Firefighters, collectively, are proud individuals. They are proud that they graduated the rigorous academy, proud that they put their lives on the line and proud to be firefighters. Every Firefighter who graduates the academy has a story to tell. From his perspective, why he decided to join and how it makes him or her feel.

It is a unique perspective, and definitely worth reading. Fire Academies are difficult to graduate from, to say the least. They demand a lot from a person, physically and mentally. Listening to a graduate on how he made it through the difficult months of training and the drive that kept him going is fascinating.

READ MORE: http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2012/11/15/news/news04.txt

When nearly 100 new Chicago firefighters crossed the stage Thursday to shake Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand during their graduation, most of them did so after waiting — and fighting — for almost two decades to join the Chicago Fire Department.

About 6,000 African Americans were passed over because of the city’s discriminatory handling of a firefighters’ entrance exam in 1995. After years of lawsuits, a federal appeals court ordered the city last year to hire those who passed that exam — and they included 86 of Thursday’s 98 graduating firefighters, including at least two in their 50s.

The graduates also included Jerry Jones III, 40, who was working as a cement finisher when the legal fight finally ended. His father is a retired assistant commissioner.

“It was challenging at times, but everything happens for a reason. I just took it to mean this is my time and that time was probably not the best time for me to come on the job,” Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The 1995 test was intended to measure an aptitude for firefighting. Anyone who scored 64 or below was deemed not qualified. But officials told those who scored above that number that even though they passed, the department would only randomly hire the top 1,800 who scored 89 or better.

Because only 11 percent of the African Americans scored 89 or better, the overwhelming number of applicants hired from that test were white.

The attorney for the black firefighters, Joshua Karsh, said the test was discriminatory because there was no evidence that applicants who scored 89 or above would be better firefighters than those who scored 64.

READ MORE: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/af265b05bbdc429d91b6493401005d8e/IL–Chicago-Firefighters-Lawsuit

Almost all of the approximately 80 people in attendance are black – a turnout the department was hoping for.

“I want to make sure our department represents the communities we serve,” said Fire Chief Brian Cummings as he addressed the room at the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center.

This informational session is part of a minority recruitment effort by the LAFD to increase the diversity of their work force. They’re aiming to hire 350 new firefighters over the next two years, and hope an increasing number of those recruits will be black, Latino, Asian or female.

Of the 3,306 firefighters in the LAFD, more than 47 percent are white, 31 percent are Latino and about 11 percent are black. About 3 percent of the firefighters are female.

“Diversity in the fire service is a national issue that all departments throughout the nation are trying to improve and increase their diversity within the work force,” said Steve Hissong, an LAFD Battalion Chief who’s been with the department for 26 years.

Matt Jones, 35, came to Saturday’s seminar because he wants to be a firefighter, and because he’s aiming to be as prepared as possible for the written exam and the hiring process. Jones said he would have applied when he was 18, but life got in the way.

“Firefighters are paid good guys. They’re incentivized to stay in shape. They’re incentivized to do the right thing,” he said. “Unless you’re going to play for the Dodgers, I mean what else would you want to do?”

Read More: http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/10/27/34762/lafd-ramps-minority-recruitment-efforts-will-hire-/

Pick up a newspaper or watch the evening news in just about any town or city, and you’re bound to see and hear about the misdeeds of a firefighter, paramedic or other responder.

Angry and upset about how these actions are affecting the storied reputation of emergency services, a Code of Ethics has been created, and fire officials are hoping departments across the country adopt it.

The Code of Ethics document now graces the walls of classroom buildings at the National Fire Academy in Maryland.

In addition, the information is in all NFA student manuals and eventually, will be in all text books utilized at colleges and universities where accredited fire-related courses are taught.

NFA Superintendent Dr. Denis Onieal said he was pleased that following a lecture based on Jim Collins’ book ‘How The Mighty Fall,’ alumni of the Executive Fire Officers program stepped up to the plate to tackle the project.

http://www.firehouse.com/news/10814902/firefighters-encouraged-to-adopt-code-of-ethics

Nearly a year after one of the most destructive wildfires in history ripped through Central Texas, hundreds of firefighters — including several from the San Antonio area — converged on a military base near Bastrop to learn how to better fight such infernos.

Bexar County Emergency Manager Kyle Coleman, who visited Camp Swift on Friday for an annual service for fallen firefighters during the two-week-long wildfire academy, said the base reminds him of how well San Antonio’s first responders worked as a team during the fire season that changed Texas’ landscape.

The biggest fire consumed most of the historic 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park, killed two people and destroyed 1,696 homes.

