By Jeannine Otto
Daily Gazette
STERLING, Ill. — Three Sterling Fire Department probationary firefighters bid farewell to their yellow helmets and a year of intense training and scrutiny on Monday night to become official members of the Sterling Fire Department.
Sterling Fire Chief David Northcutt and Deputy Fire Chief Brandon Monical presented Jonathan Finlon, Garrett Helfrich and Justin Kalina with their official Sterling Fire Department helmets during Monday’s Sterling City Council meeting.
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“They get to get rid of that ‘probation’ word that we shorten to ‘probies.’ They get to be real firefighters now,” Northcutt said as he described the process of becoming a Sterling Fire Department firefighter.
After graduating from the fire service academy, the three have undergone a year of training and scrutiny from their fellow firefighters, Northcutt and his leadership team, and the public.
“They have to prove themselves. They have to keep learning the trade and get better at their job. That includes everything, from washing the trucks to going into a structure fire to save someone,” Northcutt said.
Northcutt said the probationary phase is more than meeting a specific timeline and criteria.
“You don’t just meet that criteria in the time frame and then you’re done. All of our officers sit down, and we talk. Are they acceptable to our standards, to meet the needs of our department, our council and the department as well as the mutual-aid departments with whom we work?” Northcutt said.
With their fellow Sterling Fire Department firefighters, family and friends looking on, Northcutt said Finlon, Helfrich and Kalina passed all those tests.
“These gentlemen have proven themselves, without question, for us as a department. Our officer corps agreed that we do not want these guys to leave,” Northcutt said.
The change in headgear also denotes each of the new firefighters as no longer in the probationary stage.
“They’ve had to wear a composite yellow helmet with a big orange shield that says ‘probie’ on it. Now they graduate from that. A tradition we started, and we are going to continue, is that they get to go to a big boy helmet, which is leather, and they get a personalized shield,” Northcutt said.
The tradition of officially presenting their helmets in a ceremony is new for the department. Northcutt said the firefighters received their badges upon graduating from the fire service academy.
As the department welcomed the three new firefighters, the fire department and the Sterling Police Department officially said thank you and bid farewell to a longtime member of the city’s fire and police commission.
Tom Ausman is retiring from the commission after serving on it for 18 years. Ausman has served on several city and county boards and groups. He is a current member of the Whiteside County Board.
“Tom has always shown up with a smile on his face and an informed decision when it came to hiring and promoting. No one besides Tom and the other commissioners know the many hours and days they have devoted to make sure Sterling has the finest firefighters and police officers. For that, we will always be grateful,” Sterling Police Chief Pat Bartel said.
The fire and police commission oversees the recruitment, testing, list establishment, and hiring and promotions for the Sterling Fire Department and the Sterling Police Department.
Ausman said one reward of his years of service is seeing the candidates chosen by the commission working their jobs.
“It is such a pleasure to see the gentlemen and ladies we have hired over the years doing the job, serving the city. So many of them say ‘thank you, Mr. Ausman .’ That makes me feel good, and it should make you feel good because we have good people,” Ausman said.
What traditions or ceremonies does your department have to celebrate the end of a firefighter’s probation?
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