The thing that keeps me getting up at 3 a.m. to make “one more call” is the opportunity to improve my skills and to work with new firefighters learning the trade.

As a Reserve Firefighter (read volunteer) I have the opportunity to work with recruits while they are training to become paid firefighters. Many of them come with Academy and/or Explorer experience and a few like me begin as new firefighters late in life. I have been at this for 10 years so I still have some things to learn, but I learn them best when challenged to provide training, advice and some story telling to truly attentive and eager probies and peers.

This is a long lead up to say that the most memorable and satisfying part of being a firefighter is giving recommendations for background checks, providing references and attending Fire Academy Graduations for recruits being hired by fire departments all over California and out of state. My contribution to each recruit is only a small piece of their total training but if one suggestion or one stern safety warning sticks and makes them a safer, better firefighter, I have done my job.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 6:56 pm and is filed under The Inside Scoop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.