“We were among the first state support agencies here, and we helped receive other crews as they arrived,” Coleman said. “In Bexar County, we fight brush and wildfires all year long, so we get a lot of practice.”

Even so, Coleman said, sending firefighters to the annual Capital Area Interagency Wildfire Academy, put on by the Texas A&M Forest Service, is imperative for wildfire fighters’ safety.

Among the classes taught at Camp Swift is a beginners course about wild-land firefighting and fire behavior.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Hundreds-of-firefighters-learn-to-tame-wildfires-3976084.php#ixzz2AF4k7FGH

Researchers at Natick’s U. S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine have teamed up with the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow, Mass., in an effort to reduce injuries in recruits. 

The Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, or MFA, contacted USARIEM’s Military Performance Division and asked researchers to evaluate their physical training program for recruits after seeing a spike in training-related injuries.

Instructors for the 12-week program noticed that recruits were showing up not fully ready to handle the physical stress that comes with the academy. As a result, recruits were frequently lost to injury.

“We noticed a recurring pattern of injury with firefighting recruits and reached out to Natick Labs for their specialized expertise on Soldier performance,” said Edmund Walker, Mass. Firefighting Academy director. “Our hope was that they could assist us in evaluating the tasks of fighting fires to better prepare our recruits to be successful.” 

Dr. Barry Spiering, a research physiologist with USARIEM, attended three meetings with the MFA, including an orientation 60 days prior to the recruits reporting to their first day of the academy. He then returned at week 10 of the program to observe and assess recruits during a controlled burn. 

Spiering said that injuries, including rhabdomyolysis, frequently occur in highly physically demanding occupations when people exert themselves before they are ready for the stress of that particular job.

Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of muscle fibers that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the bloodstream. This is harmful to the kidney and can often cause kidney damage.

http://www.army.mil/article/87813/Army_Research_helps_firefighter_recruits_reduce_injuries/

The Cincinnati Fire Department is bigger – as of today. Today is the first day of training for 39 new recruits. Local 12 News Reporter Larry Davis says they begin training today after passing the test three years ago. Among the recruits-a woman and her little brother. 

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory welcomed the 39 recruits to their first day of training. City budget constraints delayed the process for three years after all passed the firefighter exam. 

This was a day Derek and Damara Hunt had long been waiting for. They are brother and sister. Over the next several weeks, Derek and Damara will join fellow recruits in all aspects of firefighting. Derek has previous experience as a firefighter—Damara says she can learn from her younger brother. “I can definitely see him helping me with my notes,…..he’s done this a lot longer than I have.” 

And when it comes to training to be a firefighter–Derek’s advice to his big sister is to pay attention. “It’s all about learning, its you never stop learning, the biggest thing is to be quiet….and listen.” 

And during the training drills of the next several weeks, Derek says he will likely keep an eye out for Damara. “I definitely cant show any favoritism but I will look out for her.” 

The 39 firefighter recruits will spend the next 24 weeks training before being assigned to their fire houses.

SOURCE: http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Brother-Sister-Join-Cincinnati-Fire-Department/Rr8VYdRMTECSjaSX1B0kew.cspx

Everybody respects and admires the work firefighters do, but rarely do  we get a first-hand look at the lives of firefighters. Elected officials are the ones who basically are in control of the fire department’s budget, etc. Giving them a personal look at what firefighting really entails will make them understand better the selfless services firefighters offer each and every day. The “Mini Academy” hosted by the Marin Fire Department gave council members and other elected officials a rare glimpse into the what really goes into being a firefighter.

READ MORE: http://www.marinij.com/sanrafael/ci_21778725/firefighters-host-mini-fire-academy-marin-officials

If you’ve ever washed your car in the driveway and got smacked by an unruly garden hose, you know it’s not the most pleasant feeling.

Now imagine wearing 60 pounds of gear and toting a fully-pressurized 3-inch fire hose — weighing about 300 pounds per 100 feet — up a ladder to the roof of a 1½-story building to douse a fire.

“Takes teamwork,” said Brian Drerup, the Rockford Fire Department’s training coordinator.

He stood on top of the roof of a training structure Wednesday at the Station 6 training academy, 3329 W. State St., and watched 10 Rockford recruits and one recruit from the Byron Fire Department learn how to communicate with each other and work as a team.

The newly hired firefighters are in the midst of four months of basic training, which will end with graduation Dec. 19.

The training exercises focused on hose appliance, essentially any piece of hardware used to deliver water; and fire stream evolutions, or flowing an effective stream of water to the fire.

ws/x252895843/Fire-recruits-get-their-first-crack-at-working-together