From Probie to Pro: Don't Stop Being a "New Guy"

Bridgerland Technical College it's changed , sorry and Jordan Woolley , who went through the program and then did you work part-time ? I did so then went part-time with Logan Fire and then full-time and is now the epitome of what everybody helps to be

at Logan Fire . So , Jordan , let's start with you a little bit and then we'll move to Brian . Just before we get into our topic of discussing being on probation , what that's like just tell us a little bit about you , what made you want to be a firefighter , and then kind of walk us through your experience with the RCA and we'll kind of go from there .

So I did what every good boy does and went to college and got a degree in something I didn't really care about and it was right there at the end . I was finishing my last semester of college and I was like man . I gotta figure this out , I don't know what's going on .

And so I started YouTube and like day in the life of a firefighter because I mean , like I'd always thought about it . I had a couple of people telling me like , oh , you should look into it , but I never gave them any notice . And so I started looking up a couple of YouTube videos and I'm like , yeah , this could be cool .

So I just jumped right into the EMT basic class because I was it was starting soon , and so I did that during my last semester of college and way more than I thought I would . I was never really good at school , never liked it , never thought of myself as somebody smart but really liked the medical stuff Way more than I thought .

And that kind of just led straight into the fire Academy and straight into the advanced EMT . And being here , especially doing that Academy here in Logan , you meet a lot of people who work local all throughout the state . And so I got lucky enough to get hired on part time pretty quick after finishing that Academy and that's kind of what got me here .

I mean , honestly , I've worked a lot of different jobs , did a lot of construction , growing up , a lot of things that I swore I would never do again , and I love this job , like it's the best thing that's ever happened to me , the best thing I've ever done , like my wife will make fun of me all the time because I'm always like thinking about it .

I'm always talking about it Like I don't know if it's bad that it consumes me a little bit , but I absolutely love it .

I had a person in church who was a captain and he didn't do a whole lot with us , but there was enough there . I think that kind of sparked my interest in it and then , literally in high school , started doing some stuff with the local fire department .

So I did my degree first and then . Once I finished that , then I started applying and took a job with Logan over around 26 years ago that's awesome yeah .

I think Jordan and I were just talking about this recently , but I've been involved with Bridgerland for probably since around your time , your 2000 , initially just helping out with the EMT classes , and when they started a fire program I kind of just dumb luck it fell into my lap and luckily I didn't have to interview against other people and stuff like that , or

else I probably wouldn't have the job

.

There were issues and different strengths and weaknesses from combining both those groups and eventually led us to separate them and eventually the county took back their volunteer stuff and we continued with our career pathway , and which is actually really good , because even though they do the same job , when you're preparing to do it as a career , there's different things

that you want to emphasize , and so I think it's really allowed us to kind of dial down , drill down into putting out a better product and in the end , I mean , that's what the crews , that's what the chiefs , that's what people want is a good firefighter .

However , getting them to learn how to deal with stress , to deal with failure , to deal with all sorts of different things like that's nowhere in the state skills . But that is what we do . We spend time doing that because they're not going to get the skill right .

All the time they're not going to be successful , all the time they're going to get frustrated at their partner . They're going to all these different little things and it's learning how to handle that . It's learning how to be a public representative . It's learning all these different things . An example of that is a couple of classes ago .

I was walking down the hallway in Bridgerland and the firefighters were on the other side and it was before class started , just a little bit before I could just hear them dropping the F bomb and all sorts of stuff . I just kind of looked around the corner and they were in uniform and everything like that . It's not acceptable .

Once you throw on the shirt , once you put on the uniform , it's like you're a representative that class . From that time on , I implemented a few things and they would pay physically for any infractions of cussing when they had their uniform on .

Again , nowhere is that a state skill , but that's what the administrators want is people who are good people and represent the city , represent the department , stuff like that .

So any little thing that gets back to the chief is one more stressor on his plate , even if it's really not that big of a deal to him personally . The fact that he now has to deal with this being reported is not good , so I think that's awesome to start that mindset early .

So when I went through , I think I was one of the last county combined classes I went through in 2007 . Man , it feels like a long time ago , but man it was so much fun , like for me , starting the EMT class . That's where I usually thought getting into some of the medical .

But after doing the EMT is like I love the emergency side and so that pushed me into the fire . And then , of course , once you do fire , it's like there's no turning back . That's the hook . What One more question for you , brian . Then I want to hear from Jordan on his RCA experience . But what type of person usually does well in through the academy ?

Like , are they pretty self-driven ? Are they come into the class day one already kind of a stand up person in society ? Or like , if you had to describe a good candidate to enter the academy , what does that person look like ?

