July 20--HAMDEN -- The first week on the job anywhere can be stressful.
Adjusting to a new situation, a new group of coworkers, a new set of responsibilities -- it can be tough. Imagine spending 24 hours straight in that new setting.
Well, that's par for the course for a new firefighter. Despite the hard work, it's not as tough as it sounds.
Casey Blake, a new firefighter, just finished his first week on the job. He said in his first shift, he went on 17 calls.
The truck was going all day, responding to a car fire, two cardiac arrests, and to a handful of fire alarms, it was a trial by fire.
But, he said, it was with a capable crew at Fire House 2 on Circular Avenue.
That first day, and for the coming weeks, Blake, a paramedic, said it's his duty to win the trust of that crew. Blake said, in a statement echoed by the rest of the crew over lunch, without trust, it's impossible to operate effectively.
The only way to win that trust is by going out on calls.
But it's also a natural bi-product of the way firefighters operate. They work together, they eat together, and they bunk together. That sort of camaraderie that may take weeks of socializing in a normal office setting happens more quickly when you live with your co-workers.
Blake said adjusting to his new crew won't be so tough as it might be for others, considering he worked as a firefighter in East Haven for two years before making the move. It also helps that Blake's brother, Scott, has been a Hamden firefighter since 2005.
In fact, it was the camaraderie he saw among Hamden firefighters through his brother's ties with the force that made Blake want to become a firefighter in the first place.
Blake said after college, he decided to become an EMT, during which time he put himself through paramedic school. From day one, Blake said his plan was to end up a firefighter like his brother.
And now, a paramedic and a firefighter, it all pays off when he's on call.
"When someone goes into cardiac arrest and you're able to use CPR and defibrillate them in time, and actual bring back a pulse, and not only that, but bring them back to consciousness, that's a really good feeling," Blake said.
Copyright 2013 - New Haven Register, Conn.
