Mayday Mayday
firefighting is an exciting career and here in the city of Franklin we have recruits from
across the country vying for the few openings we get each year the training is vigorous and
intensive over a 10-week period some say it's the best training in the region and Franklin provides
the finest equipment and latest technology to our firefighting team in this video you'll get
to see some of the highlights of the training as we follow a few new recruits through the first day
to graduation each of you have passed a lot of hurdles and to get to this point in your career
and you know we we hire people based on character and attitude and so each one of you has met that
test when it comes to both of those core values in life so welcome to the Franklin Fire Department
again my name is chief Rocky Garrick I happen to be the fire chief here these new fire recruits to
the Franklin Fire Department come from as far away as California and as close as all marvel
Tennessee they all have one thing in common to be a firefighter and serve the community after
meeting the team of the Franklin Fire Department and hearing from the chief the new recruits first
step is to get fitted for their fire gear Dustin Anderson came from California originally and says
the dream of being a firefighter started when he was a boy I'm actually considered a fifth
generation firefighter for us to say that my father worked for 30 years with the Orange
County Fire Authority and then my grandfather and great-grandfather both worked for Long Beach Fire
Department putting in full careers and then my great-great great-grandfather was actually a
firefighter in the state of Kansas when Dustin got the call that he got the job in Franklin it
was an emotional experience for him I broke down in tears and I was so excited because
they made in October and one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life was to give with my
job to move here as a firefighter working in New Mexico and to be able to to test and get the jobs
you know relatively so quickly and to be able to start a family and start my career in same you
know it's just overwhelming emotion so it was just one of the best days of my life for Rory Richards
it was the excitement of the rescue that drew him to a firefighting career I forgot what I school I
the plans to be a marine going Marine Corps and wanted to crash Fire Rescue couldn't get it so I
guess the next best thing was going to be to be a firefighter civilian fire fighter one of my best
friend all growing up talked me into going to EMT school with him and started doing EMS and then got
hired at a local fire department where I'm from and fell in love with it on Rory's first day he
feels like every new recruit ready to get this day under his belt at first I was a little nervous
walking in but chief Garza and chief Koehler so everybody even that's been so helpful super nice
to us just it's a lot easier feeling than what I had planned for you know I'm not used to coming
to apartment where you get everything you need on the first day and I'm a little bit relieved still
a little bit nervous I pretty confident that I can live up to the standards of the Franklin fire
department and just hope I do what they want me to Christopher shadow ins has been working to get on
the Franklin Fire Department for years he spent his career as a volunteer firefighter in Alma
Ville Tennessee today he's excited to continue his career in a paying full-time position it's
unbelievable how far the volunteer department has come we we from doing our in-house training to now
they're actually doing structured training it's just come a long way and I just wanted to that
and build on that the first few weeks the recruits learn the Franklin Fire Department organizational
structure and history Deputy Chief Mike Culver son has been with the Department for 32 years he
is a second generation firefighter and his father was a former chief of the Franklin fire department
chief Fox and I've done recruit classes all over the state but here you're in your own environment
your own world you teach em like Franklin style and seeing them start basically with nothing
and at the end of ten weeks they walk out of the graduation day and they're ready to go lift and
fight their first fire you know that's there's men there's there's no amount of money can or
I don't know how to describe it it's self esteem self pride whatever you want to call it a lot of
you recruits must complete more than 300 hours of classroom and hands-on training in order to
graduate gentry Fox covers the fundamentals of fire behavior in the classroom in fire behavior
we're learning what it takes to start initiating fire or to extinguish a fires how fires will react
inside of a structure outside of a structure the fundamentals of extinguishment of a fire things
like that during week two of the training the recruits are learning the many facets of forcible
entry the guys are required to be dressed in full turnout gear to make this exercise as close to
reality as possible the biggest thing is safety for us the longer a fire burns inside a building
the worst shape that buildings in and the bigger fires going to get and that's all bad for us when
we do go in because now we've got a bigger problem or a potentially unsafe building that we're going