So whether it's studying the textbook , whether it's memorizing bulleted items , whatever it is , they're going to come up against their struggles and so it's them kind of learning how to figure out , how to make those weaknesses into strengths . We can teach the skills to just about anybody , but we can't teach them how to pass the written test and things like that .

They have to put forth the effort . So somebody that comes in who has a good drive , is interested in , and really a lot of that comes from . If you have the passion , the interest , the love , I think some of it becomes pretty easy . Easier .

But the coming in and just being ready to learn and knowing that you're going to fail and , as you fail , listening to where you failed and then wanting to like , give me another shot , like I want to go do it right . We have this just the other day , when we were doing search and rescue stuff , we came out of it .

Chief Laquois had some input to me as far as how I could have done my job better and it's just like I want to go again . I want to give me another shot to do better . And so having that drive to want to do well , to succeed , to not let your crew down , stuff like that , not be the weak link those are all going to be helpful .

But honestly , at the beginning , lots of listening and not a whole lot of dialogue kind of back and forth Now it's not to say that you can't talk , but it's when you need to clarify things absolutely . But a lot of times it's just absorbing and just trying to mimic what you're seeing them want you to do , or yeah anyways , I think .

It's a new , totally new lifestyle , new skill sets , like there's going to be failure and there's probably going to be a lot of it , but how you navigate that is going to determine whether you're a good fit for this or not .

So there's those people that are driven to like look good , but if they're single in trying to single themselves out , those aren't a good fit either , right . But if you're driven to push forward the cause and the work , then that's the type of I think that adjusts the tone , probably in how they talk and how they listen .

Right , if you're listening for yourself versus listening how you can be a better contributor , then that changes probably the tone and everything else . Have you ever had anybody that's surprised you Like somebody you saw come in , like ah , I don't think that guy or girl is going to make it , and then , man , they kind of blew everybody's mind .

But the but , when you visit with the students and in fact occasionally I have to go in there and they're you just hear the class is struggling , the class is struggling stuff like that , and so it's going in and ultimately giving them just a little bit of a pep talk . But yeah , people will surprise you with their abilities and what they can do .

And we had a person who in four weeks needed to cut off over five minutes on their mile and a half run or else they weren't going to make it into the program and they they killed it and they had other things , other physical things that were holding them back and they just destroyed it .

You have others who do poorly and they continue to do poorly , and so , but I am surprised oftentimes with struggles that people have and how they pull through it , and it's fun to see people succeed and to do well and , like I said , in the end I'm just I'm usually cheering them on .

I'm not picking winners and losers , it's just like in the end everybody has to rise up . It's going to be hard , it's going to be a struggle and and it's trying to see those that encounter those struggles and then bust through them .

It doesn't mean you have to cut him any slack or anything like that , but , yeah , just be their cheerleader , and even if you don't think they're going to make it , you want to be on the cheerleading side , not the cynical other side , jordan . So now this is your chance to correct everything . Captain Davies , tell us what the RCA is really like .

it's long . I remember like I met with Captain Davies before I entered the RCA and he kind of gives you some expectations and things to prepare for and I remember him saying if you have a full-time job , get ready , because that's hard .

A lot of people can't work full-time and go to class and you're trying to study and you're physically exhausted and I didn't have that option . So I remember being like man he's telling me it's going to be hard if I work and everything , and it is hard . It's just it's hard .

But going back to what you were talking about earlier , with just your attitude and your perspective and kind of just seeing that bigger picture , it's absolutely worth it . I remember being so frustrated sometimes just because I'm like why are they doing this ? It makes no sense to me .

I feel like I understand what we're doing , but why there's no , why I haven't been doing this the job for very long .

But even just in this short year and a half I've looked back and like , oh , I can totally see why You're getting it frustrated sometimes with instructors and how they're treating you , or sometimes your partner , their recruits and you just look at it now and it's like , yeah , you're going to be with these people for a third of your life .

You're going to be 48 hours straight and , yeah , sometimes they're going to frustrate you , sometimes they're going to do things and it all comes down to that respect of respecting your captain and your chief and learning how to live with people and having good communication .

And , at the end of the day , if you can work through those things , you're going to be able to learn and grow and become a great firefighter . And then going back to the academy a little bit like it's just a mix of everything . You're going to be pushed physically . You're going to be pushed to calm your brain down .

In some of those really stressful situations when you know you're not used to having a mask on your face , you feel like you can't breathe , you're restricted in everything and your movements with your turnout gear on , and you're going to learn how to calm down in those situations . You're going to learn how to study , how to change your attitude and how to learn .

I think I learned how to learn a lot better , yeah .

They're doing it on purpose , they , and they just have a hard time kind of reconciling how they're feeling with what it's actually doing for their career .

