The Los Angeles Fire Department is doing its best to set up new recruits for success at the fire academy. While not a requirement, the strongly-encouraged – and free – Firefighter Candidate Advancement Program – OR CAPS – offers a head start at getting physically fit and gives recruits a sneak peek at what to expect from the academy’s training style. Take a look.
Setting Up For Success
Developed for firefighters by firefighters, CAPS is a preparation course. “This is a legit workout that is going to tax you, both physically and mentally, which is also the preparation for the stress that comes in when we are either in the drill yard…but more importantly, in the field, when we’re fighting fires,” says Rashad Grigsby, LAFD Firefighter/Paramedic.
LAFD Firefighter Eric Clark continues, “it gives civilians a chance to learn about the fire department, learn about skills that they would need to create and get proficient, and so that if and when they do get hired by the Los Angeles Fire Department, they can be successful in the academy, or help them be successful in the academy.
The program is invite-only and attendees are either candidates who haven’t officially been offered a job yet, or people who have a job offer from the city as well as a start day for the academy. When the department opens the application process, people start with an online application at joinlafd.org. The process also includes an interview, and vetting, which involves background checks and digging into the applicant’s personal history to make sure they’re a good fit for the department.
Learn more about the LAFD Firefighter Candidate Advancement Program
Let’s Get Physical
And that gap of time is where CAPS can make a big difference. “This program gives them the necessary tools that they need, as far as physical fitness, as well as the testing capabilities that we will test them,” says Grigsby.
Class Leader Marcellus Lewis shows up three times a week: “we’ll do exercises such as Push Press, back squats, deadlifts, just to build our strength. And then after, we have what we call MetCon (metabolic conditioning), where it’s just high intensity workouts. So we’re working on getting our blood pressure and our heart rate up and working at a high intensity with heavy weight to simulate how we would be working through a fire.”
Academy Sneak Peek
It’s not just the high-intensity workouts, it’s also an early education on skills like water supply, getting water from the fire hydrants to the engine to fight a fire. And that requires lessons in the field and in the classroom, a glimpse at what they’ll face in the academy. “They are actually learning and actually getting the academy class for getting a water supply line and learning about it from the actual instructor that would be teaching that class in the academy. Once they finish the lecture and they learn about the reasons for getting the water supply, how it is done, and the techniques of doing it, they’re going to come out here and actually practice that skill physically, because there’s a difference between learning by book and watching it and actually physically doing it and building it into muscle memory,” says Clark.
Grigsby agrees about the benefits, “this is basically me giving them the answers to the test. This is everything that they need to be successful when they come to the drill tower. From day one, the people that come to the Candidate Assistance Program are light years above those who don’t have this opportunity.”
Chasing Dreams
For those like Alfred Taylor, Junior, who do have the opportunity, there’s a reason for their dedication. “I come out here with a passion. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So every time I come in here, I’m talking to different recruits about their experience…or how the process went as far as the interview or the background. So we all feed off each other, and we try to motivate each other.”
Others, like Lewis, are motivated by personal experience. “I wanted to be a Los Angeles City firefighter because when I was young – [10 years old] – I had to take care of my great grandmother, and I would call the 911 department. Los Angeles City Fire paramedics from station 83 would come to my house, and watching them take care of my great grandmother gave me the inspiration and dream to become a firefighter and give that same care to another family. As scared as I was, being a young kid, the Los Angeles City Fire paramedics showed me nothing but care, love, and reassured me of the situation. It gave me the strength to keep pushing, and the inspiration to become one of them.”
Dedication to Each Other
It’s the motivation Grigsby says is required. “this is not like a regular nine to five. This is not your normal day to day job. This, for us, is a lifestyle and a career. So it does take a different kind of dedication and commitment, because not only are we risking our lives for our citizens in Los Angeles, but we’re risking our lives for our brothers and sisters in the fire station as well.”
And for these recruits, CAPS is their first look at the support they can expect as they move forward. “I love teaching the firefighter candidate advancement program, because I know what it did for me and I know what it can do for others,” says Clark, “and how it can improve them and better them for a future that they want to have – a career that they want to have – with the Los Angeles City Fire Department.”
By MaryAnne Bargen