the duties of junior members in your station

[Mike18fire]

Im a junior member of my fire house and our job is basically cleanup, give aid where needed, and mostly to learn. I was just wondering if this was basically the same everywhere?

[RJE]

Yep. You are there to learn. Secondarily, you are there to become a member of the team, which means earning the sr. members trust, which is best done by being there, and being helpful.

That means - if you miss the truck, you hang around, help them pack hose (and learn how to load triples), wash the truck (prove that you aren't "too good" to do the dirty jobs) and listen to the BS session (oops, I mean post-op critique) (and absorb all you can about what it was like, and how to handle it.

And if you make the truck, same thing, help pull hose (and learn how to do it right), catch hydrant (and learn how), maybe do outside horiz. vent (and learn how), and in the end, help pack hose....

If you do it right, you can be like "Whizzo". He was a Jr. w/me in 1978-80. In '84 he was hired by a paid dept. In '85 he was made Capt. at the vollie dept. In '87 he made Lt. at the paid dept. In '90 he was made Deputy at the vollie dept. In '94 he made Capt.... well, you see where this is going.

Things that Jrs. were NEVER allowed to do - Go inside any environment that required an SCBA (although they did do "smoke tower" training - w/non-toxic smoke), drive an apparatus (even the 1-ton Rescue Squad), run heavy extrication equipment, power saws, etc. Basically, if it was excessively dangerous - you didn't do it.

[dvfd48r6]

We allow explorers to ride on the trucks if a regular member is not present. At the scene they can assist the pump operator, change packs ect... We try to use them as much as possible to keep them in, they are the departments future after all.

[Lurch185]

That's right. Juniors are there to mostly learn. Mainly you'll get to rack hose and once in a while pull a ground latter, but none the less its fun just being there well at least for me it is. When you achieve level 1 (FF1), you'll end up with alot more responsibilities, and finally ending up going into the structure. If any advice should be given to you its that whenever you get a chance at a learning experience of any sort weather it be ems or fire wise take it and take it to its fullest extent.

[Smoke286]

Are you talking about a paid Dept Mike ,or volunteer, coz I can assure you, new guys in our job dont get to stand by and learn, its in at the deep end. Most paid depts dont have the man power for what your talking about, and as far as clean up etc, everybody does their turn. same as kitchen duties

[NFDLT55]

Here our Cadets have their own fire station which they have access to 24/7. They must maintain the apparatus housed in the station, as well as the station and stations grounds. Cadets can respond to just about all calls except MVA's and HazMat. But once they are on scene they are a big help.
As a Jr. you should remember that you arent quite a firefighter yet, and thats just because your not old enough, and that sometimes means that you going to get passed up for jobs your allowed to do because a ff is a sr. member. But you will soon have your day. Just stick with flaking out hose, repacking and changing bottles. Sooner or later the guys in your company will realize that you are a hard worker and are capable of some more important tasks. Just keep at it, Jr;s are a great bunch of people and do a great job. Just work hard and keep at it, and you'll make a great firefighter. And, you have a great advantage over many people who are going to apply for a position in a department.