ladder requirements

[mook13]

what requirements does you department have you get to drive the ladder? We just bought a 105ft ladder. It does have a 500 gallon tank with a 2000gpm pump on it. On our engines you have to be in the department for two years , have a hydraulics class, pump operators class and be Florida state DE certification. I fought hard just for those qualifications, a couple years ago anyone could drive the engines with no qualifications. Heck, 90% of our guys don't even know how to run the new automatic governor pumps or anything about hydraulics.
Anyway, since we don't have DE positions, just requirements. I'm trying to see what everyone else has for their ladders and how do you think it dffers from an engine qualification? I know and understand the truck company job and how it is more tactical in positioning.

[grains]

For our state (Oregon) you only need a basic driver's license. They do not have a seperate licensing requirement for driving emergency vehicles or apparatus.

In our department new employees generally cannot drive any city vehicle until their eighth month (could be 1-2 months after that - not 100% sure).

We have a driver's position (Apparatus Operator, Engineer) that fire fighters can promote into. A fire fighter may also move up to driver on a shift by shift basis if needed, but only after completing an extensive work book to prepare themselves for that position.

For our ladder trucks, only personnel assigned to the ladder company are allowed to be ladder drivers/operators. The same is true for ladder officers. Once you are no longer assigned to a ladder company (i.e. transfered to another station) you are no longer considered ladder qualified.

Clear skies.

[Dave1983]

We run a quint, so engine certification comes first, which is the same as the truck cert minus the aerial class.

One year on the job, DL with emergency endorsement, EVOC, state pump class and aerial class, 20 hours road time followed by a written and practical exam.

[mook13]

looks like they are going with 4 yrs on the job and DE certification. plus a EVOC class for truck companies and we are having a class put on this week for Truck company fire ground tactics

[cubby1]

We are required to do ten hours of driving and operating of the truck (you must also already be certified to drive the engine from your house). You must then do some rollups and scenarios with the Ladder LT. Also there are many classes such as Aerial Ladder Ops etc that you are encouraged to take. The IFSTA Aerial Operator's Handbook and DVD that comes with it are also very helpful. We work a lot with tabletops as well as actual roll ups to deal with truck placement. We always try to go for a corner that will give us at least two places to set the stick to (egress points as well as roof access)

[Bones42]

Very similar to Dave1983. Annual "recert" of skills as well.