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JOIN THE WEST RIDGE FIRE DEPARTMENT
By becoming a member of the West
Ridge Fire Department, you will have the opportunity to serve and volunteer
to your community. The West Ridge Fire Department is one of the
busiest fire departments in Erie County, averaging over 100 calls a month
and over 1,200 a year. Also by becoming a member, you will have the
opportunity to meet new friends and learn new skills. Some of the
skills that you will learn are firefighting science, rescue operations,
various level of medical training, and numerous other skills. Besides
running fire and medical calls, you have the opportunity to travel to
various fire/rescue/ems expos, attend numerous department wide functions
like the annual banquet, 5th Monday picnics and the annual corn roast.
All equipment and training that you will be required to obtain are provided
and paid for by the West Ridge Fire Department.
Below are the various
classifications of membership you have the opportunity to explore.
Active Firefighter
To apply for
membership to the West Ridge Fire Department, each applicant must be 18
years of age, be a resident of Millcreek Township, live within the WRFD
response district, have a valid drivers license and have a high school
diploma or a GED equivalent.
Each applicant
must fill out an application for probationary membership and turn in the
application to the Membership Committee. Each applicant will then go
through a department interview by the membership committee and the Chief.
A Pennsylvania State Police background check is also required to be
completed before being presented for membership.
Once the
applicant has gone through these steps, the Membership Committee will bring
their findings to the general membership meeting. Each applicant will
need to be present that evening that the vote is taken to be placed on
probationary status. Information about each applicant will be provided
to the membership about your application.
Upon being voted
to probationary status, the following requirements are required to be
completed during the probationary period. The probationary period can
range from 6 months - 24 months. During the probationary period, a
probationary firefighter is required to complete a fire department physical
within the first 30 days of election to probationary membership status.
The physical is at the expense of WRFD.
A probationary
firefighter is required to complete the following training requirements:
First responder or EMT class, NFPA Hazardous Materials Operations Class (24
hours), most current PA Firefighting Delmar Class (Essentials of
Firefighting) and a state certified structural burn session (16 hours).
Each probationary member is also required to attend each Monday evening
training session as well as each monthly business meeting during the
probationary period.
Upon successful
completion of all of the above training requirements, a probationary
firefighter is required to have read copies of the WRFD by-laws, department
policies and standard operating procedures. A probationary firefighter
is also required to sign an agreement to follow all rules of the West Ridge
Fire Department.
Download Senior
Firefighter Application.
Junior
Firefighter
The Junior
Firefighter Program was created in 1998 for the purpose of recruiting future
firefighters, as well as giving the youth (ages 14 - 18) of the community a
place to learn new skills. After being on hiatus from 2001-2004, the
program was started up again in 2004. The members of the Junior
Firefighters have helped out the West Ridge Fire Department in various ways.
Several current firefighters today got their start as a WRFD Junior
Firefighter.
Besides learning
the skills of becoming a firefighters, Junior Firefighters at West Ridge
also participate in various other activities and functions. They
participate in parades, fire prevention details, block parties, public
relations details and training of the new Junior Firefighters. One of
the tasks that the Junior Firefighters do every week is the apparatus
checklist. This allows the Juniors to learn the layout of the
apparatus, what the tools are and what they look like and their function.
This is done under the supervision of a Senior Firefighter.
Training is held
on Monday evenings along with the West Ridge Fire Department. Juniors
are permitted to participate in all aspects the training as long as it does
not put the Junior Firefighter into danger, violate PA Child Labor Laws or
violate the PA Junior Emergency Service Compliance Manual. Some of the
training that Junior Firefighters have participated in are search and
rescue, vehicle extrication, hose line advancement, accountability, ladders,
fire science, and ventilation.
Application
Rules &
Regulations
PA Junior
Firefighter Compliance Manual
If you would like
more information about the Junior Firefighter Division, please fee free to
stop by Station 46 on Monday evening at 6:30pm or
email the Junior Firefighters.
Auxiliary
If
firefighting or EMS is not your thing, you may also join the Auxiliary.
The Auxiliary has been around for over 60 years. The Auxiliary
supports the Fire Department in several ways. When the Fire
Department is out on a call for several hours, the Auxiliary will bring
food and drinks to the scene or have the food and drinks prepared when
the firefighters return to the station. For the past few years,
they have sponsored a night out at an Erie Seawolves Baseball game.
Several times throughout the year, various fundraisers are held to raise
funds to help support the Fire Department. The Auxiliary also
provides a meal once a month to the membership during the monthly
business meeting.
If you wish
to join the Auxiliary,
click here to email the firehouse.
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