Field training officers Most firefighters and officers fully understand the need for more and improved training. Numerous times in my 20-year career, I’ve witnessed the same scenario: Here comes a probie, fresh out of the academy with 500-plus hours of fire school, who thinks he knows everything about the fire service. Sure, some departments have a death camp, or three weeks of their SOP training, but after that probies are handed new bunker gear and put on a shift. The fire service needs to use its “salty” firefighters to ensure a probie’s safe transition to firefighter. Most chiefs and city commissioners think that just because a firefighter has a certificate he is “good to go.” I don’t think so. Although most departments have some type of informal procedure in place, the procedure must be standardized before any more firefighters get hurt. One idea is to create a new position at…
