So your training is finished. You have swollen with pride as your squad passed out in front of the families, there isnt a bit of kit that you cannot describe blindfold, you are ready to enter the World of Firefighting.

But after the party is over, when you have left the safety of the Training Centre and the camaraderie of your Squad mates, in the darkest hour before dawn on your first day, you are worrying. What will it be like? Will they like me? What if I forget everything? What if I get scared inside a job and panic?

Dont worry, every one of the millions of Professional Firefighters around the World have felt the same. Most people make it, some easily some chose a torturous and difficult route of petulance, disrespect and sour grapes.

Well dont worry; here are a few tips to ease the path of progress in your first few months at the Fire Station.

First Day

Make sure you know the route to work, the likely hold ups and other ups and downs of the journey, whether this be by road, rail or on foot. Always aim to be at the Station an hour before your shift starts, this will show willing and allow you to get used to the surroundings before you are pounced upon by your new colleagues.

Make sure you have everything you need, even if you think you wont need it, like Undress Uniform, Cap, spare clothing, you never know what may unfold on your first day or what was planned for the day, you are the newest member to the Watch, it had been running a long time before you got there so dont expect the world to stop while you get on.

Look smart, make sure your uniform is clean and neat and your hair is tidy, there is a trend now in the Fire Service to allow hair to be worn in a whole manner of styles, keep it if you must, the politicians who employed you may like it, but those of us who have been around 10, 20 or 30 years, the ones you have to work with night and day, probably dont appreciate the latest 'Beckhamesque' style that you saw in last weeks Now Magazine and just 'had to have'. Ladies, if you wear your hair long, remember to tie it up neatly like females in every other Service have to, I still never saw a WPC or Wren with long hair flowing over her uniform.

Remember everyone who comes in, plus the on duty Watch, will try to bust your balls over something or the other, please take it in the friendly spirit it is meant. The worst start I ever knew was the recruit who spat out their dummy on the first day.

Once you are on duty, please ask if there is anything you are unsure of, we have all been there and remember the difficulties of the new world we entered. Questions are natural and expected, no one ever died for asking for a little advice. Take time on the first morning to familiarise yourself with the appliances at your Station. Many Training School vehicles are older than the Operational fleet. The stowage and layout might be different to that which you are used to.

Please try to be confident with the Watch without being cocky. Most people there will have been doing the job a long time. If you are younger they may have been doing the job since you were a kid or before you were born, if you are older, you may have been a manager in B&Q, with 40 Staff for the past fifteen years, but you are in the Fire Service now, and whether you are 18 or 38, today you are the new Boy or Girl.

Always keep your eyes and ear open when you are learning something and being advised and your mouth shut if there is nothing constructive forming on your tongue by way of a reply. People will be keen to hear all about you, they may have a laugh and a joke about what you did before. If you conquered Everest last year and someone makes light of it, it isn't meant as an insult. It is Fire Station Humour and you are being 'tested' the less you react to the 'testing' period, the shorter it will last. This is a fact that has been tried and tried a million times since Horses drew Fire Engines to fires.

The First Call

So the bells drop and with that every piece of information you ever learnt just fell out of the bottom of your trousers. Dont worry, there are at least another 3 people on the appliance who remembered what to do. Get to the appliance quickly and safely, without inviting a new nickname of Road Runner. Get rigged and get on the appliance in your allocated riding position, listen to what you are told by the OIC or the Ff sitting next to you. Again if there is anything you dont understand, ask.

Most likely your first call will be very little, you will survive it without to much damage or trauma and enjoy the ride back looking forward to the next one. If it is something terrible, the experience of your OIC and Crew will come into play. I am sure that it will be a very, very bad day if you have to carry out a Perilous Rescue from the top rung of a ladder all on your own first time out. I have known people who have attended some major incidents on their first day, even their first call (Kings Cross comes to mind for a friend of mine) almost everyone will be aware of this and you will find you are given a manageable task. Remember, Hydrants still need to be set in when heroes are being made. If you did get approached by someone to do some critical task, please inform them it is your first day and your Guv'nor has given you a specific task.

Wind Ups

Are as inevitable as the dawning of the new day, some wit decided they would be all so politically correct and muddy the line between harmless fun and serious abuse. They did't get it, most of us still do. There will probably be a nickname and or comparisons to some unfortunate often ghastly individual, Shrek, Moose, Warthog, Cruella Deville or whatever comes to mind, just ride it. I know of many people, with years on the job who are affronted if you call them by their proper name at work. Expect to be sent on a multitude of fools errands or to get wet when you do drills or open a door. The better you ride these things the sooner it will end.

