Min age for NEW DRIVERS???

[Herold]

How old does an individual have to be before he/she can start driving the apparatus? If the age is 21, was it because the insurance company made you change it or was it change because the department thought that it should be 21.

[firecadetak]

Minimum age is 18. can be trained to operate all apparatus except ARFF. one of our newest livin firefighters at one of our stations is 19 and was checked off on the engines in about two weeks.

[pwc606]

At my volly station the age is 21. At work the age is 18. The 21 age requirement is mandated by the insurance provider. I'm not sure why the difference though. That is in two separate counties also. The 21 age has been in affect for the last 16 years that I can remember. The best answer that I could get out of anyone is that the insurance companies feel that the level of responsibility is higher for someone at age 21 than age 18. I question this because I have seen men and women that are much older that should not be driving a golf cart let alone a fire truck.

[Bob Snyder]

PA law allows for FFs to be certified to drive as early as age 18. Our insurance carrier wants a minimum of age 21, and we use age 21 as the minimum. Personally, I agree with the insurance carrier. An 18-year-old can have, at most, 2 years of driving experience of any kind. Do you really want someone with only two years total experience on the road behind the wheel of a 20-35 ton (depending on type of apparatus) rig at emergency speed?? Although I have known (and still know) some exceptionally mature 18- to 20-year-olds who could handle that, I don't want the average inexperienced driver of age 18 to have that kind of potential for destruction in their hands.

[Davidjb]

I agree with Bob 100%. You do not want someone with only 2 years of total driving experience driving a truck in an emergency situation. Even after they hit 21 they need allot of practice time and ideally some type or course before they're let loose.

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David Brooks,
Lieutenant, NRFR
Newmarket Fire & Rescue
Newmarket, New Hampshire
www.NewmarketNH.com/fire (http://www.NewmarketNH.com/fire)
(All opinions are my own)

[SRVFD2]

I'm glad our dept. didn't have to make the decision - the insurance does that for us - 21!!

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God is our Fire Chief;
Jesus is our Incident Commander.

[bigredtruckdriver]

Thankfully, our insurance provider also specifies 21. Years ago the ins. co. only required 18 years but, at the request from " a few little birds" they changed to 21. Fire equipment was not the problem... a few kids that ran EMS. I am a primary driver with my company and driving a tractor/trailer is also part of my "other job". I feel strongly that if professional truck drivers must have special licenses, everyone that drives a CDL weight truck should comply. People that have never driven anything larger than a pickup truck or a U-Haul should not be driving a 30,000 plus # truck at high speeds at 3AM. I understand the idea was to not discourage or run off any volunteers, but, how many
accidents are results of too much experience?

[tlfd600]

This is a topic that has bugged me since I became a Volunteer. I turn 20 Saturday and why shouldn't I be able to drive a fire truck, insurance says 21, but they don't know me and my abilities. I have been in fire fighting and EMS since I turned 18 and this has been a struggle since I joined. I am a very confident and safe driver. I have been driveing ambulances all over the county and outside the county running Code 3 traffic for almost a year and have done it very safely, I have driven the fire trucks a few times in emergencys and did fine other than the fact that I am not very good at driveing a stick shift. I have more emergency driveing under my belt than most of the people in my department, why should I have to sit on my rear at the station because I am a year shy of 21, will I have a magical transformation at 21 that will make me more mature. When I do drive the fire trucks I do it with great caution and rarely exced the speed limit if I even do it at all, I think the fastest I have gone in a fire truck is about 5 miles over the speed limit and I did that too a working structure fire, should the insurance company put peoples lives at risk because I can't roll a truck with officer aproval even though I am more than able, my first priority is the safety of me and my fire fighters safety a distant second is trying to cut a few seconds off the responce time by acting dumb. You need to judge the person not the age!!!!!!!!!

[RJE]

For all you "under 21 - wish they'd let me drive" out there.

I drive a bus for a church inner-city outreach. Guess what. You can get the CDL at 21 (not at 18 by state law) that's the same one you'd need to drive a fire apparatus (if they weren't exempt). BUT - the liability insurance is 8 times higher if 10% of our drivers are under 25 (Yes - I said Twenty FIVE!). It's 3 times higher if just ONE driver is under 25.

If your dept. ran their budget like my church runs it's bus ministry - you'd be waiting 4 more years. And probably they would, unless they really need drivers. Then they "suck it up" and pay the price.

On another note: I drove a truck (18-wheeler) for several years, and a bus for several more. The fact that your rig weighs 30,000 or 40,000 lbs. means a whole lot more than the fact that it has lights and a siren.

Or if you really want to have fun - how about a MACK/CF 3000 gal tanker - w/a 450hp Cat and a RoadRanger Super 15. If you don't know what it is, I don't want you anywhere near one! 14 shifts (all double-clutched) in 45 seconds and you're doing 85mph - but plan ahead - it takes 1/2 a MILE to stop. And you need to use the tranny for that, too, or you'll burn the brakes up.

Be thankful for what you've got, and be patient. There's a whole world out there that you haven't even seen, yet.