How soon should a firefighter be able to "certify" as a Firefighter II?

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Matthews on November 2, 2011 at 12:11pm

Mike -

I saw your post and couldn't resist; 33 people have looked at your post and no one has responded.... let the box open......

Looking through the NFPA standard, times sure have changed; it's been a while since I had to look through 1001 to support a position...turns out I can't support my original thoughts on this topic through objective documents. Back in the day (I never thought I'd be around long enough to say that!!) FFII was needed to be a professional firefighter. There were a lot of advanced skills that were part of the standard. In my home state of Ohio, you couldn't be hired as a paid FF without FFII certification. I want to say that vertical ventilation was once a FFII skill; if it wasn't you ge the point. You had to have FFII to receive ALL of the skills we now consider to be required firemanship.

Now it seems nearly all of the skills needed to put out a fire are part of FF I. I only found a few major firefighting topics for FFII. Those deal with with flammable liquids and gases for FFII. As you have stated, the others are doing reports and leading a crew...

So the question is, How long can someone serve as a FFI before being a FF II? In our great department of Charlotte, NC this has been adressed pretty adequatly. While recruits meet NFPA 1001 Level 2 upon graduation from the academy, they internally are only viewed as FFI. As a matter of fact this is even their official job title. After 3 years and completion of an apparatus and hydraulics class, and meeting North Carolina rescue technical qualifications they are eligible to be promted to FFII. Before my tenure in Charlotte, there was actually a promotional test to FFII and that requirement has actually been discussed again. I would imagine it will infact be a tested promotion to FFII in the next 2-5 years.

A FFII in Charlotte is qualified to fill in for the Captain as needed; I think this is the main reason why the department would like to eventually go back to testing for the position. Not that FFII's have failed miserably when riding the seat, but I think there has been an introspective look that there is a great responsiblity to fill the role of commanding a fire company. Granted it is the CO's responsibility to provide much of that guidence, but sometimes that doesn't happen for many reasons...or the employee is simply not ready or capable to handle the responsibility.

I think the days of OJT (on-the job trainng) are pretty much over and many departments want personnel to at least have the maximum amount of certification they can get before they walk in the door. A certification doesn't make the man or women in our industry, experience and mental capacity does. I have meet some smart firefighters with little experience and "experienced" firefighters that aren't as good as you'd expect. You get a smart and experienced guy and you end up with someone like.....Mike Walker!!!! :)

 

Jeff Matthews

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on November 2, 2011 at 4:57pm

Excellent information Jeff. It makes sense to me how Charlotte is doing it.