Firefighting is one of the world's most honored but hazardous occupations. It is the duty of every fire department to practice life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation. Whenever and wherever an emergency arises, the fire department is one of the first called and to respond. In today's fire service the fire department has an expanded roll that involves more than just fires. The emergencies involve accidents, aircraft crashes, water rescues, hazardous materials, civil disturbances, explosions, and medical emergencies. The list is never ending and always expanding. Firefighters are involved with all types of people and are appreciated by some and scorned by others. They are expected to calmly evaluate the problem and bring it to a successful conclusion. Firefighters are not extraordinary- they are ordinary people places in extraordinary situations. Bringing any emergency situation to a safe conclusion requires knowledge, ability, and skill. Because of this fire fighters need to be trained to a higher standard today than they did in years past.
             Firefighters enter into three categories: Career, Paid on call, or Volunteer. Career personnel are persons who are salaried. Paid-on-call firefighters receive reimbursement for each call they attend. Volunteer fire departments and their firefighters greatly outnumber career departments and their firefighters. Canandaigua Fire department is a hybrid between Career and Volunteer fire Fighters, and it has a very successful combination. Today almost a quarter of the United States population live in rural communities. For many of these Americans, fire protection is inadequate. Suburban communities such as Canandaigua whose political institutions and community services have not kept pace with the rapid population, commercial and industrial growth. Rural and suburban areas often have many problems: insufficient water supply, lack of codes with few inspectors to enfo...