On-the-Job Training

Recruits train at county facilities like the Richard Sewell Training Center or partnered sites. The program combines physical conditioning, classroom academics, skills drills, and live-fire/hands-on simulations to prepare them for fire suppression, rescue, EMS (as paramedics), and all-risk operations. Successful completion leads to promotion to Firefighter-Paramedic roles.

As a San Bernardino County Firefighter Paramedic Recruit in the Tower academy, the recruit’s primary job duties consist of completing an intensive, structured training program designed to develop both firefighting and advanced life support skills. The recruit engages in daily rigorous physical conditioning, classroom instruction on fire behavior, department policies, building codes, and emergency medical protocols, and repetitive hands-on drills. These include hose evolutions, ladder raises and carries, live-fire operations inside burn props (advancing attack lines through smoke and heat, conducting victim searches, performing ventilation and forcible entry), Rapid Intervention Crew Operations (RICO), SCBA emergencies, self-rescue techniques, apparatus operations, wildland firefighting preparation, auto extrication, and confined space rescue. Throughout the academy, the recruit must also integrate paramedic-level patient care training while meeting strict performance standards, passing certifications, and demonstrating teamwork and professionalism to successfully graduate and promote to the rank of Firefighter-Paramedic.