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Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Jackson Trotman, class president of the trainees at the Over the Mountain Regional Training Center in Mountain Brook, gears up for an exercise.
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Photo by Sarah Owens.
A Firefighting instructor watches the door of the burn building at the training center while firefighters in training go into the burn building to search for a dummy to rescue.
Firefighters from across central Alabama gather in Mountain Brook each year to complete necessary training, a rite of passage for the recruits who wish to see the inside of a burning building.
Required to participate in a 10-week course at the Over the Mountain Regional Training Center to become qualified for full duty, the 2024 recruit class completed a variety of exercises and tests to earn their certificate from the Alabama Fire College, a distinction that recognizes they are capable of performing the duties of a firefighter.
“It breaks it down from introduction to the fire service to ladders, hose, search and rescue, fire extinguishers, public education, communications,” said Justin Baker, lead instructor at OTM RTC and a battalion chief at the Mountain Brook Fire Department. “There's 23 different chapters, and so this is the minimum standards that they have to pass to become a professional firefighter.”
Mountain Brook, Rocky Ridge, Hoover, Vestavia Hills and Homewood Fire Departments have partnered together with the state fire college to form the OTM RTC, allowing the facility to host certification classes through the college.
Baker said they average 25-28 people in the program each year, with this year’s class, known as “The Watchmen,” having 29 recruits, although one had failed out as of Oct. 1.
“We have a very high success rate in our school. I think that it's how we go about picking who the instructors are, how they teach,” Baker said. “I feel like we go above and beyond minimum standards, and so we do have a high success rate. But we typically will lose an average of two or three people a class.”
Recruits echoed Baker’s feelings, praising their instructors and the quality of the program.
“This has just been awesome,” said Jackson Trotman, the class president of The Watchmen. “You can tell our instructors genuinely care and want to make us good firefighters to serve our communities. All the instructors here are awesome, and they really know what they're doing.”
Trotman was voted class president by his peers a few weeks into the course. As a senior industrial distribution major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Trotman was unsure of his career path when he began volunteering as a firefighter in Trussville roughly 9 months ago, but he quickly fell in love with the profession.
While he and several other recruits say they enjoy the brotherhood and camaraderie that comes with the job, Trotman recognizes it's a difficult role, both mentally and physically.
“It's 100% consistently being with people on their worst day and being emotionally OK with it,” he said. “You might be with somebody on the worst day of their life, and you’ve got to turn around and run calls the rest of the day and be OK with it.”
The program trains recruits to withstand the physical requirements of the job, but Baker says they also emphasize mental health and personal character throughout the lessons, ensuring a well-rounded experience.
Recruits graduate from the program on Nov. 7, going on to serve their individual communities better prepared than before.
