider it to be an interesting thing) and I'm looking for pointers on the class.. anything that I need to be careful of, or whatever....

Thanks...

-_-

Do you mean that all EMS needs to be fire I, or just that FF's be trained to FF I?

I don't agree with the cross-training, but I agree 110% with mandating volunteer FF's to be trained to at least FF I. Too many departments have members that can only drive, or only do exterior ops, can drive but not pump, etc. You never know what your getting on the fireground if everyone has differing limitations.

As for you, if you're physically weak, in poor cardiovascular shape, claustrophobic, or afraid of heights, then you won't do well with FF training.

 

[joegrizzly]

Hey brother, it might not be your bag and it might not be what you want to pursue but my tip is to change your outlook on it. Fire and EMS go hand in hand in a lot of places, and learning more about one in my opinion helps you function with the other. I don't know how much you like to hit the books, but hey man your going to learn to spray things with hose, eat it up man! In my opinion there are so many worse things you could be studying like financial dividends or basket weaving. Plus it would be a solid little nugget to a resume. Look at it as an opportunity, not oppression; even if you want to be there or not. Best of luck!

A little side thought: If your not motivated now or your heart is not in it, its going to be that much harder to pass or get the motivation to continue later on. The only thing worse than being made to take a course and having to pass is being made to take a course and not passing. Change the outlook and motivation brah, things could always be worse.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Not terribly thrilled

For many of us, the idea of mixing firefighting with EMS is akin to making every airline pilot learn how to build a house.

"But, I'm a pilot, I don't want to build houses"

"We understand that. We know that more than 80% of what we do is fly the planes, but you still need to know how to build houses. Because... Well, that's the tradition. And you should know that we're going practice house building every day, even though we may only actually build one house a year."

"So... When do we practice flying the plane?"

" ... Here's your hammer."

 

[Veneficus]

For many of us, the idea of mixing firefighting with EMS is akin to making every airline pilot learn how to build a house.

"But, I'm a pilot, I don't want to build houses"

"We understand that. We know that more than 80% of what we do is fly the planes, but you still need to know how to build houses. Because... Well, that's the tradition. And you should know that we're going practice house building every day, even though we may only actually build one house a year."

"So... When do we practice flying the plane?"

" ... Here's your hammer."

Sounds exactly right.

 

[DrParasite]

if you are going to tell every FF to be trained as an EMT, than every EMT should be trained as a FF.

 

[Aidey]

Re: Not terribly thrilled

Why? It isn't a 50/50 split. It is 80/20 or even higher in some places.

 

[EpiEMS]

FF does more EMS than anything else.

Makes no sense to require cross training for EMS like that.

 

[MrJones]

if you are going to tell every FF to be trained as an EMT, than every EMT should be trained as a FF.

Why?

 

[DrParasite]

minimum requirements for the department should be the same for everyone. if the department wants it to be FF1, so be it. if they want it to be EMT, so be it. the rules apply to everyone.

 

[Aidey]

Re: Not terribly thrilled

That still doesn't explain why.

 

[Thricenotrice]

Not terribly thrilled

You are a volunteer FF and don't like the idea of having the basic training to do firefighting?

Sounds like you've got the wrong idea here.

 

[MrJones]

minimum requirements for the department should be the same for everyone. if the department wants it to be FF1, so be it. if they want it to be EMT, so be it. the rules apply to everyone.

Is that your final answer? Because it sounds suspiciously like "because, that's why." If you can't articulate a concrete, rational, needs-based reason for doing something, why do it?

Care to try again?

 

[MidwestEMT]

It all plays back around to department politics, and fire service tradition. Saying 'because it is' is the only reason for some departments. They can require so they will, just due to the fact that it's always been that way, and they'll keep it around as long as possible.

That being said, there can be beneficial reasons, depending on the department. If you're an EMT, you (along with all of your EMT buddies) join the local VFD, because you know you'll be able to get good experience and decent call volume. This equates into 10 EMT's sitting around the FIREhouse, with no fire training. What happens when a call comes in for a structure fire? There'll be 10 members sitting around, while waiting for the actual firefighters to respond to the house, hoping enough turn out for a full rig. Whereas if every person that joins to be an EMT also has basic fire training, they can be out the door in <60 seconds, and perform basic fireground tasks.

So while some departments do it for 'tradition' and because they don't like the combined fire/ems and are trying to weed people out, there are a lot of departments that do it for good reasons

 

[mp5dude]

I think that fire and EMS should be totally separate entities. I do not care for most of the ffs on my Fd and think they're all cocky..insert choice words.. They don't know what's going on half the time in the box and throw me around the box when they drive. To say the very least, i don't want to become one of these people...

 

[MidwestEMT]

I think that fire and EMS should be totally separate entities.

This is a broad statement to be made. Separate entities work great in crowded areas, which is why independent EMS has worked/is working in large metropolitan areas. However, think about elsewhere. It seems every town in the midwest (over 500 or so people) has a volunteer fire department. What if the FF's weren't medically trained? If you're in a rural area and fire is over 20 minutes away, how far away do you think the closest EMS is?

Everything comes down to money in our society, and it just is not economical for every area to be covered by separate Fire and EMS agencies. However, like stated about, independent EMS has it's place, and is extremely effective in some areas.

 

[mp5dude]

So train them as first responders and let the ambulance take care of the patient. That's what the northern part of my county does and it works quite well.

And it's a volly Fd/rescue that used to accept either fire or ems

 

[med51fl]

So train them as first responders and let the ambulance take care of the patient. That's what the northern part of my county does and it works quite well.

And it's a volly Fd/rescue that used to accept either fire or ems

Sounds like you need to join a different department.

 

[Quackers]

I understand your situation a little bit actually! I joined the local VFD here, because it's not only family tradition but I wanted the experience. I was an "EMS only" member, but then a fire 1/2 class rolled around and I was told I had to take it so I did. Now looking back I'm glad I did! The first two weeks sucked, but then we started doing vertical ventilation, fire attack, rescues etc. and I found I really enjoy working on the fireground. You might be the same way. I would just say to cowboy up, you never know you may discover you are meant to eat smoke yet or you may hate it, in that case try to look at it from your Dept's perspective you're an EMS member (which is like a unicorn in my part of the world) if they can make you fire qualified you are more valuable to them since they almost certainly have low staffing and need as many bodies on the fireground as possible. This is especially true if you have high standby/run numbers, either way best of luck to you and keep us updated!