Some people really want to help people . Some people like the brotherhood , that team aspect . Everybody has a different reason of what drives them . Or why did you come into the academy in the first place ? For me it was exciting . I loved working outside with my hands . I loved helping people . I loved I always loved sports .

I loved working as a group trying to accomplish a task . Like I had gone on a couple of ride-alongs . I had the privilege of knowing how to help people . So I had a couple . I could see kind of how it worked .

And if you just go back and you remember why you started , you kind of had this whole new motivation again of yeah , I want that still , I want the end , and there's going to be ups and downs , but in the end you look back and you'll see that full picture again .

quit becomes higher than your drive to stay

. One thing , captain Davies , that you said a long time ago that has always kind of stuck with me is because I think sometimes in this job you see the less than ideal part of society and you can .

One of those things you can lose sight of is that , like man , people are good , like , generally , people are good right , and once you kind of get that tainted view of society it can be hard right .

But I remember one time you told me , as you've deployed out on like Katrina and some of these bigger disasters around the country , that it always surprised you , or just always was a good reminder , how many people actually came to help that man in those big moments .

Like you see the best of society , not necessarily the worst , and those were always good kind of little reminders for you to keep that core value of like humans are good and I don't know , can you expand on that a little bit and how that's kind of played a role throughout your career and kind of maintaining that core belief ?

But the second thing is that when you go and you're there , you realize how many thousands and thousands of other , just regular citizens are doing the exact same thing . And they're not being paid , they're they're just doing it out of the love for that neighbor type of thing , total strangers .

And I mean , I can remember help coordinating an area where our rescuers were bringing people from boats into an area and basically we had to take these people who were being rescued and trying to get them places .

They might live an hour across town or whatever , and they don't have communication , all sorts of issues and and just literally lining up hundreds and hundreds of cars with people who are just like I just want to help and it's like will you help by taking this person to wherever they need to go ?

And they're like , yeah , and it's like so you see these teeny little things where these people are just like raising their hand and it's like if I can do anything , if I can bring you a water , if I can go get you a cookie , like whatever . They just want to help out , and so that's always been super rewarding for me .

I mean , we see all sorts of ugly in society and stuff like that , but there is also a lot of good taking place to .

For example , we've had car accidents over time where we've been short handed and you kind of look out into the crowd occasionally and it's like I need a couple hands and you pick a couple people and those people are like it doesn't matter what's going on , they will drop whatever's going on to come and help with it .

And so , yeah , seeing the good that are inside of people is awesome .

And it doesn't mean they can't evolve or because , of course , with time and experience , some of those things may evolve a little bit or deepen .

Right , and that's hopefully the goal is , if you have this core belief that I know people are good and I'm just going to believe that no matter what , and then , after experience and experience , you allow that to deepen , versus if every time something bad happens you have to read aside if you still believe that , I think if you can come into the career with a

couple of core beliefs and just hang on to those for everything , with everything you've got , I think that just makes everything a little bit easier .

And that's what I like to live by and I believe it too . I think most people , 99.9% of people out there , are just trying their best . And , yeah , bad things happen to good people all the time . And the other thing I remember is , like , for some reason , the three of us are here , we work in this job .

I couldn't tell you why sometimes , why I ended up here , but for some reason we have been given the privilege to be there . When those bad things happen , like , yeah , it sucks . And if you have a religious view , you're like , yeah , why is God letting this happen to people ?

But if you remember that , like , we have that blessing , like on their worst day , we can help them , and just remember that . It's so easy to like get caught up in the negative stuff sometimes , but just remember , most people are doing their best and when their best just isn't enough . That's when we get to be there to make things just a little better .

So remember that , because that's what's going to push you sometimes through those harder days .

That always stuck with me because he's like sometimes you start because of the adrenaline and all the chicks dig it and but then it that kind of grows into , like you know , you start to really appreciate helping people and then , as he progressed around through his career , you really sort of appreciate helping firefighters and just says it's that's where I think it's

okay to have this kind of evolution of the why . It's okay to want to do it because you love the rush and the excitement . But I think as you grow up in the fire service a little bit , if that's the only reason , well , that's going to taper off after a while .

Right , but if you keep finding reasons to be grateful and reasons to stay and reasons why you love the job and then just be going to hold on .

They don't last and and I've seen over the years lots of firefighters that have put things into that and they're just unhappy , they're miserable , and in fact there was a study that said a pay raise that typically made somebody happy for about six weeks and then after that they were back to be frustrated again and and so money and other things like that's not a

reason to do this job .

This is gonna be perfect which it is great , which yeah there are perks for sure , but if that's the only reason that after those late night calls or after that super traumatic call so in the schedule doesn't matter anymore or the retirement or whatever , and it's 25 years is a long time to do something just to retire if you're not happy with the deeper reasons .

