For those of you who do not know Three Rivers Fire Department is a small town volunteer department located inside of Palmer in Western Mass. We consist of about 30 firefighters ranging in age from 18-80. Many of you may not know about firefighting or maybe you have built some strong opinions because of a personal experience. I hope to help to inform you about our department as well as give you a better understanding of firefighting in general and hopefully get you on our side. We also hope to get you interested so maybe you yourself will be interested in assisting your community by firefighting or anything for that matter.
Firefighting is a very high risk occupation because our goal is to save property, life , and each other. We have countless hours of special trainings to prepare us for that one instance that one moment when we will have to make a quick decision which could mean life or death for us and the people around us. Misconception about us is we just get there and run in and start putting water on the fire or start ripping parts off of cars. In reality there is much more going on than what you see. We must first size up our situation and find out all the facts about the fires behavoir as well as the extent and severity of the situation. We are usually carrying about 75 pounds of gear around with us which makes being in shape crucial to get the job done. There is no feeling like when the tones go off and you have to leave your house and get on a fire truck and respond to a call. It makes you feel badass as well as good on the inside for knowing you helped somebody that day. Wether you helped them get a cat from a tree or pulled them from a burning building.
Heres a video showing what we do.....
If you have any interest in helping the community you should consider joining the local fire department...
For many reasons but most importantly the ladies love it
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_a_fire_department_do
This link is a great description of what we do as firefighters
Why join you ask check out this link
http://new.hcdps.com/faq.html
What kind of training does it take to become a volunteer fire fighter? How long does it take?
ReplyDeleteNo training required to join but you spend one year on probation until you complete either the 6 month fire academy or the 5 classes offered by the department fire services ... All stations are different though its up to them what they want to do .
ReplyDeleteDo you learn EMT things in the academy or is that something separate?
ReplyDeleteSeparate but required in most departments in order to be full time
DeleteHow intense was the trainings? and how long have you been a volunteer firefighter?
ReplyDeleteI've been a firefighter for a year now and the trainings are pretty intense some more than others
ReplyDeleteHow old do you have to be to become a volunteer firefighter?
ReplyDelete16 but you're restricted from going into buildings 18 officially
ReplyDelete