to be inside of so getting in in a hurry is a big deal for us getting out is just as important if
we get in a fire situation and a firefighter gets in trouble we need to have a way for them to get
out of the building in a hurry so forcing exits for us once we're inside is just as valuable as
forcing entry to get inside in the first place the trainees learn several different methods of
forcible entry all involving heavy tools we did some work in the classroom with what they call
through the lock techniques where we pull the cylinders out of locks manipulate the mechanisms
to allow us to open the door and then lock that behind us when we leave we're also doing some
work I saw over here doing forcible entry through heavier doors and then we've got what we call the
irons around back which is combination of an axe and Halligan tool which is playing that went too
well I said that went too well no I'm afraid I ran over some cuts it's week three now and the
firefighter trainees are getting a course in fire truck driver safety it's called Vanessa Kay free
training that was enacted in Tennessee in 2005 the training promotes emergency vehicles safety
procedures and is named for a young college girl who was killed in 2002 after a police car
in route to an emergency struck her vehicle and killed her in Chattanooga the firefighters will
get a certificate upon satisfactory completion of the training the state requires two hours of this
training every year the apparatus that we drive there over 26,000 pounds where normal cars from
around three to four thousand pounds and these are loaded with water and when you go to make a
curve you can fill the water shift in the back and so you have to know how to handle the water
you have to know how to handle the extra weight that entails going down an alley going forward and
backing through a serpentine and then backing into a small space so there's several things they'll
have to do out of a driving course doing week five the recruits are a turnout and going through that
math is blacking out I think in a heavy smoke incident I cannot see I must buy a building
to rescue a fallen firefighter this is actually based on an incident that we had in Franklin where
we had a firefighter that actually fell through burned out floor into a crawlspace so after that
we identified the need to have a very consistent set how we're going to handle these emergencies
if we have a firefighter down in this exercise the firefighter is supposed to follow the rope
line into the smokey building and radio to his team outside the building his whereabouts once
he goes up the stairs the floor will drop and the firefighter will need to give a mayday call
to inform his fellow firefighters that he needs help the recruits were not aware the floor would
drop or of the prop in this exercise yeah it's great training I mean kind of the initial drop
scared a little bit but then like to be able to gather your thoughts and like kind of assess what
happened Rory says so far the first five weeks of training with the Franklin Fire Department have
prepared him well it's awesome it's braver than I thought it was gonna be it was don't come here
from why I mean it's much better down here I mean they have so many things at their disposal that we
didn't have up there I just feel like I'm learning a lot more especially we're having a little bit of
experience 20 you'll learn a lot more because you have things to compare to so yeah it's when
we're all on this early morning the recruits are learning how to handle a highway tanker emergency
later verify that this is a guest
the following week the recruits learn how to rescue a trapped driver from wreckage after
a car crash Franklin Fire Department covers a large portion of Interstate 65 where crashes
like these can happen this exercise gives them the opportunity for hands-on training today
we're talking to new recruits about expectation just trying to give them a little bit familiar
with our peers in the process that we use in an extrication in MVC they we show them how
to pack the doors and the floor half the bears on the back we also do that a partial roof clip
and with our second group we're going to do a complete the roof cut grass I've demonstrated
red on the bass and face we have an impediment of the brake pedals we show them how to push
the - so today's orientation is just mostly to get them familiar with the way that we do
things it's not a certification for them now that the training is over it's graduation day
and families have traveled from far and wide to congratulate for young recruits as they begin
their career with the Franklin Fire Department for the guys it's a day they've been waiting for
your graduating class here of these recruits and now firefighters let's give them a hand
oh I highly recommend this program this was the the best training that I've had
the sign one of the fires just have to get it over with and finally get back on shift I get
to shift and just get to work to get going just happy to be done that's pretty much fire see these
guys and that a first-hand look at the life of a Franklin fire recruit if you are interested in
learning more about the Franklin fire department please go to our website at www.franklintn.gov
main page job postings are posted in our human resources department with
an employment link at the top of our main page of our website thank you for watching