So

let's kind of transition into from from RCA to real life fire department first year . And , brian , maybe just what you're , what you've seen and what your advice is something making that transition .

Because one thing I think I've seen anyways , it's almost like a roller coaster , like the RCA is so hard and you kind of have the ups and downs but , man , you graduate , you did it , you succeeded , like you feel like a million bucks and then you get to start at a fire department right here right back to the bottom .

It's like no one cares that you graduated the RCA like whoop-de-doo yeah , exactly right . So how would you help somebody to navigate that transition ?

When somebody graduates and starts the job , they only know us a little bit really , in actuality . An example would be like airbags , like , okay , we don't even touch airbags in the fire academy or the state skills , but yet when they start day one , it's like , well , that equipment is on our engine , so there's all sorts of different things . That's like they .

They come into it and they know nothing about , and then you add into , for example , being at like a specialty station . It's like , okay , well , welcome to hazmat , welcome to technical rescue , welcome to being an r firefighter , like whatever it is . There's going to be all sorts of things that they just know nothing about .

There's also just the kind of oddities of the department .

So the , the programs that are used to do reports , what the reports look like , what the department is looking for , what your boss is looking for anyways , there's all sorts of things that you have to learn and it comes fast , and so having that ability to be corrected over and over is is going to happen .

It's like , well , that's great , you did it this way in the rca , but this is how we do it here and we struggle with that in the rca because there's lots of different ways to do the same thing and in the end we're trying to get them their certification .

So sometimes we have to teach them certain ways that that meet the state's requirements and then the department can adjust and get them going a different direction . But at least they have a foundation to to work on . But yeah , when they come in it is not going to be restful .

Most of the firefighters , monday to Friday , kind of look at work as being eight to five . You know a new firefighter , their work is pretty much eight to ten . You know why the guys are relaxing and taking it easy and stuff like that . They have a lot of catch up to do , and when I say catch up , it's okay .

Now there's hundred pages of policy , there's all these protocols , all sorts of things that are going on and and so they have a lot to really get caught up on . In the end they need to remember that it's like they have a certain job to do and they need to learn that job and master that job .

So , for example , like all of the equipment on the fire engine , that's all of theirs they need to know how to operate everything on there and know as much as possible about it . And then it's , for example , like the captain's job as far as when to implement it and things like that .

And so we all and chief hanek has done a really good job with helping us to understand we all have in our roles that we're in . We need to just kick butt in the role that we have and we need to be masters of it . And the same time , we're all learning , we're all trying to get better at it .

But that rookie comes in just trying to come up to speed and there's going to be a lot of running and sprinting going on . In the end , it needs to be a little bit of a marathon though , too , because that learning is going to extend out for a year and it's pretty hard , but it's . It can also be a lot of fun .

It's a struggle sometimes to constantly be thrown on your turnouts and be sweating and doing all sorts of drills and stuff like that , but hopefully you can also have fun with it too , like , oh man , I'm getting paid to to do this stuff right now .

To like , and sometimes even just looking at it is like , ah , you know what this is like a workout and I'm just building bigger muscles for the chicks type of thing that's .

You're supposed to listen , it can feel like man , I'm supposed to know every piece of equipment on this truck and I and all my medications and all the doses , and there's just so many things .

What's the best way you guys have found to kind of triage that a little bit , because it's impossible to know everything and especially in your first year you're being tested on so many things . How do you go about triaging that so that you can do it in a productive way and not just get so overwhelmed .

You just get saturated with information , you can't remember anything well .

of help out were actually really minimized because , for example , I know like he would write a report and then you would have like Nikki look at the report , and so Nikki would give suggestions and things like that , and by the time it got to me it looked pretty dang good , and so my , my input to Jordan over the year was more on the minimal side because he

came to the table with really good stuff . So I guess the question is , yeah , how did you kind of navigate some of that ? well thanks , I appreciate that .

You're paying to do that , paying to go suffer and learn all this , and now I'm somewhere and I'm getting paid to do this and it was awesome . And then you kind of have a moment of humility because you're like , wow , there's a lot . And number two , it's another wave of of humility . When you're like , man , this is for real .

These four people that I'm with are counting on me now to be successful

on the RCA . If you , if you run out of air and you're building and somehow your mask gets ripped off or you don't save the victim , it's a dummy . Your mask comes off , it's just fog . Everybody's gonna go home . But you have that wave of humility of like man . These people are counting on me and it's not just for fun and for learning .

