Firefighter

Job Description Performs routine protective service work in fire suppression, hazardous materials, and emergency medical rescue, often under emergency conditions and frequently involving personal hazard. Work is performed under immediate supervision. Essential Tasks Suits-out in personal protective equipment, boards fire apparatus, and responds to emergency calls; Loads, unloads, carries, and connects fire hoses of various sizes; advances and operates to control and extinguish fires; Removes, carries, positions, and climbs ladders of various lengths and performs firefighting and rescue; Provides ventilation openings in hazardous locations and/or positions using manual or mechanical means; Forces entry into inaccessible locations and extrication from entrapment using manual or mechanical means; Uses self-contained breathing apparatus and enters into hazardous and/or toxic atmospheres; Searches hazardous locations for persons trapped or disabled and removes to safety; Performs cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR); Uses ropes to hoist, lower and secure persons and/or equipment using various knots; Performs property conservation measures during fires and/or environmental emergencies; Tool location and proper use on assigned apparatus; Proper maintenance of tools assigned to apparatus; Knowledge of components, cleaning, and basic air management; Knowledge of fire behavior; Proper selection and uses of portable extinguishers; Ensures that all work is performed in accordance with OSHA and City Safety Standards and Policies. OTHER JOB RELATED TASKS: Assist with public education and fire prevention classes; Performs daily cleaning and care of the fire stations and grounds; Installs and maintains smoke detectors in the community; Performs other related and non-related activities within the scope of firefighter's knowledge, skills and abilities. Qualifications 1) Minimum Reasoningability usually associated with this classification: Ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems, and emergency situations; to deal with non-verbal symbolism (scientific equations, blueprints, directives given by hand motions) in difficult situations; to comprehend and respond immediately. 2) Minimum Mathability usually associated with this classification: Arithmetic: Ability to count, add, subtract, multiply, divide and basic algebra. 3) Minimum Languageability usually associated with this classification: Read:Ability to read scientific, medical and technical journals, textbooks, blueprints, manuals, reports, schedules and job related memoranda. Write: Ability to write answers to tests questions and daily reports of emergency responses. Speak: Ability to be conversant in the principals and methods of effective and persuasive speaking, voice and diction, and discussion; to verbally respond to a commanding officer or peer when at the scene of an emergency situation including a smoke filled facility. 4) Amount of Training, either on-the-job or formal education, usually associated with this occupation in addition to the Reasoning, Math and Language abilities detailed above: Minimum education of a high school diploma or equivalent required. Successful completion of the Recruit Training Academy. 5) Degree of Physical Demands (Strength) usually associated with this classification: Hazardous Work: Lifting, pulling and pushing occasionally to move people of various weights and up to 100 pounds frequently to move objects. Physical demand requirements are extreme in this work. 6) Type of Physical Demands usually associated with this classification: Reaching, Handling, fingering, and/or Feeling: (Reaching

• Extending the hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction). Employee must be able to reach in all directions, often in two directions simultaneously. (Handling
• Seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with hand or hands (fingering not involved). Employee must be able to handle various objects, as well as people, using one or both hands. (Fingering
• Picking, pinching, punching, or otherwise working with fingers primarily (rather than with whole hand or arm as in handling). Employee must have good use of fingers. (Feeling
• Perceiving attributes of objects such as size, shape, temperature, or texture by means of touching). Employee at times is working in smoke filled facility without benefit of sight and must rely on feeling. Talking and/or Hearing: (Talking
• Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of spoken word). Especially important in an emergency situation when employee must talk with a victim and establish a calm environment. Seeing: The ability to perceive the nature of objects by the eye. Recommended guidelines for vision are: Acuity, far
• Clarity of vision at 20 feet or more. Both eyes 20/22
• R 20/25
• L 20/25 corrected Acuity, near
• Clarity of vision at 20 inches or less. Both eyes 20/40 corrected Depth perception
• Three-dimensional vision. Ability to judge distance and space relationships so as to see objects where and as they actually are. Depth Perception
• 5 Field of Vision
• Area that can be seen up and down or to right or left while eyes are fixed on a given point. Accommodation
• Adjustment of lens of eye to bring an object into sharp focus. This item is especially important when fighting fire and observing objects at varying distances from the eye. Color Vision
• Ability to identify and distinguish colors. Especially important when fighting chemical fires.
• Environmental Conditions (Physical Surroundings) usually associated with this classification: The employee is subject to Inside and Outside Environmental Conditions: Employee is subjected to various inclement weather conditions, (sleet, snow, ice, rain, extremely hot or cold), during normal daily activities or whenever emergencies occur.
• Environmental Conditions (Hazards) usually associated with this classification: Employee will be exposed to trash, debris, garbage, numerous chemicals, smoke, explosions, combustible and flammable materials, various gases, and other hazards of firefighting. Work is subject to final standards of OSHA on bloodborne pathogens.
• Machines, Tools, Equipment, and Working Aids which may be representative, but not all inclusive, of those commonly associated with this type of work: Emergency response vehicles, self-contained breathing apparatus, ropes, hoses of various sizes, ladders of various lengths and weights, axes, sprinkler systems, tools and aids used in the control and containment of fires, hazardous materials and medical emergencies, manuals, rules and regulations, Personnel Resolution, ordinances, training materials and any other work aids relating to the job. Special Requirements Must have possession of a valid appropriate driver's license issued by the State of North Carolina. Must be able to lift 100 pounds, climb and descend ladders of various heights (sometimes carrying people or animals), walk and/or crawl on various shaped roofs, tolerate various chemicals and gases and work within confined spaces. Must be able to work in smoked filled areas and wear masks. Must have or be able to obtain EMT certification within one year from date of employment. Must be at least 18 years of age, meet minimum medical and physical requirements and successfully complete a background investigation.