Cal Fire mid season hire

For those of you who are going to be assigned into this new Crew program, you have some real opportunities ahead. 1.) You’re going to get more assignment time than many of the engine based personnel. Take a listen to some of the daily traffic in a Unit such as SCU that already has one of these crews in play. Every wildland dispatch includes that crew as part of the Initial Dispatch. I know it’s much more interesting to listen to a major incident but you can learn a lot about how a Unit functions just by listening to the Unit’s routine daily traffic. 2.) The FF Crew program is the way of the future for Cal Fire and you’re getting in on a brand new program. There have been pilot crews such as the SCU crew for a couple of years but overall you’re the first wave of the future. 3.) Keep in mind that the FireHawk program is just beginning. One of the key factors in that program is that the FireHawks have an increased crew capacity which means that the existing crews will need augmentation as those ships come on line. If I am a Helitack Crew Captain looking to recruit new members, the first place I am going to look, in this new world is to recruit the best people from the hand crew teams. Those are now going to be the people with the right skill set and training to best match needs of the helitack operation.

Whatever and wherever you are assigned, strive to become the best at what you do. Those are the people whose brand and reputation expands way beyond your local station or crew.

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I think the challenge is going to be the FC’s/Dept’s culture on how we treat crew members. They need to be seen as equals and not just given all the S#%t jobs. If the Crew is doing yard work at HQ while the Engine Co. is inside working out (or watching TV) the program will fail.

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In my days the engine crews never watched TV during workhours 8-5 . :scream_cat:

To many electronics today!

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Nothing puts a burr under my saddle more than when other people stand and watch people work when they are perfectly able to help and do said work.

I agree that Crew members would make great Pool to hire from. I spent 12 years as a BC supervising a Helitack Base. If I was the crew Captain and the engine slugs were doing astronaut training and we were mowing lawns it wouldn’t last long.

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Chief, don’t mean to be disrespectful, but your info on how things work is not up-to-date. CDF started using FFs for full time paid fuels crews in the 2019 season. The governor gave CDF a big budget boost to make it happen. This year they are expanding the program even more. They are required to have the CDF FF-Basic course (which now is over 200 hours long) before they respond. and we moved away from half-time pay in … 2006? they phased in a 56-hour clock several contracts ago and now every employee gets a true “time and a half” check for the 19 extra hours each week. “67 hour” training course was officially replaced in 2013?/2014? maybe even earlier than that.

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Ahhhh… there are no (or shouldn’t be any FF1s) on the 10 CALFIRE fuels crews… 1 FC, 1 FAE, 1 FAII, 1 EO, 9-10 Forestry Techs… & what is happening now with the paid crews is NOT an expansion of the Fuels crew program. You are right in one aspect… they are required to have the 219hr CALFIRE Basic cert to work on the Fuels crew…

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you’re right. edited post to say FFs in the general sense. many details being worked out and changed from the initial push to get it started.

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I was being facetious about the Engine crew watching TV. My point is about not treating the Crew FFs like second class employees. They can’t just be the cleaning/cooking/grade project FFs.
There’s got to be some incentive beyond, foot in the door, especially if we need a percentage of them to be experienced. There has to be some “perks” to the crew or it will be a constant rotation of first year FFs that quit mid-season

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The question is where are they going to be housed. Most stations don’t have the the space to house them during the night . My experience though was when the heli-attack crew was sharing the station during the day they helped with everything including the cooking, cleaning and station projects. They wont be second class citizens but if assigned project work somewhere then that’s what they will be doing . The “perks” that they will get it being on more fires and dispatchs . They will be out of unit alot more then then most engine companies and gain the extensive knowledge on fire behavior then most engine crews.

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Not necessarily
Think about how BLM/FS maintain status as a IHC with returning FF. I have personally talked with/worked with several FF1 that came from the CCC/Magalia fire center & are looking forward to starting the new FF1 crew program

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But thats not the Majority. Hots shots are seen as elite, our can be too. Thats where it will be crucial the FCs make the crew into a positive experience.

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Thanks for the info I am well versed how the department works. My niece is on a fuels crew

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In LNU and AEU, the crews are being housed in unused LG fire stations. I would assume the state is renting those facilities, thus giving those LG departments some good rental income.

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Is it true the state is going to close some inmate camps after this fire season.

Just waiting for my start date :upside_down_face:

What Unit?

Probably before the end of this fire season…but things change, so when it happens, that’s when you’ll know!

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I was a GS4 a few years ago on a fed engine, you will make way more. Congrats man.!

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SHU rehire starting tomorrow 7/27. Last we heard is 44 additional FF’s

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