What to Expect Your First Week at the Fire Academy

Every recruit class has someone who walks in on Day 1 thinking the fire academy is like school. Show up, sit in class, take notes, go home. By lunchtime on Day 1, that person has reconsidered their life choices.

The fire academy is intentionally stressful. Not because instructors enjoy making you miserable, but because the fireground is stressful. If you cannot handle pressure in a controlled training environment, you cannot handle it when a building is on fire and someone's life depends on your next decision.

Before Day 1

Most academies send you a reporting packet weeks before the start date. Read every word. It will tell you what to wear, what to bring, when to arrive, and grooming standards. If they say 0700, they mean 0645. Being on time means you are late. Being 15 minutes early means you are on time. Show up clean-shaven for the SCBA facepiece seal, hair above the collar, no visible piercings.

Day 1: Orientation

You will line up outside, usually by class number. An instructor will explain the rules. There are a lot of rules. You will meet the command structure, fill out a mountain of paperwork, tour the station, and receive your PPE. On Day 1, putting on your turnout gear takes 3 to 4 minutes. By graduation, you will do it in under 60 seconds.

The unspoken rules of Day 1 are these. Do not be the person who talks too much. Do not be the person who questions everything. Do not be the person who is late coming back from break. Do be the person who says yes sir or yes ma'am, hustles between stations, and helps clean up without being asked.

Day 2: Physical Training Begins

Academy PT is different from gym workouts. It is designed to build functional fitness, the kind you need to drag a hose up stairs wearing 60 pounds of gear. A typical session includes a formation run at the instructor's pace, push-ups, sit-ups, flutter kicks, mountain climbers, buddy carries or drags, and hose rolls or equipment carries.

What catches people off guard is that the PT is not necessarily harder than what you would do at a CrossFit gym. It is harder because it is at 0600, in boots, after you were too nervous to sleep, and the instructor is 3 feet away correcting your form at maximum volume.

Do not pace yourself for your max. Pace yourself for sustainability. You have 12 to 16 weeks of this. If you redline on Day 2, you will be injured by Day 10.

Day 3: Classroom Begins

Academics start fast. By Day 3 you are typically into fire behavior fundamentals, building construction overview, and fire department organization. You take notes by hand because most academies ban laptops and phones. You stay awake because falling asleep in class is one of the fastest ways to get singled out. You participate when called on because silence is not acceptable.

Read the chapter before class. If the instructor is explaining something you have already read, you will absorb it faster. If you are hearing it for the first time in the lecture, you are already behind.

Day 4: Your First Skills Session

By Day 4 you are in the drill yard learning hose loads and deployment, knots like the bowline, clove hitch, figure eight, and becket bend, and tool identification for every tool on the engine and truck.

You will feel incompetent. That is normal. Everyone does. The recruit who was a college athlete struggles with knots. The engineer struggles with PT. The EMT who has seen a thousand patients has never touched a halligan bar. Nobody walks in good at everything.

What instructors are watching for on Day 4 is not competence. It is effort. Are you trying? Are you asking questions? Are you practicing after the group session ends?

Day 5: The Rhythm Sets In

By Friday of Week 1, the pattern emerges. 0600 to 0700 is PT. 0700 to 0800 is clean up, breakfast, and formation. 0800 to 1200 is classroom or skills. 1200 to 1300 is lunch. 1300 to 1600 is skills or classroom. 1600 to 1700 is clean up, debrief, and dismissal.

This rhythm will be your life for the next 12 to 16 weeks. It becomes comfortable faster than you expect.

Tips From a Captain Who Has Watched 15 Academy Classes

Shut up and listen for the first two weeks. Be early to everything. Help your classmates because academy is a team event and the class succeeds or fails together. Take care of your body with stretching, hydration, sleep, and real food. Study every single night, even 30 minutes. Accept corrections without ego. Keep your gear organized and clean.

The people who graduate are not always the strongest or the smartest. They are the ones who decided they were not quitting.

Preparing before you get there? StruckBox lets you study fire behavior, building construction, NFPA standards, and radio communications before your first day. Walk in ahead of the curve at struckbox.com.