Now they , they , they expect the best and I think that's part of that comes in and that's part of what drove me to study and really know my stuff , because I have the big fear of letting people down . I hate it always have been . I like the people please . I like obviously to succeed .

I think we all do , and so when you have that hopefully everybody has that wave of this is for real and I need to know it because otherwise somebody could get hurt , whether that's me , my partner . It's humbling to realize it .

A lot of that's in your hands , granted , you have a lot of help , you have a lot of people guiding you and and you're never alone in the fire service , which is really nice to know that . But yeah , that's a lot of what drove me is you take your strengths and you run with them .

For me , I personally , I've always felt a little more confident on the fire stuff . I felt confident in my ability to pull a line , to drag a victim , to throw a ladder . That stuff was always a little simpler for me . I struggled with the medical .

So my studies , those late nights till 10 , 11 , when I'm just in the little office room by myself , we're focused a lot on reading the medical protocols . I would . I remember going to sleep the very first night and I couldn't sleep and I was , my mind was just rolling . I'm like what , what am I gonna do if this happens ?

What am I gonna do if this happens ? And you're new and you're kind of freaked out and my mind is just racing and I you realize later they have all that information . You just got to get it dialed down . So I just started really quickly just reading all the protocols , writing notes , asking , ask your partners , tons of questions .

I really used that chain of command a lot . I didn't want to bug Captain Davies a lot , but you know your partners , the engineer , ask him about the engine , where they keep things , how things work , study those protocols and don't be afraid to just ask questions , ask a billion questions , because most people want you to succeed .

They don't want a partner or someone on their crew that's going to let them down , so they want you to succeed .

Or hey , can you tell me ? Versus like hey , what is this tool exactly and how does it work ? That's a much easier thing for somebody to jump in and help you with . Versus like hey , help me train today . Well , what do you want to do ? Like you can't put the burden on your crew to figure out your curriculum , right ?

You can also do things on your own . It's not to say that you can't ask , but , yeah , definitely , a more drilled in question is better and , by the way , sometimes I love it because they will actually do a little bit of research .

Then they start asking you some questions and it's like I don't know the answer to that , and so then it's like well , let's find it out , type of thing . Instead of me teaching them what I know about it , all of a sudden they're asking a specific question about something is like I don't know the answer to that .

That's cool , that's something I don't know , let's figure it out . So yeah it . I think there's kind of a balance there as far as asking people but also knowing that you can do things on your own too , and those after hour times , those are times when you can do some of that stuff

. There's also lots of things that you just don't learn in your training .

For example , that cleaning equipment , this stuff just doesn't get clean on its own , and there are times that Jordan would receive an assignment and it's like you have this compartment to clean or you have this tool to clean or whatever , and after hours , at nine o'clock at night , maybe on the work bench , taking something apart and cleaning it all up and making

it look nice , and in the end , it's like we all have to . Granted , it was nice having a Jordan for a year to do a lot of those things for us , but we also spent a lot of years not having a probationary firefighter on our crew , and so it's like that's us out there detailing , cleaning the fridge and all these other things that just have to get done .

We don't have a maid , we don't have a bunch of those different things . We have to do it , and I like some of those things to be clean , just because the public comes to check out that stuff .

They come in our station , they're looking around , they check out our vehicles , things like that , and so , again , just like we're representing the department , our equipment is , and our stations are representing the department too , and so trying to have them look nice and is all important . It's things like that in your first year that you are continuing to learn .

I know for me starting with Logan , even though and I felt like I had the opportunity to kind of be a new guy twice , because you come into the volunteer world right out of the academy and I started with North Logan and everything's new but after doing that for several years and then being a new guy again , after having done this for like 10 plus years as a

volunteer I knew there was elements being new , but I had no idea how different the career world was from the volunteer . But one of the first things I was like well , I just want to be helpful on seeing , like I don't want to be a hindrance , even if I don't know how all this stuff works yet , I want to at least know where it is .

And by detailing the ambulance and every compartment and every like , pulling out all the stuff out of the orange box and cleaning then over time , like you do that every shift or whatever , then at least when somebody says , hey , go grab the stature or go grab the vacuum splints , like I know where that is .

I don't know how it works or there's going to be things that may mess up and how to use it , because I've never put one on before , but at least I know where it is and I'm going to which , by the way , sleep is super important .

I think there still is that balance of overwhelming and pressure versus , like , where you can cut yourself some slack , right , like no one's expecting you to be , like you said , an expert in any of this stuff , but because obviously , if there's a tech rescue call , you guys are on shift , there's going to be a lead who knows he does know all the things right ,

but can you be a helpful part of that team ? And when they want to set up a Z-rig , even though you're not expected to do it all by yourself , like can you be helpful in that process ? Or that's not the time to be asking a hundred questions , but if you're familiar with it enough , you can at least be a helpful part of it .

