![]() In the state of Florida, aspiring firefighters must take the state's Firefighter Minimum Standards Course in preparation for certification. Applicants for certification must also be able to pass a criminal background check. Aspiring firefighters must be at least 18 years old, must possess a valid State of Florida driver's license, current CPR/ACLS certification, and able to pass a physical examination designed to test their suitability for working in this physically demanding fields.įire departments within the individual Florida communities set their own education standards, but a high school diploma or GED is the typical minimum requirement. When the bell goes off and you’re asked to go do your job, you need to be ready, because someone’s life does depend on it.Firefighters in the State of Florida must be able to meet all of the general requirements for certification. “One of the things we try to impress upon them as they graduate is ‘your training’s not done.’ You may be able to wear the firefighter badge, but you need to continue to train and prepare, because you never know what … situation you’re going to be responding to. “We produce a lot of graduates every year for the entire DOD,” Welling said. He said a combination of advance courses, on-the-job training and experience in the field will be key to their successful future as firefighters. They’ll be able to fall back on their training, and use that framework to push them over that hump.”īut Trueman made clear that this technical training is really only the beginning. “The folks we send out there aren’t going to falter the first time they see a real world incident. “Now I’m influencing the future of our career field and I really get to shape it by sending out quality (DOD firefighters),” he added. He added that the aspect of his job he values the most is the difference he can make through each new student he teaches. Trueman believes that despite the long hours, stress of learning new things and separation from family and friends, his students end up with a set of skills and values they will carry with them throughout their careers. But then going to the dorm and being able to sit at a computer to Skype with my family – just seeing them and knowing how proud I’m making them, it gives me the motivation to get up that next morning and give my all.” “After a hard day of training … my first thought is, ‘Oh, I have to wake up at 3:30 tomorrow morning and start it all over again. “My wife and daughter, they are the reason I’m here,” he added. But with a bit of technology and a dose of imagination and patience, he says he will be able to see it through. “Having my friends in class, (when) I’m having a bad day … they know how to cheer me up to keep me going.Įven with his classmates’ support, Brum says life without his family can be stressful. “If you’re serious all the time you’re just going to go crazy, so we like to have fun with each other, lighten the mood,” Brum said. His teammates, however, were able to make the separation more bearable. Though he could Skype them or call, the separation sometimes tested his resolve. Though it is a strenuous course, the most difficult part for Brums was being away from family for nearly six months during the combination of basic training and technical school. At the academy and faced with stressors ranging from academics to physical fitness requirements, the students learned to lean on each other. “All I hear is that when you’re at a base, at a fire station, it’s like a second family to you,” Brum said.Įven though he wasn’t actively working at a fire station yet, the young Airman had already found support through a team of fellow apprentice firefighters. ![]() In just about any type of training or military situation teamwork is critical, but Brum believes that his fellow classmates have gone beyond simply helping one another, they’ve become like family. Vernon Young Jr./Airman Onlineĭealing with the emotions and trauma firefighters experience individually can be overwhelming, so that’s why they learn to look to each other for support. I’d trained for it, I had the skills to handle it, but emotionally … it’s one of those things where I had to talk to my mentors to kind of get me over that hump, because it definitely affects you the next day.” “It was a young lady, and being a father myself, I put myself in her parent’s shoes, and you know it’s just something that I hadn’t experienced. “The most difficult response that I went on involved an individual who’d attempted suicide,” he said. Being a firefighter is anything but easy, and after serving 12 years in the career field, Trueman knows that while on call his students will be exposed to many traumatic situations that will test their ability to bounce back.
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