​The Path from Volunteer to Career!

Many people may not volunteer, because they simply don’t know what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter or how to go about it.  Over the course of time there have been many changes to the world of volunteerism and I’m sure due to regulations and commitments of time and funding, it has become a hindrance for organizations to now gain prospective volunteers.  The same is true, if not more, for fire districts.  Because not only have regulations been added to the requirements, but there is a great deal of training to ensure the safety of firefighting personnel.
 
For the Northshore Fire District, they are always in search for good volunteers and over the years we have had some great community members who started out as volunteers and have come to be permanent paid firefighters on the team. The first part of the process following submitting an application as a Volunteer would be an interview with the Chief and then a scheduled physical exam and drug screening.  Once successfully moving beyond these requirements, the recruit is provided a set of training personal protective equipment and the training begins.
 
Northshore Fire has a variety of task books for different roles and functions within the district, this will be the guide that enables both the recruit and the training officer to make sure all the necessary skills and exercises for training are completed.  Typically, the recruit will be given a home station and will work alongside a Volunteer liaison who will report to the Training Officer on the status and progress of the recruit.  As a recruit firefighter they will be allowed to attend training classes and drills only – nonemergency response.
 
The goal is to have the basic recruit firefighter task book completed within four months.  Once this is done, the recruit will once again have an interview with the Chief and upon appointment as a Probationary firefighter, the training PPE will be exchanged for a full set of approved personal protective equipment.  The probationary firefighters helmet will carry prominent marking or be of a distinctive color so as to identify the firefighter’s probationary status on the fire ground.  As a probationary firefighter, they may now respond to emergency incidents under district guidelines and will be given a new task book to complete as a probationary firefighter, which shall be conducted in an annual academy unless the program is approved for in-house training.  The probationary Firefighter training program is to be completed within one year.

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