I think that's where , as a probationary firefighter , that's okay . If that's your goal for now , right , like , just work on that part because you don't want to overwhelm yourself so much to where it just feels like man , I'm never going to learn any of this . Right , because that's not a helpful mindset , that's not going to be productive .

I remember in the very beginning that's the first thing I did is , every day I got on shift for probably the first I would walk through every compartment on every rig at my station , which took a while .

So we'd get on , we'd do our checks in the morning , everybody would go upstairs have some breakfast and I would just stay down there and I would open up every single compartment . I'd try to memorize everything that was in there .

I'd be like , okay , this one is going to have this is the engineer's compartment , all his tools , and I'd open it up and I'd double check that I got it all right when I'd go to the next one .

And that way I knew that if someone was to ask me to go grab something in the middle of a stressful situation , I wouldn't get back to the engine of the truck and be like where is it ?

And so start with those baby steps , because once you know where it is , then you can learn how to use it , and once you know how to use it , then you can start to master it . But it's going to take time .

It's going out there and really just doing it because it's the right thing to do and to come up to speed on stuff . And yeah , jordan did a fantastic job with that .

And the cool part is that , as Jordan's learning and you start going on calls with him over and over , the months go by , things like that my confidence level and what Jordan can do just goes up and up and it's like but he still has weaknesses .

So , for example , if we had a confined space rescue call , all right , jordan's gonna , he's gonna be helpful , but he's not going to be super helpful , but things like that will come with time . And but yet if we go on a medical call , it's like , well , I know he's really good at taking care of patients .

I also know that he's really good being like an assistant to the paramedic as far as getting them the equipment that they need because he's familiar with it , being able to assist with procedures , things like that when they say , hey , this is what we need done , we need an IO or whatever .

It's like he's competent and capable of doing it and you don't just , you can't just wish those things to happen , you have to physically put in the time and the effort to make it happen . I remember Chief Thompson .

I mean there's a reason why Chief Thompson is where he's at right now , but when he was on my crew years ago , we didn't have policies on an app , it was all in a booklet and anyways , just over time he was just constantly knowing the EMS policies and I asked him like how do you know that so well ?

And he's like , every night before I go to bed , he's like I read a protocol and it's like as simple as that is . He made that something that was important to him and just did it . And it showed because he was so well versed with the protocols . But yeah , you have to physically put , set aside some time to do that stuff .

You don't have to come up with all these new ways to learn , but as a new guy , you shouldn't be the first one done with a truck check and waiting on other people . That's a bad sign right , you should always be the last one because you're thoroughly going through . And so it's .

Yeah , I think sometimes we feel like , oh , I got to come up with all these new strategies on to learn , and the reality is , no , just do your job well , like everything's already laid out . If you just do it thorough , you're going to learn it .

And I think that's one thing that stood out to me over time is you're doing these truck checks and it just feels like man , I never remember like I didn't . I did this last week for a couple hours and I and this week I'm still trying to figure it out .

But man , I feel like once you get that year and a half , two years behind you now , it almost just feels like , yeah , I know exactly where the bandages are , obviously right , but it took like that muscle memory of doing good truck checks for a long time before . Now . It's just easier to .

As far as as something as simple as the vehicle check , do I just paper whip this and it's like , yeah , it's probably just fine , or do I actually put some effort into it and just make sure it's okay ?

The one thing that I don't like and have experienced it over the years is you think that something's there and then you actually get on the call and it's not , and you have nobody to blame but yourself , and that kind of beats you up and it's like I don't want that to happen , you know again , or I want to try and minimize that .

But , by the way , going back to Jordan would show up early to work and one of two things would start . He would either if the vehicle was dirty , boom , he would be washing it , and if the vehicle was clean , then he was right into his vehicle checks .

And again , we don't want to do things so that people see us , but the other crews are noticing this stuff and in the end during your probationary

time . You're also trying to be accepted into this family and your work ethic and your attitude will make it a lot easier for that family to kind of accept you in . You're trying to prove yourself , and the more naturally you can do that the better . But sometimes you even have to do things you don't want to do .

So , for example , like in the morning it's like you get to work and it's like I don't want to wash this vehicle . You just do it because that's what we do , and so there's lots of little things like that to kind of help you to be successful when you're new .

To have a shiny vehicle to parade around , Like that's not a bad reason either . You want to help the chief , but if you always have that deeper reason , it's like no , I'm doing this for my family . Like then it doesn't matter what the task is right . Like it's bigger than whatever that moment is .

I just got 20 more minutes and then I can move on with other things , and it's like they're out there happily washing the rig .

