When it comes to the organization itself, there are several tips leaders should keep in mind related to the five-year members and the important role they play in the overall organizational culture.įocus on apprenticeship: A main pillar of firefighter education and training continues to be apprenticeship-style learning under senior firefighters and fire officers. If you think a move to a different department or even a different career may be fitting, consider doing it now. If you still enjoy the job, challenge yourself to continually improve. Be honest with yourself about your goals and whether your motivations about the fire service and your department outweigh any drawbacks. Get up or get out: After five years, you most likely have at least a decent understanding of what the job entails. Study your financial options, and work hard to understand the implications for you and your family. Municipalities of all sizes have experienced fiscal difficulties, leading many to make changes to firefighters’ salaries, retirement plans, insurance coverage and paid leave. Senior firefighters, current retirees, HR representatives and local union members are all great resources for information. Understand your benefits and retirement: If you’re not already doing it, take a proactive role in understanding the many details of your salary, benefits and retirement packages. ![]() Strive to remain or become the fit firefighter that you would want responding to your own family’s emergency. Evaluate your current fitness and state of health. Some on-the-job risks cannot be controlled individually, but there are many that can. If necessary, seek resources for other concerns like tobacco use, alcoholism and mental health. ![]() Nutrition and fitness issues cause some firefighters to suffer from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and hypertension. The firehouse kitchen table is important not just for our cohesion as a team, but also for our nutrition and health on the job. And company officers depend on you to be in the right place, with the right tools, with the right mindset.īe fit for duty: This should go without saying, but physical fitness and personal health are vital to your job. Junior personnel under you depend on you sharing your skills and experience. Identify both good and bad habits that you have developed, and recommit to mastering basic skills in fire suppression and other areas of operation. Over time, some of those skills have been exercised consistently while others have likely weakened. Master the basics: We all emerged from the academy with basic skills freshly drilled into our minds. And wearing multiple hats means that studying, training and drilling must continue throughout an entire career. From EMS to hazardous materials to fire suppression, being a part of today’s fire service means wearing multiple hats. Remember the enthusiasm and humility you had during the process of entering the fire service, and let it be your calibration. At any given time, a citizen’s call may demand a skill or tool that you consider rare or unlikely. Resist the urge to become comfortable in your routine. The blunt truth is that you are not as good as you think you are. Re-humble and re-tool yourself: In just five years, you have probably experienced a breadth of training and incidents to boost your confidence on the job. ![]() ![]() Are you accomplishing all that you hoped? What are you next steps and goals? Following are some tips to help you answer these questions and stay on the right track. The five-year mark is a key time to pause and consider career trajectory. Let’s consider advice for firefighters at this stage, from their perspective, plus guidance for the fire departments employing these members in a sweet spot of their career. (Photo/Steve Johnson, University of Arizona Health Sciences) "There is perhaps no better gauge of a fire department’s readiness and culture than the five-year firefighter," writes Hall.
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