Jr. fighters

[whacker41]

What are the regulations for junior?

Ours are:
No blue light.
Not allowed any where one the fireground/incident without a officer.
Have to gain permission to enter the truck.

Please give some feed back.

[Adze39]

Most of our regulations for Juniors are governed by State Law and OSHA. Other than that, there are only a few different rules such as having to be out of the firehouse by a certain time, and not riding on a airpacked seat (because Juniors can't wear airpacks thanks to OSHA) because it would be a waste of a seat.

[BFD196]

We can`t go into a burning building, that`s our biggest limitation. If we followed every rule OSHA set, we wouldn`t be able to run a FD at all, heck, OSHA`s office building wouldn`t pass one of their inspections.

We can ride on the truck, and do most everything else.

[ 09-03-2001: Message edited by: BFD45 ]

[chiefjay4]

BFD....You shouldn't be allowed to do much. The fire ground is no place for children, at least in my opinion. I wouldn't want my son or daughter exposed to some of the things I have been. As a chief, I have enough on my mind with the call, and can't worry about what the "JR" is doing. This is not to say that these types of programs are a waste, I have scene many very good firefighters come up from Jrs to be officers; ect. I feel that Jr FF should be limited to training in the house.

[FGFD43]

E-mail me and I will send you copies of our Jr. By-Laws and SOGs, but, generally, our Juniors are used in a support role only with safety being the main concern, fire departments must understand that unlike Sr. firefighters that are of a legal age, we also have to act in a parental role when dealing with our future members.

[Firefighter513]

We are volunteer. Are juniors have to do at least 6 hour ride time, they get shifts, are alowed to use SCBA's at the burn house, get there own bunker gear...ect.

[BFD196]

Originally posted by chiefjay4:
BFD....You shouldn't be allowed to do much. The fire ground is no place for children, at least in my opinion. I wouldn't want my son or daughter exposed to some of the things I have been. As a chief, I have enough on my mind with the call, and can't worry about what the "JR" is doing. This is not to say that these types of programs are a waste, I have scene many very good firefighters come up from Jrs to be officers; ect. I feel that Jr FF should be limited to training in the house.

My Dad happens to be the Chief at our department, we are trained to the same standard as any other firefighter, so that he doesn`t have to worry about us on the scene.

If I`m told to set up the truck, I can do it faster then some of the other guys, I can be the guy changing bottles, pulling hose, opening a hydrant, raising a ladder, setting up the rescue, setting up the hurst tool, grabbing jump bags, doing traffic, putting down tarps, the list goes on...if I don`t think I can do it, I say so immediatly, and get help, or have someone else do it. We are initially trained at drills, when we`re hanging around after school, and after we`ve finished homework. I can tell you first hand, you learn so much better, when your at the scene rather then doing it over and over at the firehouse.

[ 09-10-2001: Message edited by: BFD45 ]

[Bleeblee2004]

At Forest Grove F&R they started a program with the high school to where they have a firefighting class and you act like a volunteer in your in it. And you go to the station after school and go on calls with them and everything and get training. So when they are there they have instead of 3-4 guys on at the time they can have 5, 6 or 7 guys.

[Bleeblee2004]

I also forgot to say that they have to be Juniors and Seniors, and one of the two mains kids that do it is the fire chiefs son so he knows his way around the station and the FF's kids are always theres i think kids should be aloud to be there.

[cuteff007]

BFD ... Which Stamford FD are you on? I live in the same area, but wilton ... we don't have juniors there, but I was just wondering ...

I don't totally disagree w/ JR. FF's though .. we've used them for some things @ our burns and they have been a great help. Mostly doing outdoor work and over haul and other things. Our dept. doesn't happen to have them but if we did I wouldn't have a problem w/ it. I mean hey .. they are getting some early training so that when they do join up .. they know that much more. Besides I'd probably trust some of them more than a few of the guys we have ...

[BFD196]

Belltown.

Well since I posted that before, we had a fire. Here`s what I did in case anyone`s wondering. I went on the second due engine, but we all pulled up at the same time. I helped pull the line, while the other guys got the hydrant set, etc. I opened it and, and we were all set.

