Responsibilities and Considerations for the Truck Co. Senior Firefighter

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on April 22, 2008 at 2:25pm

Thanks for the post Mark. Many of your comments are mirrored in my own department; from the internal momentum of the senior men to how you run in house drill. Company officers in my house take your same approach with training; they rely on the senior firefighters to handle that for them as well as beginning the training session with the rookies. We too are a young department with 67% with less than five years. Having senior men on the company allows for extra eyes to keep the young folks from straying down the wrong path.
Thanks again for the post.

Permalink Reply by Chuck on October 3, 2008 at 9:27pm

The Most senior guy in our department also happens to be on my group. He's on the job 36 years....I'm pretty fortunate that I get to work with him every tour. I'm one of the junior men on our group and when I was a probie...he was the guy that made sure I was doing it right;... wearing my gloves any time I had a tool in my hands, quizzing me after every run, and constantly asking me if I learned anything new each tour or after training. Making sure I understood how and why we do the things that we do in our department. He was one of the charter members of our IAFF Local in the 70's. He tells us about past fires and war stories and battles the union had won. He is definitely the unofficial enforcer...he's also the sounding board for both the captain and the lieutenant. Often he'll tell an officer, what he thinks might be a better way to handle an emergency and they usually defer to him without losing their authority with the other men. He also backs the junior guys up when our motives or actions are questioned....by other senior members. -"You tell 'em to come talk to me!" He's about to retire and he's one of the last of the "Old" regime. And between him and us junior guys there aint many who came up like that. A lot of the "senior" guys have less than 15 years on the job(and they wear it on their sleaves). Unfortunately, that tradition and the brotherhood may be lost. My father was a career Marine. I understood the seniority thing since I'm a kid....I also come from a strong Union background. But I feel that as a junior guy...I don't have the time on to carry out those traditions...I hope they are not lost by the time I'm up there. They'll be real hard to get back.

Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on October 9, 2008 at 12:06am

Chuck, what makes tradition work is all members participating and perpetuating the traditions. You are never to young to participate in tradition.
I hope you have learned the lessons that were passed on to you and that you live by the principles. Now the responsibility is yours to pass them on to someone junior to you.
Stay safe

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