The medical weeks are over, the textbooks close, and the gloves come on. Now, class 251 steps into the heart of the job. Fire operations, weeks 5 through 10, where everything becomes real. Boots on the ground, tools in hand, sweat, smoke, sawdust, and fire. This is where firefighters are made. And at the center of it all, the instructors who shape them, the standard they set today becomes the standard these recruits carry for the rest of their careers. >> There's a there's a lot of learning curves when you when you leave school to coming here and it's it's the nature of it. The school teaches like a national curriculum. We have a full day or two where we just go over where should what should you do right when you show up to the station? What time should you show up? you know, how to make the smallest things like how to make coffee will will rub people the wrong way if they don't know how to do it, you know. So, the normal station duty routines and then also the things that we that matter the most, right? Running calls and those kind of things, just exactly how that would take place. We show them everything from cleaning the stretcher to running the call to innovating a patient to starting IVs while the truck is moving, all those things. Uh we we try to get it to make it as realistic as possible so they can take away kind of like the school aspect of it and how we do it here at Cor Springs and Parkland. and we we can make it to where they they know what we expect from them when they go to the road. So when they go to the road day one, they're ready to run any call that we kind of throw their way. >> For weeks, they trained to save lives. Now they trained to save their own. RIT operations. Rapid intervention team training teaches recruits how to rescue a downed firefighter. It's grueling, technical, and unforgiving. Everybody knows. Oh no. Everybody knows. Everybody knows. Oh no. No. Everybody knows. You can feel it in the air. You can feel it in the air. brand new. >> I think RIT is probably one of the most important aspects of of understanding how to execute the task at hand, right? Cuz when we're performing RIT, it's more so to save one of the guys on our end. >> I would definitely say Rit humbled me a little bit just because you're a lot heavier with that gear on. So, it's a totally different ball game when you're in the dark and smoked out and you can't see anything. It's like, all right, well, drag 250 lbs now. So, it's definitely different >> to me. It's something that it's a privilege honestly is the way that the way that I see it. Uh to be to be given that task to be going inside into a ideal environment and to be performing RIP because one of your fellow brothers or sisters needs you. We just want to make sure that they understand the responsibility and the magnitude of each situation when we go into a fire, right? Our primary job is going to be the the civilians and the people that we serve in the city of Coral Springs and Parkland, but we also need to be there for each other in case something happens with us. That's also why we train to help prevent these situations, but we also train to make sure if we get in these situations that we can perform to the level that we need to because it's going to be a hard call to be able to get one of our guys out. >> Hose operations, the foundation of fire suppression. Simple on paper, brutal in practice. Advancing charged lines into a structure requires technique, coordination, and endurance. and class 251 learned that fast. >> Doing the hose operations here at Coral Springs, we definitely learned a lot more than we had learned in the academy. Here we're seeing how it really feels when we're advancing these big hose lines and putting out real structure fires. It's a lot more intense than we felt in the academy. And it definitely kicked our butts a little bit. >> You got to use the proper technique to move the hose cuz you can't just use your brute strength. That that water is a lot there's a lot of pressure behind there. having all the all the instructors that are on this cadre teach us, you know, the ins and outs and giving us those golden nuggets, learning how to advance hose the correct way because it's an it's a symphony, right? Everybody's working in an orchestra together to make sure that you're giving enough hoes enough to fight the fire, right? That's our job. Everything has to work fluently. >> Forcible entry, where precision meets controlled aggression. Haligans, axes, K12 saws, hurricane impact windows, garage doors. Every scenario replicates the realities waiting on the street. The K12 is a massive saw in that thing. It's just it's a force to be reckoned with. But learning the different ways to maneuver it and learning how to plant it and use its weight to its advantage is super helpful. as well as using the irons to their advantage, our Halligan and our axe. Massive benefits using both of them. >> So, you kind of have to let the tool do the work, not fight against it. And make sure that you're using the proper techniques. >> Ladders, deceptively simple, endlessly challenging. Height, technique, balance, strength, all in one motion. In the past few weeks, the ladders have definitely pushed me the hardest just because you're throwing it into scenarios and then continuing on from there. So, it definitely puts a little bit of a pause on it to make sure that you're properly extending and throwing your ladders. >> When spiking ladders, you're looking at this massive 24 ft extension ladder coming off the back of a truck and it's daunting. I mean, to anybody, whether you're taller or shorter. So, being a little bit taller, it helps when you're placing that ladder, you can just almost fall into it and use that leverage to your advantage. Um, and being that I've got a little bit more height. Not too much more, sadly, but you know, it definitely definitely helped out a little bit. Live Fire Week, the moment every recruits for. Flashover training shows fire behavior up close. The heat, the smoke, the movement. Fire isn't just seen, it's felt. From VIS props to controlled interior attacks, this is where classroom lessons become instant. This is what the 11 weeks in preparation has gotten us up to. We've ran scenarios in the the buildings back here, right? And we were running them with with the smoke machines. But being in those burn cans, I wish we could do it again. I wish I wish we could do it again. I was I had my world rocked cuz it was hot in there. There was moments in there where we were in there where I was like, "Wow, this is this is hot." But I'm living it, dude. I'm living the dream. This is This is awesome. I wouldn't want it any other way. >> So, this past week when we did our burns, it was a super cool experience. Um, being able to put all these small tasks that we've done one at a time where it's the most lifelike scenario we're ever going to be able to do here. >> It was a surreal experience because you have all the gear on and you know that you're safe, but you're watching fire just come over your head. It's honestly the most amazing experience ever. You've trained up to this point and you know what to expect, but it's different once you're in that gear and you're breathing in the hot air and you know everybody else around you is experiencing the same thing. So, you try to keep that mindset and mentality while you're in there. >> Week nine, vehicle extrication. A crash scene requires decisive action. Cutting, spreading, stabilizing. >> With vehicle extrication, one thing I learned is stabilization is key. and lives are definitely at risk. So, you really need to know what you're doing and what parts of the car are vulnerable and what parts are not. >> It was super cool to see the different parts of a car and how different structures support one another, how one part of a car can compromise the integrity of another part of a car. So, we got to just pull apart cars. We got to break them apart. And in scenarios where we'd be getting victims out of the car and separating the car from the victim to make sure that we could keep our victim as safe as possible while getting them out of either being pinched in the vehicle or a door that's jammed. Being able to overcome these obstacles and get a victim out as well as just seeing how the car is held together and how we can affect that was super cool. >> By week 9, class 251 begins transitioning from academy life to firehouse life. For the first time, they ride on trucks, learning the culture, pace, and expectations of the crews they'll soon join. 10 weeks behind them, one week left. Class 251 now prepares for graduation. But they're not the same people who walked in. They're stronger, smarter, sharper, and soon they'll be firefighters.