It's like all right , it's the right thing to do , like I need to go do that , I need to go join in , and so , as we encourage them to do things with us and , at the same time , they're kind of encouraging us to do the right thing also , and so I love it .

Even the guy that's only been there for two months can still help me to make good decisions , and when he goes out and starts washing the rig , it's like what's the right thing to do ? Grab a brush and join in , and so we , even as old people , need those little prods too , to go do the right thing .

You want to make sure everything's orderly , that you're running to get the door running to answer the phone , that you're up before everyone and empty in the dishwasher , like you don't want . You got to lose your pride a little bit there for a minute . And I remember my same thing the very first full time shift .

We went on a call and since it was the first night I got it . I was on the engine that very first night cause I was an extra person and we were going to back into the station and I couldn't get my seatbelt undone . I wasn't ready and Captain Perry got out before me .

He started backing in , backing the engine , and afterwards they came up to me like hey , this is real now . Like you , jump out there and start backing them up . You know , don't let your captain get out . And I remember feeling a little embarrassed to get out , like I didn't want to be . Oh , jumping out so quickly to get the stuff done .

But it was more embarrassing that I didn't do it . It was more embarrassing that I let them down . And so you got to lose your pride a little bit and fulfill all of those probie stereotypes . Cause if you do it and you go above and beyond and you find one extra thing a day that you can just make a little bit better , then you're going to be successful .

And everybody else is going to see it too , and I think personally it helps people have trust in you If they see you working hard and you're up before everybody already studying your protocols and the dishwasher's empty and the kitchen's clean and your rigs are clean and checks are done and everything's where it should be .

You're going to have trust in your partner . They're going to have trust in you and you're only going to be better for it . Like , fulfill that's what I'd say to all the people who are starting a job or on probation is just fulfill that stereotype , go above and beyond with it . Like , fill that role , like you're only going to be better for it .

But then I'd say everybody's watching you again the moment you come off probation right , because now it's like okay , now we're going to see who this guy really is .

I was frustrated that we'd done all these great things in one area I was in and every time I'd moved to a new area it's just like the congregation didn't care or just like didn't know how cool I was as a missionary .

And my dad wrote back and he said something you need to learn in life is people only care about the great things you do while you're among them , and so I kind of kept that as my mantra , even for the fire service , because all the great things you do during the academy are great in that moment .

But when you move on to the next step , people are only going to care about the great things you do while you're with them .

And I think if you can hold on to a mindset like that , where when you shift or switch crews or switch shifts or whatever , every time you're in a new group now they don't really care about what you did on your last department or while you were on whoever's crew or whatever station , and even for small moments with trades or overtime shifts .

They care in that moment what you're doing while you're amongst them , and I think if you can continue and maintain those good habits , then that goes even further . But maybe we'll just wrap up on a couple

of things . Here Is one Captain Davies , what advice would you give to crews that have a probationary firefighter ? We've talked a lot about what the probate can do and what it takes to be a good new guy . What are helpful things for the crews to be mindful of to be a good support system for their new guy ?

But I would say you can watch YouTube videos , you can talk about it , but in the end you gotta get out there and sweat , you gotta put some up . It's Thanksgiving .

But I would say , try and get over that and go out there and put in the sets and reps and let them become comfortable with the equipment and the setup and stuff like that . So , yeah , take the time to invest in that person .

In the end they're gonna be on that department for a lot of your years and the better and I believe this a lot that if you put in a lot of time and effort with them at the beginning and helping them to know and understand what good looks like and what's expected that the department benefits from that for a lot of years .

As far as just having somebody that's a harder worker , that complains less things like that , we're all gonna have parts of the job that we don't like and we have to figure out how to make the best of it .

And I think in your probationary year you kind of you learn some of that where it's like that whole term , embrace the suck when it's like we're doing hard stuff , we're sweating , these guys are teasing me , all these things are going on and to me it's like if you can take that and learn from it and enjoy it , find a way to enjoy it too , then you have a

lot of years of a happy employee and , in the end , not only a happy employee but a happy coworker . Some of that you're with , some of that's not bringing you down .

You can show what a career of figuring stuff out looks like versus this massive knowledge base where you're expected to know the answer to everything and I think , setting that expectation for them too that , yeah , we may not know every single thing , but we're pretty dang good at figuring it out , and over a career , you get pretty fast at figuring it out on the

fly . So , jordan , what are some things that you would , now that you're off probation , several months behind you and you can say anything you want ? So what would you say to crews ?

It's a long time to create your ruts and point a direction of how the rest of your career is gonna go . And I'm not saying you can't change . You can always change and be better . But I would just say , just remember that you're shaping that probationary firefighter .

