[0:00] Beyond the Badge is brought to you by

[0:02] the Edina Crime Prevention Fund.

[0:18] Showed up to the station about 6:30.

[0:23] Got all my gear set up on my ambulance

[0:26] today.

[0:30] Make sure there's no damage. Make sure

[0:32] all the lights are working.

[0:35] My name is Nick Febs. I am a fire cadet.

[0:38] Been an EMS for 5 years, fire service

[0:41] for just shy of one year. And this gives

[0:45] us all of our checks to uh make sure

[0:46] that the ambulance is ready for service

[0:49] for the day.

[0:49] My name is Sean White. I'm the assistant

[0:51] chief that oversees training EMS for the

[0:54] Adina Fire Department. Uh I've been uh

[0:56] with the city of Vidina for 18 years

[0:58] now. I've had the honor of working in uh

[1:01] the majority of the positions on shift.

[1:03] Uh started my career as a paramedic

[1:04] firefighter. I drove the engine for a

[1:07] number of years. I was a captain on

[1:08] shift. I believe that over time I've

[1:10] seen a significant change. There's an

[1:12] increase in request demand expectations

[1:16] out of employees because of that. That

[1:18] pool that used to be uh the perfect size

[1:21] to be able to draw from is now

[1:24] approximately the same size, but more

[1:26] people want uh some of those personnel.

[1:33] In California, I was a firefighter. I

[1:36] went through the traditional fire

[1:37] academy, served at my uh community

[1:40] college. I jumped on a department there

[1:42] locally in Los Angeles County. I came

[1:45] into this department and was unaware

[1:47] that I was short of one certification

[1:51] which landed me into a fire cadet spot.

[1:54] The cadet program is something that we

[1:56] have been looking at in the past. We've

[1:58] been discussing and then Nick came

[1:59] along. Nick was a perfect candidate for

[2:02] this process because he had had some

[2:05] good experience. He had most of the

[2:06] certifications. It was just because of

[2:08] where he transplanted from. They didn't

[2:11] have the same box check requirements

[2:13] there. And so we had to do a firefighter

[2:16] 2 certification. Our ideal situation is

[2:18] we go out and we find somebody with all

[2:21] the certifications, lensure, training,

[2:22] experience. But there's always going to

[2:24] be the reality that we're not going to

[2:26] be able to get that every time we want

[2:28] to hire somebody. So there's going to be

[2:30] tears as we go along. And that cadet

[2:31] process is going to give us the most

[2:33] valuable and utilizable pathway to get

[2:37] where we need to go. When we get down

[2:38] there, we'll go over a little brief on

[2:40] what we're going to do, but let's just

[2:41] get our gear, get some extra bottles.

[2:53] We're at the South Metro uh training

[2:55] facility here in town. Today, we're

[2:57] doing some simulation runs of fire

[2:58] attack, running through like three, four

[3:01] different scenarios.

[3:04] One that we're working on right now is

[3:05] our horizontal standpipe operation. So,

[3:07] it's establishing a water line through a

[3:09] second story or even greater than that.

[3:13] Me as a cadet, I would be in the back of

[3:14] the engine, fully geared up in turnouts.

[3:21] From there, we have an apartment bundle,

[3:23] it's called, goes on our back. It's all

[3:25] dry hose. We bring that up through the

[3:27] window through the ladder.

[3:40] We're gaining access through uh the east

[3:42] side, but the fire is on the west side

[3:44] of the building. So, we're progressing

[3:46] through that building all on the second

[3:48] story and then attacking the fire.

[3:50] We definitely spend at least half of our

[3:52] time during the academy process when

[3:54] we're on boarding new people down at the

[3:56] training facility.

[4:01] This training is extremely valuable.

[4:03] First of all, you don't know when a fire

[4:05] is going to happen. Whether it's, you

[4:07] know, middle of the day when you're up

[4:08] and awake, you're, you know, you've had

[4:10] food in you, or on the opposite end, it

[4:12] could be at 3:00 in the morning when

[4:14] you're half asleep. So, going through

[4:16] the evolutions, getting your hands on

[4:18] the equipment, running through

[4:19] scenarios, you know, feeling what it's

[4:21] like to be on your mask.

[4:27] Those are things that you have to work

[4:28] through training to become comfortable

[4:30] with. And it's scenarios like this that

[4:32] allow us to work effectively uh when it

[4:35] really matters.

[4:44] So they say I think about a third of

[4:46] your lifetime is spent in the station.

[4:48] My shifts have been 12 hours. When I

[4:51] look at it, it feels like I'm here quite

[4:52] often.

[4:54] But I believe we're now transitioning

[4:56] into me being a part of a shift as a

[4:58] 24-hour shift.

[5:00] He still participated in a three-week

[5:02] academy. He then started working with

[5:04] our shift with a multiple multiple

[5:07] different crews. And that allowed him to

[5:08] get better exposure, wider breadth of

[5:11] kind of knowledge and understanding. The

[5:13] very beginning of it, they're focused on

[5:15] getting uh comfortable with their shift

[5:17] mates, uh the layout, the configuration.

[5:20] Honestly, what happens? What do the

[5:21] tones sound like? Where do the trucks

[5:23] go? Those types of things.

[5:33] I think the benefit of staying with the

[5:36] uh cadet program is what allows us to do

[5:38] is focus on the people instead of just

[5:41] the boxes that need to be checked.

[5:49] We're looking for great people who fit

[5:53] with our values systems and can go out

[5:57] and do the work. We can teach them to

[5:59] technicalities and the specifics. It's

[6:02] much harder to to train somebody to have

[6:05] great morals, ethics, relationships, uh

[6:08] interaction, and public support.

[6:15] The resources here, the people that work

[6:17] here, they truly want you to succeed and

[6:20] they'll do anything and everything to

[6:22] make sure that your tasks get completed.

[6:25] Every single thing has been done to make

[6:28] sure that I complete that task and

[6:30] become a firefighter paramedic.

[6:35] Because we run a fire medic service, we

[6:38] have distinctly different jobs that

[6:40] cross over on a regular basis. So there

[6:43] are days that you need to spend focused

[6:46] on your paramedic skills and working on

[6:47] the ambulance. But very quickly, you can

[6:50] clear a hospital on that call and then

[6:52] go into firefighting mode.

[6:55] Really when I think about this program,

[6:57] uh my vision for the long term is really

[7:00] about building out uh an opportunity to

[7:03] grow people within the community, find

[7:06] people who share our values,

[7:08] professionalism, and passion for the

[7:10] work, maybe even if they don't have the

[7:12] education and technical background.

[7:20] So Nick was hired as the first fire

[7:22] cadet piloting our cadet program and

[7:25] today uh he'll be badged a paramedic

[7:27] firefighter completing the transition

[7:29] through cadet all the way to paramedic

[7:31] firefighter.

[7:33] Receiving that badge uh is really the

[7:36] culmination of all the effort that it

[7:38] took you to go to school, get trained,

[7:42] go through different opportunities, and

[7:43] finally you're at a a career department

[7:46] like this.

[7:47] So, it's been a long journey to get to

[7:49] this point, but all the hard work,

[7:51] dedication, the sleepless nights have

[7:53] gotten us to this point where I can now

[7:55] officially call myself a firefighter

[7:57] paramedic.

[8:00] You are now here. You are one of us and

[8:03] here to serve.