Remember though, that if the line is crossed and wind ups become physical, suggestive, sexually or racially abusive, you do not have to tolerate it !

General Station Etiquette

Always address Officers as Sir or Ma'am until told otherwise.

If you are a Millionaire, and drive to Work in a £50,000 Mercedes and live in a Stately home, do not rub it in or boast to the Watch.

Avoid telling everyone how wonderful you are at this or that, how good your holiday was or what a Blinding Golfer you are. Be reserved, get involved in conversations and try not to hold court in the mess before you even know those you work with. Also avoid 'Topping' people when they tell a story that is a sure shortcut down the road to unpopularity.

Dont boast about what a wonderful Firefighter you are, you are not, many of them you work with are, and they have got the scars and have carried death in their arms to prove it.

If you make a mistake, learn the lesson and get right back to it, sulking or throwing a tantrum never got anything done.

Always be ready to help out if a job needs doing, offer to make a pot of tea whenever it is required, help with the washing up and never stand idly by when a Senior Member is cleaning equipment rolling hose or whatever.

Learning the Ropes

Each Brigade, Station or Watch will have their own protocols or procedures to develop New Trainees. But aside from this, learn the area you work in. Learn the risks on the ground, the main roads, cross routes and side roads. Learn the areas where the majority of calls come in and what you usually respond to there.

Know your equipment, what it does and where it belongs like the back of your hand. Someones life, maybe yours, may depend on that. Make sure you can use it and know how to get hold of it night and day.

Once you become more confident, ask to take on a little more. Learn the Office or get involved in local CFS Initiatives. If you find yourself sitting with your feet up reading the paper on a quiet night shift, make sure you know every Order, Operational note and procedure off by heart before you carry on checking your stars, because the newspaper has no place in your hand until you do. Because the 20 year man is Watching Match of the day does not mean you should be with him, he is an old dog with nothing to prove. Make sure you are busy learning how to be good at your new job.

Dealing with Complicated Incidents

If you walked out of Nursing at the Local Casualty Unit or have just left the Army after serving in Iraq before you joined, you may be used to Trauma, distress and other tragedies. You are in the business of Fire & Rescue, Death, Danger and Destruction are our bedfellows, you will not avoid them so be prepared. If you attend an incident where someone has died and been seriously injured, be aware that the first time you see this you may have a bad reaction. If you feel faint or sick, you are not the first, walk away, take some deep breaths and throw up somewhere if you have to. But then get straight back in. Once you have seen it once you should begin to get used to it.

If the incident is particularly traumatic, expect to have it play on your mind. Advisory and Counselling Services are there to assist all staff in dealing with these incidents and there is no shame in seeking out these professionals to help you get over it. Sometimes things will make you very sad, I have cried over a dead child that I got to, a minute too late, this may occur a while after the event and is perfectly natural. Firefighters who are parents themselves may be more affected by this. I found a child dead in a fire when I was a young single Firefighter and dealt with it almost without thinking about it. The next time a dealt with an infant fatality I was a parent, boy did that hit me hard, even though I had been in over ten years by then.

Bravery

An unusual and often uncomfortable word within the Fire Service, but one that is required nonetheless. Remember ever hearing the saying 'They rushed in as everyone else was running out'? Guess what, that applies to you now. It may happen only once in your career, it may happen several times, but it will happen. One day, you will have to find those reserves of strength or courage that you never had. It may be the scariest moment in your entire existence but when it happens to you, you will be in the loneliest place you have ever been to.

All of your life, people have been sitting in Fire Stations prepared to carry out that courageous feat, often at a minutes notice, for you the stranger who lives in that area. Now it is your turn. The best salary in the world may never cover the risk you have to take one day or God forbid, the sacrifice that is occasionally made by a young Firefighter. Just look at the past year in the UK. Are you prepared for that? There are millions of people in this land, including me or you when we are in our cars, asleep in our beds that rely on Firefighters to pull us from the brink of a certain death, can you do it? If you have any doubts, it is time to think of another career, before it is too late.

Someone once said

The Uniform is free on this job, but when you wear it, it comes with a history, tradition, pride and a reputation that it is up to you, to carry into the future

Welcome to the Best job in the World, if you enjoy it half as much as I have it will be worthwhile. Good luck...

Article written by Steve Dudeney, Assistant Divisional Officer, London Fire Brigade