Juniors, tell me your jobs

[mdoddsjffhnfc]

Different companies have different rules and duties for their junior firefighters. What kind of stuff do you other juniors do?

In my company, the juniors make most of the calls. We can ride first engine out, pull hose and get equipment, gear up, and handle the hydrant etc... We can also operate the radio if we have to. The only way this happens in my company is that their are 5 juniors and 12 Certified guys, a total of 17 members. So we are very important and take on more responsibility.

[Co11FireGal]

Our juniors (so far, I'm the only one) can go on calls after completeing Firemanship I. We can not respond on any department apparatus to an emergency, we have to respond in a PV or with another member. We may ride apparatus for parades, to training, and for special events. As for our duties on the fireground, our SOGs say, "Junior firefighters may, under the direct supervision of another fire department member, assist in performing traffic control, mop up operations, assisting in communications, search operations and logistical support." It kinda sucks that we don't get to do a whole lot, but it's state law. That's the way it is.

[TN1318]

our department allows us to respond to any call as long as it is not from school, or after 10 on a school night. we gear up, ride the heavy rescue, or 2nd due engine if the rescue has already hit the street. we generally set out equipment, manage and change scba bottles, run portable lights and our light tower, assist in hose packing and clean-up operations, basically anything we're told to do as long as we do not enter the inner perimeter or "hot zone." I am not 100% sure, but i think we can operate the deck gun, since i have been asked to do that multiple times at drill. On the lighter side, it has also been the job of a junior to be the brunt of all jokes, and first to blame for anything broken lol. our department currently has 4 juniors and about 20 or so seniors.

[FI21RE]

we go to calls and doing everything but go inside.

[Tw93Andrew93]

FI21RE basically sumed it up.

[JRCHIEF22EXPORT]

The Juniors at my department are probably some of the most dedicated. We are constantly drilling to improve our knowledge and to get better at things so that we can be a huge help at a fire scene. We're allowed to ride any piece of apparatus, but if a junior is on the truck, and the truck is full and another Senior member comes to the station, the Junior must give up their seat on the truck to let the senior member get on the truck. That's never happened to me though. Usually I make first engine out due to the fact of me getting to the firehall first almost all the time. When I'm on the engine, I'm usually told to grab a portable and be ready to hit a hydrant if needed. I also always let our maskmen know how much air pressure they have in their air bottle before they leave the truck, cause they can't tell by themselves due to us having jumpseats on our truck, they never see the back of the bottle with the pressure gauge. Once on scene, I can pretty much do anything but go inside a burning building. I can grab preconnect off the truck and do an outside attack on the fire, or use the deck gun on our engine. I've also helped maskmen change bottles and ran to get empty bottles refilled with air while on scene. If a hazardous situation exsists such as a chemical fire, I'm allowed to mask up and have an air tank on, but I'm still not allowed to go into a burning building. The mask would just be to protect me from the harmful chemicals in the air. That's only happened once at our department before. But pretty much, I and the rest of the juniors at our department can do anything but enter a burning structure, or ventilate on top of a burning structure. We still do mask drills inside of an empty upstairs building we have at our firehall. The Chief will make simulations and have a smoke machine going and he'll put obstacles such as tables and pretty much anything that we might have to axe our way through, etc, just to make it realistic. We do drills like climbing ladders onto roofs and setting up a roof ladder as if we were going to ventilate. We will be pretty much ready to maskup for calls the day we turn 18.

-Justin
Jr. Chief - 22
http://exportvfd.tripod.com

[Explorerchic200]

In my post we are allowed to ride along so long as the paid/volunteers get priority. However we have a probationary period of about five months for new members. We cannot fight the beast or start IV's or administer meds but if we are trained we can do everything else.

