Dalton Firefighter Completes Smoke Diver Training
Friday, December 16th, 2022
Dalton firefighter Andrew Osuch certainly doesn't shy away from a challenge.
In November, Osuch completed the grueling and prestigious Georgia Smoke Divers school only seven months after finishing his training to become a US Army Ranger. Osuch now has the right now wear a Ranger tab on his uniform with the National Guard and also a Smoke Divers tab on his Dalton Fire Department uniform. And, of course, he gets to wear the coveted black t-shirt of the Georgia Smoke Divers. Osuch also had previously completed the challenging FLAMES (Firefighters Laboring And Mastering Essential Skills) program in Chatsworth.
Caption: Andrew Osuch climbs a ladder into the burn building on the Dalton Fire Department's training ground during the Smoke Divers course in November
"Smoke Divers is actually loosely based around Ranger School because the first Smoke Diver was an Army Ranger," Osuch said. "So once I finished Ranger School I knew I wanted to go through the program to see what it was like on the civilian side. And I’m telling you, it’s top notch. Their instructors are super professional, the training is very organized and well presented, so personally I had a great time going through it, I learned a lot, and I think every firefighter should go through it."
The Smoke Divers school is a six day, 60 hour course designed to push experienced firefighters to their physical and mental limits. The program's website says that the course "condenses and replicates the extreme demands that may be placed on firefighters at any incident. Emphasis is placed on the day-to-day challenges firefighters face at structure fires, multiple-alarm fires and multiple fires within a single shift... Its design allows each candidate to understand and manage their physical and mental limitations under safe but stressful realistic conditions." The course is grueling enough to require that all nutrition and fluid intake by candidates is monitored and documented, and candidates must have physician's approval before participating. Osuch says that his class began with 47 candidates, but only 24 completed the training.
"It was definitely grueling, for sure, but my department did a great job of training me up for it since we host it and a majority of the firefighters in Dalton are Smoke Divers. I had a great support group and a great pre-training for the course so I felt well prepared," Osuch said. "It was definitely a struggle, but at no point did I feel like I wasn’t going to make it."
For Osuch, completing the training wasn't just about getting his black shirt or his Smoke Diver number (he's now forever known as Georgia Smoke Diver #1131). It's about becoming a better firefighter.
"It gives you a whole other level of confidence in the skills that you have to be an asset to the department and on the fire ground," Osuch said. "It’s a whole other level of accomplishment, with what I can now bring to other firefighters in the fire service."
Of course, teamwork is part of any firefighter's life and Osuch didn't end his interview for this story without giving credit to one of his biggest supporters.
Caption: Osuch and his fellow Georgia Smoke Diver graduates pose together with their black Smoke Diver t-shirts after completing the course
"I really believe that behind every strong man is a strong woman and the fact that my wife has always been so supportive of everything I’ve done from FLAMES, Ranger School, to Smoke Divers... and she's just as (accomplished) as I am, she just got promoted to clinical manager of the Hamilton Medical Center ER," Oscuh said of his wife, Hanna. "I just think it’s great to have someone who pushes each other to make us both better."
