One of the reasons we created new video materials to support Alpha Volunteer Fire Company recruitment is that sometimes we just can’t tell you in writing how cool something really is.

Take, for example, our Engine PERT (Pre Emergency Response Training) program.  If you simply take our brief description from our website, this is what you see:

In this program, an Alpha trainee (probationary firefighter) learns the basic structure of the Alpha Fire Company, learns the structure and role of the Engine Company, and learns and then reinforces skills necessary for state certification.

What the site doesn’t tell you (and what our new training video demonstrates) is just how closely supervised and “hands on” our training evolutions truly are.

Engine PERT Is Hands On Training That You Put To The Test Early & Often.

Engine PERT is designed to teach a probationary firefighter several critical basics that help to form a foundation of knowledge that lasts, quite literally, for as long as you’re in the fire service. The Engine Company is responsible for water deployment at a fire, and each person within an engine has a specific job to do. Engine PERT prepares you for these jobs:

• Engine company fire ground operations
• Riding positions and assignments
• Operation and control of water supplies & pumping systems
• Stretching, charging and operating the hoselines
• Understanding the backup line
• Line management including when and where to use each individual line
• Understanding types of nozzles

There’s no wait and see within the fire company; once you are certified on a skill you may be called upon in either a live training or live fire situation to be responsible for the skill you’ve mastered.

Engine Companies Aren’t Watering A Garden—There’s A Lot To Learn!

What’s so remarkable about Engine PERT (and firefighter training in general) is that there’s almost always something new to learn, a scenario to understand, or a task or technique to train on for improvement.

It’s not just hoses and couplings and nozzles; it’s understanding the nature of the emergency, the type of fire you’re attacking and how each fire scene requires a unique plan for choosing, advancing and charging hose lines for maximum efficiency and firefighter safety.

Examinations are both written and practical/hands on, and will help to prepare a firefighter for required state certification.

Engine PERT training takes approximately 12 weeks, but you can be putting learned skills into practice as early as two weeks into your training.

Engine PERT, Like You, Is A Part Of A Greater Whole.

You’ll quickly learn that each Alpha giving you guidance, training (and perhaps a little grief) was once a probationary firefighter like you: Learning the same skills and procedures, studying the same detailed information about water supplies, lines and engines and ladders and … likely making some of the same mistakes you’ll make along the way.

This is how we get better, how we grow closer, and how we’ve built a Volunteer Fire Company that has earned respect across the Commonwealth. Learn more about becoming an Alpha on our website or by viewing our videos.

Check out this Engine PERT Post on the Alpha Facebook page!