[jaddie]

Hey jr. jakes....Just a little piece of advice from a recruit/explorer instructor to all you guys...When it comes time to go into the heat you will know...Be patient, all good things come, remember before we went in we all had to go thru training , to learn the behavior of fire , what it can and will do, how it will travel etc..etc..What you guys see on the outside and in movies and training tapes are totaly different from what its like on the inside, when u can only see an inch from your face, its 1000 degree's, lightbulbs popping all around, linolem floors bubbling under you and all the other good stuff. Trust me, when we all go in , we ARE AFRAID, and any jake you guys meet who says they arent, SHOULD NOT be doing the job....So hang in there...when your instructors feel you have had enough training and are capable to handle the real stuff ( yes even live training fires are different because there mostly minus all household furnishings) you will be brought in and told..LETS GO !!...ANd what you guys do for us regular firefighters is GREATLY APPRICIATED no matter how minor or major the task...It gives us a hand and also tains you guys at the same time ( ie: packing hose, changing bottles and whatever else)...SO as i said..hang in there..your day will come..BE safe

*** Rest in peace: Tommy,Timmy,Jay,Joe,Paul and Jerry 12/3/99*****
T-1, E-3 and R-1

[KewrCoa]

With a letter from our parents we can respond at anytime of day or night...except while we're in class...and we can respond on the trucks... On the scene we can do everything except go inside a structure.

[sfdjrnj]

in my dept we can ride first or second truck out. it depends on the manpower and what the officer in charge tells us to do. sometimes we work the radio. we do our own radio dispatch when there is a call.if we are on the truck we can hook up to the hydrant or stand pipes. we get fans or switch out scott packs. pull hose, and help pack up at the end of the call. things like.

[upinflames60]

Im the only junior right now, i can go to all the calls, anytime of night, Do everything but go in a burning structure untill i get firefighter 1, then i can do everything but drive the truck, that comes next year.

[Truck2ladder4]

In vermont we are allowed to ride apperatus if we can get to the station. My dad is the 2nd chief so i have no problem. They give us a pager and so on but once on seen we may not:-enter a building- get out of the truck on the interstate-and were also not allowed to operate the pump. We also have to give are seat up a regular ff comes along and there aren't any more on the truck. We can do 10-50 cleanup, hydrant, hose relay and so on. Its not a bad system...many enjoy it.

[Hartse]

Becuse my Dept. is a rag tag bunch of under trained people(myself included) i can say that I at age 17 do everything that some one 34 does, intial attack, mop-up, pumps, long distance mutial aid calls, however the only thing that i can't do is drive a truck.

[ndvfdff33]

intial attack

Please tell me by this you dont mean Interior Attack...If so your dept has some major issues man


On That Note...Nice to see you talking about your dept in a nice fashion..Even if the are a bunch of untrained people you still have no reason to talk down on them...Way To Be Sport

[hsvfdsta4]

Im not a junior now but I was just under a year ago. They can run all calls. They are allowed to run on and have PT contact on EMS calls, which I strongly disagree with. They respond to and perform non hazardous operations on any fire, IE. rehab, water supply etc..

[Hartse]

Please tell me by this you dont mean Interior Attack...If so your dept has some major issues man


On That Note...Nice to see you talking about your dept in a nice fashion..Even if the are a bunch of untrained people you still have no reason to talk down on them...Way To Be Sport

Don't get my wrong i didn't mean it like that, all i meant to say we are all undertrained. And by everything i do mean Interior.

[KEEPBACK200FEET]

Wow, I can only imagine the can of worms this is about to open. IBTL?

[Hartse]

Wow, I can only imagine the can of worms this is about to open. IBTL?

Whys that? The FD knows that no matter what happens they are not resposible i have a stack of realse waivers about a half of a inch thick that have all of my signtures on it....and belive me i wouldn't do it if i didn't have to....super super small town. At best we have 2 brush trucks filled with 2 man crews. That is all we have the man power for, and we have over 10 rigs to fill. The thing that is even scarier (and i say this with no eggo)is that i probly one of the most knowlegable people in our dept. as far as our trucks go. 99.9% of our calls are wildland fires, or on special occasion we have a oilfeild related fire. There are only a handful of structural fires that i have to take part in.

[KEEPBACK200FEET]

Leggo my eggo.

[Hartse]

Leggo my eggo.

lol Ego need to learn how to type.