What it's All About!

This course is designed to test an individual firefighter's personal limitations when working in high stress situations with limited recuperation periods. It is also designed to test the individuals’ ability to function as part of a team. Teambuilding is a focal point of the course. The successful fire company must function as a team.

Firefighting as an occupation, is moments of high adrenaline surrounded by hours of repetitive work, this course will test the individual’s ability to focus and maintain the tactical edge during either time. The drills used will be simple in nature and all relative to the job. They will be repetitive. There are no “high speed low drag” drills. The focus of the course is working and thinking when you are tired, with emphasis on thinking. We believe that the ability to think, in any situation, is the most important skill a firefighter should develop.

Physical training, running, jogging, and climbing stairs will be involved. The course is not designed or intended to break the candidate through athletic performance but, it is an absolute fact that firefighting is a physically demanding profession. The physical training involved is at a level that every firefighter should be able to perform. It is difficult but not impossible. Participants will be required to run a 1 ½ - 2 mile run in athletic attire and daily ½ mile “jogs” in full PPE with SCBA.

The biggest misconception of this course is that it is intended to “separate the best from the rest”. Nothing is farther from the truth. This course’s purpose is to provide every participant with the opportunity to test his or her limitations and succeed. Again, teamwork is key.

Last but certainly not least, the course will reinforce the importance of good core values and character, the basis of leadership. Successful participants will have to demonstrate the ability to follow and function as a teammate; it is the first step in a long journey to becoming a leader.

The Georgia Firefighter Standards and Training Council has provided a course number and credits the FLAMES course with 48 annual recertification hours for Georgia certified firefighters.