When i Joined the Toledo (OH) Fire Department in 1975, anyone could drive an engine. In drill school, we all were required to demonstrate that we were capable of not only driving the apparatus but operating the pumps as well. I ?was hired in a very strange time in the history of my department. The tradition was that firefighters worked 24 hours on and had 48 hours off. Toledo was a three-platoon system. Sometime around 1973, the city decided to put the fire department on eight-hour days. A very complicated schedule was implemented with more than 20 "groups." Because of the scheduling problems, recruits were ordered to drive engines and trucks. There generally were no "first drivers."
展开▼
