Rookie Firefighter disappointed by first day on the job

Rick Cline had his first day as a full time paid firefighter over the weekend. After twenty-four hours working at the firehouse Cline expressed disappointment. He did not put out any fires, no lives were saved, but some toilets got cleaned.

The day started about how he expected with a tour of the house, introductions to crew members, and some paperwork. By afternoon though the day took a turn for the worse.

“They started to test me on how fast I could get my turn-out gear on. Then they timed how fast I could get from parts of the firehouse to the engine. After that I was told to put on a full SCBA and start going up and down the staircase. When it came time for cooking supper I was told to keep the SCBA on when in the kitchen working. I only got to take it off when it came time to sit down to eat. After eating everyone went to watch some TV but I was told to go doing cleaning tasks. I signed up to put water on fire, not scrub bathrooms.”

Captain Sellers assures CallTheCops there were in fact no calls that day. “We have to trust that this kid can do the job. So we test to see how fast he can gear up. In addition does he know how to get to his rig, and how quick can he do it. With him on our crew we need to know we can roll out the door in a timely fashion.” As for having on the SCBA for cooking the Captain said this. “In school they only wear the dam things an hour or so at a time. On a call we can be in them for hours. Need to get him use to having it on, build up the muscles.”

Rookie Cline is not convinced. “No they are just hazing me. Mess with the new guy, and make sure he does not get any calls. Because they were so busy running me around, all the calls got diverted to other firehouses. I swear to god if I don’t get to respond to a fire by the end of this first week, I will quit.”

Check back with CallTheCops to find out how this situation pans out.