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Monday, February 20, 2006

Florida Teens Get Jump On Firefighting, EMS Careers - Firehouse.com News

Florida Teens Get Jump On Firefighting, EMS Careers - Firehouse.com News:
TAMPA - A unique three-year course offered for the first time at Jefferson High School in Tampa and Durant High in Durant will give students a head start on careers as firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

Graduating seniors will be eligible to test as EMTs and will need only 200 hours of hands-on training at Hillsborough Community College before they can take the state firefighter exam.

That will put them a step ahead of those who wait until after high school to take the traditional 450-hour course at HCC, said Tampa's top firefighter.

"You'll jump right to the head of the line," Tampa Fire Chief Dennis Jones told students at a recent orientation session.(Read More)
This is what I call recruitment. This enables Fire Departments to inform potential candidates what will be expected of them, get them trained early, and possibly keep them out of trouble. Hopefully this will catch on, and we will see this in more and more cities across the nation. I would love to get involved in this type of program.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"and possibly keep them out of trouble." Now do you really want people in the fire service who could have been criminals? Is that why you are in the fire service? Come on, we can get beter people than that.

FireFleitz said...

I was not pinpointing potential "criminals". Actually I was referring to lesser charges that might keep someone from getting a job. The same charges that might get a firefighter fired. Like wreckless driving, DUI, or multiple speeding tickets. All of these could potentially happen to anyone.

I do not condone these types of actions. But how many high school/college students think that a wreckless driving ticket or DUI could keep them from getting a job.

FireFleitz said...

Oh...

No that is not why I am in the fire service.