S01.E06: Stronger Together

[formerlyfreedom]

Andy, Jack and 18 other candidates take the captaincy drill test, gunning for one spot as captain of Station 19. Meanwhile, Travis is serving as acting captain while Andy and Jack are away for the day; and Ben confronts Vic about her fears.

 

[SnoGirl]

I wonder if the Chief was there bc someone told him how that female Captain feels about Andy. 

I wish they had made Andy’s attempt harder to see for us as the audience. It was so easy for us to see, it was hard to believe they couldnt see. I did like that she refused to leave a victim behind. I get why they yelled at Andy, bc as the Captain she has to make the hard calls. Although, I wonder what they would have said to Andy if she had returned without the victim...

I liked that Vic finally said something. You would think a fear of fire might be a common occurence with Firefighters after some of the crazy fires they deal with. All the same, I like that they instantly came up with a plan to help her.

I wish the cop would give Andy some space. Or slow down at least, he’s coming off clingy and I dont want him to be. Im rooting for him, so I wish he’s back off just a bit.

[readster]

Yes, the Section Chief saying those things were spot on for both characters. Telling her to stop being so judgmental because she isn't being unbiased, but also to  Andy to tell her it's about making the hard decisions and not "saving the day." The problem is as many have said about Andy's Lt. promotion without taking the test. Even that early of a promotion, she can't run for Captain, because she is too early of a promotion. Had she held the rank for 6 months or more, then it would make sense. However, the other two on their team were the worst. You have the divide and conquer and the other who rather take the credit. Those don't spell Fire Captains, those spell disaster waiting to happen.

[anna0852]

I think Jack is shaping up to be the better option for captain. He certainly has the experience as lieutenant and seems to have a good head on his shoulders in terms of leadership. Aside from the awkwardness with Andy, he is a perfectly good choice. I think Andy needs to take a breath and recognize that backing up her dad on the paperwork and administrative side of things does not automatically make her a great captain. She has the potential to be but she doesn't have enough Leadership experience yet.

[Pepper the Cat]

So when do the other 16 people testing for Captain get to go? Or were there numerous tests going on at the same time?

[SimoneS]

It is looking like Jack will get the promotion to captain which is fine except his jealousy doesn't bode well for Andy's budding relationship with Ryan. I really like Ryan. I hope we get to see more of him as a cop. 

[Dowel Jones]

I sincerely hope that the test shown for captain wasn't the only measurement SFD uses for qualification.  If it is, they deserve the quality of lops that these folks are.  Regardless of Herrera's defense of her actions, the truth was that she was trying to better her test score, pure and simple.  The training had morphed into a genuine problem with the collapse of the building, and it is drilled into every firefighter that, when a mayday evacuation is called, everyone evacuates.  The interior groups don't necessarily know the entire picture, and the only thing worse than leaving a victim is staying inside and creating two (or more) victims.  The Chief was absolutely right in chewing her out.

The pothole incident was just to cloying.  "I wuv you"  "I wuv you too." Meanwhile, our intrepid firefighters stand around, thinking "What should we do?"  Maybe get some of the extrication tools out of the truck and improvise a bit?  Nah.

[KaveDweller]

9 hours ago, Pepper the Cat said:

So when do the other 16 people testing for Captain get to go? Or were there numerous tests going on at the same time?

I think 1 of them gets the job of captain and no one else gets promoted. So they just stay in the current job, and try again next year I guess.

7 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I sincerely hope that the test shown for captain wasn't the only measurement SFD uses for qualification.  If it is, they deserve the quality of lops that these folks are.  Regardless of Herrera's defense of her actions, the truth was that she was trying to better her test score, pure and simple.  The training had morphed into a genuine problem with the collapse of the building, and it is drilled into every firefighter that, when a mayday evacuation is called, everyone evacuates.  The interior groups don't necessarily know the entire picture, and the only thing worse than leaving a victim is staying inside and creating two (or more) victims.  The Chief was absolutely right in chewing her out.

The pothole incident was just to cloying.  "I wuv you"  "I wuv you too." Meanwhile, our intrepid firefighters stand around, thinking "What should we do?"  Maybe get some of the extrication tools out of the truck and improvise a bit?  Nah.

They mentioned a written test as well (that Andi aced). The test didn't seem totally fair. Jack was the only one who figured out their was no victim in his turn, but he was the only one that got the opportunity to. I guess the point is that firefighters run into all sorts of issues, but they should have been watching them inside and not just timing them.

[anna0852]

Were the candidates being recorded while they were doing the burning building drill? Like, at least an audio recording of their communications inside the building? I would think that would be something vital for the Senior people to aware of when making the promotion decision, not just going off the stop watch from entry to exit. If I'm in charge of choosing a captain I want to hear their decision making skills in the moment.

