Fire Fighter Trainee

Fire Fighter Recruit

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America's Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce
• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development
• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services
• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems
• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

Summary

Performs general firefighting work in fire suppression and rescue activities, including responsibility for serving as a first responder Emergency Medical Technician for calls within the City of Charlotte; may occasionally drive fire apparatus. Work involves responsibility for the protection of life and property through firefighting, rescue, first responder and related duties. Assignments are given by a superior officer at both emergency scenes and the firehouse.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Responds to fire alarms with a company; lays and connects hose; holds nozzles and directs water streams; climbs ladders; uses chemical fire extinguishers, bars, hooks, lines, and other equipment.
• Ventilates burning buildings by opening windows and skylights or by cutting holes in roofs and floors.
• Provides medical assistance to fire victims or as fire responder to emergency situations, until arrival of county medical unit.
• Performs salvage operations such as applying salvage covers, sweeping water and removing debris.
• Participates in fire drills and attends training classes in apparatus operation, firefighting, emergency medical and related subjects; studies assigned materials relating to firefighting and fire prevention.
• Inspects buildings and premises for familiarization; checks for fire hazards; participates in the inspection and maintenance of fire hydrants.
• Operates fire apparatus and assumes command of a fire company on an occasional basis.
• Performs general maintenance and cleaning work in the upkeep of departmental apparatus, equipment, and structures; cleans kitchen, locker room, sleeping quarters, walls, and floors; washes, hangs and dries hose; washes, cleans and polishes apparatus.
• Maintains fitness and personal health to meet annual NFPA 1582 medical requirement.
• Performs related work as required.
• Works in shifts, including nighttime, for a minimum of 24 hours (average of 10 days per month, including weekends and holidays). There are three shifts (A-shift, B-shift, and C-shift) and firefighters work to provide continuous service. An example work schedule is WORK-off-WORK-off-off-WORK-off-WORK-off-off-off-off. This cycle then starts over after the 4-day break.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Ability to wear full protective clothing and equipment, including SCBA, while carrying fire equipment and performing physical tasks
• Ability to remove ladder from fire apparatus
• Ventilate roof with power tools
• Search for victim in limited visibility
• Remove victim or injured partner from the scene
• Extricate victim from vehicle
• Crawl through smoke filled structure pulling the charged hose line
• Ability to hook up to hydrant
• Able to move heavy objects to gain access to fire and/or free trapped persons
• Knowledge of personal protective devices
• Thinking and reasoning ability
• Knowledge of rescue and extrication operations
• Basic mechanical knowledge
• Knowledge of hose practices and ability to hold a charged attack line
• Oral and written communication skills
• Arithmetic ability
• Emergency medical knowledge
• Function as an integral component of a diverse team in dynamic and stressful situations
• Ability to perform and communicate critical, time-sensitive, complex, problem solving during physical exertion and/or in -stressful environments
• Ability to sustain prolonged concentration, problem-solving, and decision-making skills during physical exertion and/or working in stressful environments
• Maintain a harmonious work environment as part of a diverse team
• Interact with the public and colleagues in a professional and respectful manner

Physical Requirements:

All applicants must pass a physical ability test (FPAT) and the NFPA 1582 physical during the hiring process.

Light to heavy lifting and carrying; some crouching, stooping, squatting, crawling, reaching, pushing, and pulling when performing tasks. Must have the agility and physical strength to do prolonged and arduous work under adverse conditions. This includes the ability to lift, move and maintain position on items (e.g., charged hoses) up to 90 pounds; push objects up to 25 pounds; pull objects from 25-50 pounds, and lift or pull victims weighing more than 150 pounds. Ability to perform mental and physical tasks over prolonged periods of extreme physical exertion without a warm-up period, scheduled rest periods, meals, access to medication(s), or hydration. Adequate vision, hearing, and speech required.

General Information:

Fire Fighter Recruits will be paid, full-time Recruits/students in Recruit School, Monday through Friday from approximately 8:00am through 5:00pm. Recruit School is approximately 6-7 months of rigorous, academically challenging material delivered in a structured classroom environment including textbook instruction, classroom lectures, hands-on learning, and testing, in addition to physically demanding training and daily PT. In order to graduate from the training academy, Recruits must meet all standards established by the department, including but not limited to:

• Attendance in all classes and training functions
• Successful completion of all academic portions of recruit training
• Participation in physical fitness training and achievement of goals set forth by the Fitness Coordinator and Training Staff
• Adherence to all standards, rules, guidelines, and requirements as established by department General Orders and by Training Staff expectations

Minimum Qualifications

• The Charlotte Fire Department requires its Firefighters to have a valid driver's license as a condition of employment; all applicants are required to have a valid driver's license prior to receiving a conditional offer of employment.
• Must be at least 18 years of age BY the date of application
• Must have a high school diploma, GED, or high school equivalency from an accredited educational institution BY the date of applications
• Must meet and maintain medical requirements set forth in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582 Chapter 6: Medical Evaluations of Candidates

Automatic Disqualifiers Include, but are not Limited to:

• Reason(s) other than an 'Honorable' discharge from the military; 'General discharge under Honorable conditions' will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
• Admission and/or conviction of felony offense
• Admission and/or conviction of misdemeanor involving moral turpitude
• Use of marijuana/THC (smoke, inhale, ingest, etc.) within 6 months before, or any time after, the date of applications
• Use of any other illicit or illegal drugs within 3 years before, or any time after, the date of applications
• Pattern of illegal drug use, including distribution
• Pattern of theft
• Six or more points for moving violations on driving record during past three years. Three-year period calculated from date of conviction for each violation. Court decisions such as Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC) will be counted as convictions.
• Conviction of DUI / DWI within the last five years. Five-year period calculated from date of conviction for each violation. Court decisions such as Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC) will be counted as convictions.
• Prior to receiving a Formal Offer of Employment, candidates will be expected to be in full