I am a relatively new career firefighter and work in a city that it is hard to afford to live in on my salary. An alternative is to move across state lines for about an hour commute to the station every third day.
During firefighter I class, we never did do any roof work. So I have absolutely no experience with ventilation on the roof or any roof work at all. So firstly, is there any courses or ways to gather some experience with this so Im not a complete idiot when I am one day ordered to get on the roof? Any suggestions on roof work?
With one firefighter on a 1-3/4 it's about 161gpm@50n/p and60lb r/f (7/8tip), 1 firefighter can maneuver that at a crouch position. If you compared that reaction force to a fog, you would find that your gpm would be cut to 224gpm and 112gpm respectively. This why smooth bores are becoming more popular, more gpm, less reaction force.
As a firefighter, I am always interested in finding out different ways to peform our duties. However, as a volunteer, it is not always easy getting access to career firefighters. I know in some cases, visiting a station is just a matter of walking in and introducing yourself. However, I have gotten very mixed reactions from this.
It is extremley hard. I once heard that for every Firefighter EMT opening your competing against approximatley 200 applicants and for every Firefighter Paramedic opening your going up against approximatley 15 applicants. Becoming a Paramedic will help out a lot but I suggest only going that route if you really have a passion for it.