Recruit Conduct
The Clark County Recruit Academy is made up of people from many different
backgrounds and experiences. Many of you have advanced degrees, were in
positions of leadership or authority in previous jobs, or earned
significantly higher wages. Be this as it may, as a recruit you are now in a
position to learn and be educated by people who have much more experience and
time invested in the fire service than you do. You will be expected to follow
orders and obey instructions to the letter.
The fire service itself is a paramilitary organization that uses the chain of
command for the transfer of information and instructions. This paramilitary
structure and organization will also be used within the recruit academy and is
done so with your safety and the safety of those around you in mind.
Recruits who are unable to follow directions and take orders will have a
difficult time participating in and being successful within the framework of
the recruit academy.
In accordance with the paramilitary structure and in keeping with the Clark
County Fire Departments expectation that all its customers are treated with the
highest level of respect, all recruits will address fire department members by
their rank and surname. Along with this recruits will begin and end all
sentences with either sir or ma’am. All non-members of the department will
simply be addressed as sir or ma’am.
Once rookie school has begun all recruits are prohibited from speaking with
members of the fire department who are not members of the cadre or working as a
guest instructors. The only exception to this rule is when a recruit has a
member of his or her immediate family on the fire department that he or she is
living with. During this time conversations are to be limited to non-academy
subject matter.
Time is of the essence during rookie school. A lot of education must be
undertaken in a short period of time in order to cover all of the material that
is necessary to produce a Clark County Firefighter. In order to assure that
recruits are able to receive all of their instruction HUSTLE is
expected from recruits at all times.
The fire academy is no place for laziness or attitudes that do not exhibit a
sense of urgency. The Clark County Fire Department takes an aggressive and
active stance with regard to firefighting strategy and tactics. This aggressive
mindset, however, does not mean that we operate without safety as our first
concern. Safety on the fireground and on all fire departments incidents is of
the highest priority. Recruits are expected to be “on board” with this safety
first attitude.
Proper PPE and situational awareness are mandatory for all recruits on the fire
and drill ground. Horseplay, practical jokes, and fooling around will never be
accepted or tolerated during rookie school. Firefighting is the ultimate team
oriented career. As a recruit firefighter you will be expected to operate
within a team oriented environment and work well with others no matter what
differences you may encounter. You will be expected to learn about and become
family with your fellow recruits. You are in this together.
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