Your attitude , I think , is a big one and I think we do a really good job at Logan Fire just with good attitudes . And I'd say almost everybody's normally pretty happy to be at work and the pro is gonna Notice that . He's gonna notice that , look , this guy's still happier . Oh , this guy's a little salty .

So have that good attitude and remember that you're kind of molding and shaping these people , even if you don't think you are your influence and you're the consequences of your actions . Have a lot more .

And and your first crew , I think they're gonna see the almost the worst part of you because you're still figuring so many things out . But then you get your next crew and I was just grateful that they allowed me to start fresh . I was like , okay , this is a fresh start , I can and then .

But then , after all the mistakes they made on that crew , then the next crew , or and or even if you're with a crew for a longer period of time , that I think having a crew that allows you to change and Doesn't hold that first impression too much over your head .

But I think that helped me a lot to really get past some milestones where you could be more on the helpful side . But just want to kind of wrap up with one more thing just any new fire fire , especially with Logan fire .

I think we have an incredibly valuable resource in our clinicians and how that's all All paid for and covered through the peer team and and the grants and everything that they've worked hard to establish .

So I think , as a new person , you have to be very careful who you complain to and you don't want to be branded that way , and but bottling everything up necessarily isn't gonna be the best thing either , and so I would just encourage any new person I mean , we have all these clinicians that have zero tie the department there and it's all 100% confidential if

you need to do a session or two or what or more , and just have a place where you Convent about how much of a jerk your captain is or whatever , and then , of course , you are also talking to a trained professional Help you process that a little bit . They're familiar , and especially the vetted clinicians on our website . They're familiar with Logan .

They've done ride-alongs , they're familiar with our culture . They can help talk you down . So when you go back on shift You're actually in a better spot to learn and be productive without having necessary to complain to your partner on the rescue about the Court tests or chief LeCouin , or just keep complaining about him

.

I mean , I have a divorce in my background , struggles with kids here and there , and things like that and it makes you wonder , like if I had the knowledge and the ability to have somebody help me with some of those things , what would be better , what would have been different ?

I guess and and I know it would be because the department is on such a good pathway with this stuff , because I already see , for example , I mentioned podcast one and two and I was visiting with my wife about those things and and not only that , but Encouraging her .

I was wanting to do it together , but when we were watching it at work the other day , I sent her the link and I'm like you should watch this . This is really good , and part of that is just helping them to understand us .

We don't even totally understand ourselves and yet we're asking somebody to live with us and it's like I don't know what to tell you Because I don't even understand myself .

I don't understand why I come home and all of a sudden I'm maybe don't talk a whole lot or super Hyper focused on cleaning the kitchen or whatever , like I don't totally understand those things , but together we can kind of work through this and figure it out .

And so between these podcasts , between Peer support , things like that , there are so many cool little things and oftentimes I would suggest not waiting , and so when you start thinking or wondering or whatever , to me that's the time to act , and not letting something go on for months and years or whatever , and then being like , oh yeah , we need help .

To me it's like , oh man , figure that stuff out at the very beginning . Jump into a session with therapists , with your wife , and just be like you know I come home and I do this and I don't understand why .

And you know , allow a third-party person To explain it to you , to explain it to your wife and stuff like that , and even potentially explain it to your kids . It was like dad has this reaction when he gets off shift or a bad call or something like that .

And and and just to me , the more you can involve your family and kind of our nuances Not that I'm asking people to change because of us , but to just help us all to understand each other .

And so , yeah , I look at these , these new guys coming up , and it's like , oh man , they've got so many tools that we never had and we just hope people would take advantage of them , right ?

It's not the same way with mental health stuff , like you have to choose to have it . If you don't choose to have it , it's not gonna be helpful . And so as much as we can encourage and make people see the benefits , then hopefully they can choose to take advantage of the resources and tools we have .

Right , and yeah , we hope , as time goes on , that the new guys can see the tool and it just becomes normal . That's , I think , the ultimate hope is , while tools are new , everybody's a little . You know , even physical tools . On New tool on the engine , everybody's a little hesitant , right , I've never used that tool before .

But I think with even these mental health tools , the more they're around , the more you hear about people using them . Then it just becomes that much easier .

But there's no need to be brave . You need it . You need to be able to control yourself and be brave when the tones go off . But other than that , you know , reach out to someone , talk someone , and that's just gonna make you better off for that next call . You'll be more prepared and you'll know how to handle those things . So definitely use those tools .

You don't have to go through anybody , no one has to know , but those tools are accessible and easy to get to . So but of course , peer team and Anybody on the apartment really I think everybody's in a pretty good spot . They're willing to help . So I hope you'd reach out . But thanks , guys , for joining us today . What a great session with two living 71 .