What are We Doing to our Future Firefighters?

A lot of older firefighters like to talk about ‘the way it used to be.’  But, does that mean that it’s the way it should be?

If you’ve ever spent any time in a firehouse you’ll inevitably hear a sentence that starts with “Back when I started…” quickly followed by a story about how things then were better, more efficient or easier to understand.

While that line of thinking is sometimes correct it goes without saying that this might not always be the case.

I’m not here to debate tactics or technical details of the fire service, I leave that to the officers.  But, what I do think firehouses should begin to reconsider is how we treat the future of the fire service.

You see, I started FirefighterNOW as a place where future and aspiring firefighters could have access to the best resources to understand what the fire service is about, learn what is necessary to be a firefighter and most importantly how to navigate the long hiring process.

It began with the intent of being a place where someone with absolutely no knowledge of the fire service can come learn and not be told they’re stupid or ‘maybe if you’re lucky someday you will be a firefighter.’

Since it’s beginning I’ve had the opportunity to speak and interact with hundreds of candidates, many of whom have since been hired by full-time departments.  One trend I’ve noticed is that many of them have experienced several less than pleasant station visits or ride times with their local department.

In fact, I know exactly where they’re coming from, as when I was in EMT school I did ride time at a local department where even if you doubled my current salary today, I would never take a job there.

We all know that one person in our department who is horrible towards students or visitors, and I’m wondering where they feel they get the right to treat the future of the fire service in that way?

Now I’m not saying we need to fall all over ourselves just to make that individual feel welcome.  But as someone who has worked with hundreds of candidates, and counting maybe we should rethink the way we treat our future firefighters.

You’d be hard pressed to meet a firefighter who claimed not to care about the fire service and the culture it has worked so hard to build and maintain.  But my question would be how much do you really care if we’re letting ‘that guy’ possibly push away some of our best candidates?Maybe instead of letting the one obnoxious guy on our shift treat someone like garbage, we should step in and stop it?

Unfortunately, I know some will read this and accuse younger generations of being ‘soft’ or ‘entitled’ and while I may not entirely disagree.  I’ve always found it prudent to take a look at our own behavior before we begin to judge someone else.