Then me and another probie got fans ready, set them up, rolled some hose, broke down the fans, did some other general overhaul, and then helped repack the beds when we got back to the firehouse. That was back on the 11th actually. It was very small, but I learned a lot.

[ 09-20-2001: Message edited by: BFD45 ]

[rfcmitch]

Well at my department is how it is set up is very easy and simple. Volunteer departments have Safety Officers, ah yes the Safety Officer, useful guy, but anyways, we can ride any truck we want to, pumper, rescue, arial, tanker, whichever the JUNIOR chooses. However, when we pull up on scene, the juniors must goto the heavy resuce, and stay there. Then the safety officer, who is the one which drives that truck 100% of the time decided what happens. He tells them where to go, and whaat to do. This way the chief does not have to worry about them, they have enough on their minds. They can really do anything they would like as long as the stay within behavioral codes and stuff like that. If something the safety officer assigns does not get done, that junior is repremanded by normalyy suspension for a week or however the chief see fit. This way they learn discipline, and respect for structure of the fire department (chiefs, captains blah blah blah...). Mostly they do bottle changes and use the Cascade system. They can do anything really but cannot go into a burning house no matter the circumstances, even at a controlled burn. However to not discourage them we smoke the house up first for a bit and let them go in and find dummies and fireman which are supposedly down. Then we burn it and the real interior guys go in.
But I think that juniors make for better fireman in the future. And by not having a junior department you are losing out. Cause now days you have to catch them young to keep em around, and by not letting them to calls, your not keeping them around. We started off with 2 juniors, and now are upto 12 because their friends join and then their friends join and etc. We let them have gear too, give them some responsibility.

[keeleyw]

We've got three classes of members:

Level I Firefighter - over 18, live in district.
These guys can do everything.


Reserve Firefighter - over 18, live out of district.
This classification was set up mainly for the college students in the next town over (I'm one of them). We do everything the Level I's do, except we respond to the station when we catch a run. If the fire chief thinks we can be helpful on the scene, he waves us in. Otherwise, we man the station while the rest of the guys are out. This arrangement allows the chief some control over where us relatively new guys go, while allowing us to get some real experience.


Junior - between 16 and 18, live in or out of district.
Juniors can train with us, but don't get pagers and don't respond to runs at all. Once they turn 18, they can apply for Level I or Reserve membership.

Hope this helps ...

[Tadd M. DeLuca]

I'm not a very big fan of the junior FF. I belong to two departments. One is my hometown company and the second is where I'm a live-in for college. My hometown protects about 9,000 people in a 3 square mile district. We have no juniors there. I wasn't able to apply for membership till I was 18. I agree with this; to an extent. Reason being is that I've seen juniors in action that belong to surrounding departments. 95% of the time they're freelancing around the fireground, not doing what they're supposed to do. I can't blame them, though. It's their department's fault for not implementing some sort of discipline on the fireground. If you're going to take the responsibility of having juniors, do it right. Countless times I've tripped over juniors or have had them come to my RIT tarp and try to take tools because one of their line officers ordered them to retrieve something and they don't know where it's at on their own pieces, so they try and grab the first thing they see. I believe my company should have juniors, but their envolvement in fireground operations is not an option. They can come for training and what not at the station, but are not allowed on the fire ground or any calls for that matter untill they reach the age of 18 AND have completed the Essentials of FireFighting state course. I'm very big on state course training. I'm majoring in Fire Science in school, and I'm also on a strucural burn crew and an intern with local county fire instructors. I'm a huge advocate of quality over quantity. Nonetheless, junior firefighers can serve a purpuose, and that is developing the future of our fire departments, which I think is the reason why most or all departments have them, but not implementing discipline to them or making them earn the right to be on a fireground or even ride an apparatus isn't helping them in becoming quality firefighers or your department at all.

[BFD196]

Any department that has juniors taking tools from a RIT tarp, needs to seriously re-think having juniors at all.