[KaveDweller]

5 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

Were the candidates being recorded while they were doing the burning building drill? Like, at least an audio recording of their communications inside the building? I would think that would be something vital for the Senior people to aware of when making the promotion decision, not just going off the stop watch from entry to exit. If I'm in charge of choosing a captain I want to hear their decision making skills in the moment.

Exactly. That seems more important than the outcome. But it didn't seem like they were being recorded. I can't believe that other guy would have been calling the women "hon" if he knew that was the case. 

[UNOSEZ]

Dearborn for the win... I don't think I particularly like Andy... I mean she's kinda judgy... And how oblivious is she when it comes to jacks feelings... She always seems surprised by his reactions... And I Can not stand Ryan at all... 

[NJRadioGuy]

The 800# gorilla in the room is that a real-life emergency happened, with a real firefighter down. Forget the massive OSHA violations that would condemn the academy's training tower instantly and likely cost half the department's brass their jobs for allowing training in an unsafe building, but the instant that happens you radio a genuine mayday and make it crystal clear you're not play-acting for the exam. The evacuation order was also horseshit in that scenario (not real-world, obviously). You have two or three able-bodied fellow firefighters there to stabilize him, remove fallen debris and render aid. Stop the simulation, have the powers-that-be cut the gas off, turn on the smoke ejectors and get paramedics and senior officers in PDFQ.

But yeah, in the real-world, the evacuate order means GTFO now because the building's about to become an environment incompatible with continued life.

[anna0852]

That one of my other questions: if Andy left the dummy as ordered because a real person was down, would that have been held against her? Or would her test have been invalidated due to the extenuating circumstances? Because if leaving the dummy was going to be held against her (and based on Battalion Chief b**h's treatment Andy would have reason to think it would be) then I don't blame her for getting the dummy. 

[KaveDweller]

20 hours ago, anna0852 said:

That one of my other questions: if Andy left the dummy as ordered because a real person was down, would that have been held against her? Or would her test have been invalidated due to the extenuating circumstances? Because if leaving the dummy was going to be held against her (and based on Battalion Chief b**h's treatment Andy would have reason to think it would be) then I don't blame her for getting the dummy. 

I think she was screwed either way the second that other guy got hit in the head. If she left the dummy it would be held against her. But as we saw getting the dummy didn't really work for her either. But someone being injured on her watch essentially guaranteed negative results.

[marykat71702]

I seriously thought that at the end Andy would walk into the house and find her dad dead.

[readster]

On 4/20/2018 at 9:06 PM, NJRadioGuy said:

The 800# gorilla in the room is that a real-life emergency happened, with a real firefighter down. Forget the massive OSHA violations that would condemn the academy's training tower instantly and likely cost half the department's brass their jobs for allowing training in an unsafe building, but the instant that happens you radio a genuine mayday and make it crystal clear you're not play-acting for the exam. The evacuation order was also horseshit in that scenario (not real-world, obviously). You have two or three able-bodied fellow firefighters there to stabilize him, remove fallen debris and render aid. Stop the simulation, have the powers-that-be cut the gas off, turn on the smoke ejectors and get paramedics and senior officers in PDFQ.

But yeah, in the real-world, the evacuate order means GTFO now because the building's about to become an environment incompatible with continued life.

That's why it didn't work, and it's not like these things don't happen in real life. I have two relatives who are former fire fighters. One had this exact thing happen during a training because the previous inspectors didn't check a floor and missed that it was too abused from previous training. OSHA and the state were investigating it big time because two firefighters were almost killed. They have other firefighters ready to go. They don't just have chiefs and section chiefs sitting there with clipboards. They made this look like both Section and Battalion chiefs were dumbasses and Andy was screwed either way. When in this situation, first would have been getting said injured fire fighter out and the tests scrubbed for the time being. Not: "Well you both did stupid things, now go home and think about it." Yeah, not how it works. I get it's a TV show, but it's up there with Andy just being promoted by her dad and not from testing and years of duty. 

[Ceindreadh]

On 21/4/2018 at 4:39 AM, anna0852 said:

That one of my other questions: if Andy left the dummy as ordered because a real person was down, would that have been held against her? Or would her test have been invalidated due to the extenuating circumstances? Because if leaving the dummy was going to be held against her (and based on Battalion Chief b**h's treatment Andy would have reason to think it would be) then I don't blame her for getting the dummy. 

I think they’d have had to invalidate the test. The battalion chief and the higher up guy both said that Andy should have left when the Mayday was called. Even if it hadn’t been just a test, any firefighter should have followed the orders from their ranking officer and evacuated. 

It’s unusual to see the hero of the show chastised for that sort of action. Usually it’d turn out to be the right thing. 

Andy was doubly wrong though, not only did she fail to follow the order to evacuate, but she should have been the one to call in the emergency in the first place. A good captain would have managed the safety of their team.