CFI609D

Don't be afraid to ask how to do something. It's far better to be a good learner than a know it all. Mistakes are to be learned from, not covered up.

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

Of utmost importance for a rookie to remember is to remember.
...to remember everything he is taught and to remember it for a lifetime and to be able to bring it out of the archives of his brain at any given moment

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

To hire "Competent" Individuals who actually care about the Job!

No Funerals!

Perhaps David Lee Roth can be here partner...

Another year where we all go home safely at the end of the day.

Proper staffing for every response in every community

Political correctness and not qualifications!

Von Essen never held rank beyond Firefighter. He was the UFA President when appointed Commissioner by Giuliani. And several commissioners had zero fire service experience prior to their appointment (including Nicholas Scoppetta and Howard Safir). That said, IMHO the appointment of Berkman would be a poor choice and a negative signal for FDNY.

Isn't the purpose of a covering assignment to take calls that are anticipated? If you're expecting nothing to happen why not question the overall purpose of the assignment (stand by in quarters) ? I know that when we put our personnel into another departments incident we assign a chief officer, this includes covers thereby ensuring a chief is immediately available should a significant incident come in. While most line officers are very used to (and capable) being the first in IC, when you take them outside their own coverage area you introduce many other potential issues (unfamiliar street, hydrant spacing,non-common LE and EMS freqs and policies, etc.), a chief officer as a liaison if nothing else can smooth these and ensure the line companies can just do their job.

Policies? Wow, if only more departments actually wrote those pesky things. I figured there was a policy to send someone with mutual aid and knew it wasn't "self-dispatching". Calling it self-dispatching was a very poor choice of words. Unless there is a policy or discussion with the requesting agency, sending more or less than is asked for undermines the entire operation. Time that nonsense stopped!
If people actually stopped commenting when someone answered the question properly on this site, there'd be half as many posts. But hey, we know what a department in Maryland does and what someone in Stamford thinks. Why listen to the YFD guy?

A well known/respected member of YFD posted here what they dispatch and what policy is and additional posters AFTER that post, write "I think" this is how YFD operates. right or wrong, its not needed.
Can we try to read the post 1st, before posting. Thank you.

100% true, though we wish it was false
The LDC is sent on "multiple calls" or receipts of a "working fire". LDC will act as Command, freeing up the BC to act as Ops. Most run of the mill house fires, BC will stay in Command, LDC will check it out, and return to quarters. LDC organizes all station staffing.
EDC Curran (in the photo) is C2. Any 2nd Alarm or greater, C1, C2...on down, is notified to respond. They most often serve as liason's.
That's a pic of Midi 6 and Midi 7 hanging out at the PSTF. They were originally Midi 4 and Midi 8. Once those Quint co.'s closed, thy were re-assigned to the busy and last Q/M's to close > M6 (North Clinton) and M7 (North Goodman). There was brief talk of stripping the Midi's completely, and replacing with 5 inch hose for large water supply. Obviously, it didn't happen. M6 and M7 remain at the academy for training purposes only.
Also, Rochester is a far cry from Detroit. In fact, a fairly financially stable city. City council posed possible FF cuts, for no reason at all really. They continue to dump money into the epically failing school system, in which their answer is to dump as much money as possible into it, maybe it will get better.

Your statements are on base. TL -17 sat outside in the elements for approx. 2 years and they scratch there heads why it needed such major expensive repairs. As for firehouse repairs most likely the biggest government disaster ever to occur.

While this looks like a good way to determine what is spent, it is very deceiving. What is in each budget may not include many items.
As an example when doing a comprehensive budget comparison of 2 depts. a few years ago:
Dept. X had 30 career members and a budget of $16m
Dept. Y had 50 career members and a budget of $12.8m
Now both pay similar salaries, so in theory Dept. Y's budget should have been about $29-30m.
So how is this possible? Dept. Y's budget did not include the following:
Pension ( Paid from the HR Budget)
Health Insurance & other insurance and medical costs (Paid from the HR Budget)
Fuel, Fleet maintenance, Station maintenance, Utilities (Paid from Public Works Budget)
Hydrant Rental/Cost (Water Dept.)
Fleet Replacement (Capital Budget)
Computers & phones (IT Budget)
Contract Fees (legal Dept.)
Grants (Development Budget)
Without understanding the budget its a meaningless number.

Not to start a fight, I train as many vol ff's as I do career, BUT these statements by you fellows are why the career side pushes so hard for equality in training, to call yourself a firefighter, officer or chief. Look whats happening, A officer wants to change things for the better, and he is voted out. The fire service is in a lot of trouble, it is time to wake up.

Irvington E-178 is a 1993 Pierce

Irvington E-178 is a 1993 Pierce

If you are going to train, you have to train on what you have as a FD. If your first due is two guys in a pickup truck, that's what your scenario has to start with.
Try using a control man to send in resources in the time frame that they should appear on-scene. In other words, start with the two in the pickup truck. If the next due is a mile behind an engine with four, start them in the evolution about a minute later. You have to make it as realistic as possible using the resources available. It's OK to use Phantom resources but you have to limit them to resources you actually have available to you.
You can do things like "simulate a mutual aid Truck on scene and is venting the roof" then open the training building's roof hatch. But you cant call for an air drop if the closest aircraft is 500 miles away.
Try it. Your people will get a more realistic training session and might actually like it. What's more, when they get to a fire, they know what they have available

I agree Syd and Andy, but with the inclusion of Firefighter II also.The bottom line is that FF I is not adequate on its own for combat-ready interior firefighters. There should be no difference in training for career and volunteer, nor requirements to operate as interior or on a FAST unit. FF I, FF II, Survival, and FAST should all be minimum requirements here as they are in other jurisdictions.