{"id":52,"date":"2019-03-28T15:09:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T15:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/boots-on-the-ground-future-firefighters-prepare-for-anything-everything\/"},"modified":"2019-04-09T17:11:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T17:11:02","slug":"boots-on-the-ground-future-firefighters-prepare-for-anything-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/boots-on-the-ground-future-firefighters-prepare-for-anything-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Boots On The Ground: Future Firefighters Prepare for Anything & Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the untrained eye, a day of skills training at NCTC\u2019s Basic Fire Academy may look like a bunch of kids hanging from ropes, crawling on cars and having fun with fire hoses, but instructors warn that there\u2019s a much more serious agenda at play\u2014 and it\u2019s not for the faint of heart. Whether students enrolled in the Fire <\/span>Science program aim for the one-year Basic Firefighter Certificate<\/a> or the two-year Associate of Applied Science<\/a> (AAS) degree, they can count on a rigorous, highly-structured, militaristic program that demands intense physicality and discipline from its students.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely physical,\u201d says Strider Floyd, Emergency Services division chair. \u201cYou have training sections like ladders, firehose safety, vehicle extrication, rappelling and live fires, and there are multiple skills to master within each <\/span>of those areas of instruction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Strider<\/a>Floyd says 75 percent of the instruction is hands-on at the <\/span>fire academy \u2014 based at the college\u2019s Corinth campus<\/a> but conducting skills training off-site at local fire stations in communities like Lake Cities, Flower Mound and <\/span>Lewisville \u2014 as students learn first-responder protocols and master the intricacies of handling and deploying <\/span>the equipment safely. Chainsaw work, for example, can be very dangerous if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, Floyd explains, and deploying a firehose goes far beyond simply unraveling it and turning on a spicket.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often underestimate the difficulty of that,\u201d he says. \u201cBut with water coming out at 125 PSIs \u2014 that\u2019s more than 150 gallons a minute \u2014 it can knock you off your feet and you can easily lose control. And then we\u2019ve got a whole new set of problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Enrollment in NCTC\u2019s Fire Academy requires attending an Info Session<\/a> in addition to a physical, drug screening and criminal background check, and candidates also take a Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exam, with only the top 25 scores accepted into the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Basic Fire Academy training at NCTC is offered in day and night settings, and beyond the costs of tuition and textbooks, it comes with a few additional financial considerations. There\u2019s an $850 charge for bunker gear rental, for instance, $500 for a burn tower fee and $175 for fire facilities usage.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Floyd says firefighters-in-training who pass the basic certification exam with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection<\/a> \u2014 the Basic Structure Fire Suppression Certificate \u2014 \u201cgo into limbo for awhile\u201d as they complete their EMT training. Once testing requirements for the EMT certification is complete, fire science students receive both their fire and medical certifications simultaneously and are ready to begin the process of seeking employment \u2014 a potentially tedious endeavor involving extensive <\/span>background checks and polygraph tests.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hiring process in this field takes from 3 to 6 months, and municipalities are very strict about their background checks,\u201d Floyd says, adding that this is often the biggest hurdle to having a career as a firefighter. <\/span><\/p>\n

John Bryant, lead instructor for the department\u2019s dual credit program at Lake Dallas Fire Academy, concurs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a high demand for firefighters, but the criteria are so stringent when it comes to the background checks, it often prevents people who have the training from getting hired,\u201d Bryant explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

At issue are \u201ccharacter questions\u201d pertaining to alcohol and drug use, and Floyd notes that NCTC\u2019s dual credit<\/a> Fire Science programs may be an important way to address this by getting teens involved early and teaching them that \u201cstupid mistakes\u201d made in youth have a more lasting impact for those interested in fields like law enforcement and fire service.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about the Fire Science programs, visit www.nctc.edu<\/a> or contact the Emergency Services department at (940) 498-6254.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"firefighterTo The Rescue<\/span><\/h2>\n

A 2018 graduate of Lake Dallas High School in Corinth, firefighter Eric Robinson is a success story of NCTC\u2019s inaugural dual credit fire academy at his alma mater. He landed his job as a firefighter straight out of high school \u2014 becoming one of 11 new hires in Lake Cities, an expanding North Texas community which just opened up a new fire station.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Firefighting wasn\u2019t always the dream, Robinson<\/span>\u00a0admits. Initially, he\u2019d considered going to culinary school, but after he saw a video on firefighting, he \u201cwas intrigued\u201d and signed up for the LDHS fire academy program. While learning the ropes of his challenging new job, the 19-year-old is far from resting on his laurels or taking a break from studies. He enrolled in an area paramedic school in September and is due to complete his program this May. After that, he hopes to pursue additional certifications, training in areas like Wildlife Rescue and Swift Water Rescue.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to be involved with disaster relief and be deployed to areas around the country when disasters happen,\u201d he says. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To the untrained eye, a day of skills training at NCTC\u2019s Basic Fire Academy may look like a bunch of kids hanging from ropes, crawling on cars and having fun with fire hoses, but instructors warn that there\u2019s a much more serious agenda at play\u2014 and it\u2019s not for the faint of heart. Whether students… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fire-science","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nctc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2019-volume-4-issue-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}