any firefighters here?

[arz]

After 8 years of being a stay at home dad, and upon the birth of our last child, I decided it's time to start planning on my next career. I want to be a firefighter. It's something I've wanted to do for several years, and now is the time to get to it.

I'm back in the gym 5-6 times a week. I'm eating better. And I'm enrolled in an EMT class (figure this cant' hurt my chances any). I'm looking at South Metro, Aurora and Castle Rock as my best chances. I'd love to get a gig here in Elizabeth, but with only 1/3 of their staff paid, I'm not going to hold my breath. I do expect to spend some time on a volunteer basis before getting a paid position, but the paid position is my ultimate goal.

Anyone want to shed some light on the testing/interview process? or if anyone will even be hiring this year?

[cms81586]

I ran fire for 7 years and with a paid Dept for 4. It's a lot of fun and even more work. To be competitive you'll need to have as much schooling as you can get your hands on. Firefighter 1/2, Vehicle rescue tech, Fire Officer if you can get the class, as much Hazmat and EMS training as you can get (running with an ambulance service will be a plus to get you experience). Being in shape is definitely a requirement. I've witnessed guys go down for chest pains and heart attacks because they were way out of shape. Also, run volunteer if you can. It will get you familiar with the processes and procedures of firefighting. Most of it's pretty simple but it can get complicated (Pump classes calculating friction loss and flow rates and such). FF jobs are hard to come by. Even back east where I'm from where there are many more paid positions available it's still very difficult. Last thing I'll say is take a Structure Burn class as soon as you have the opportunity. Many people think they can do it until they get in with the heat and soon change their mind. A real fire is going to have more smoke and sometimes more heat than any Burn class you'll ever take. It's a great line of work if you can get over the lousy pay and boredom and overall it's satisfying knowing you're actually having an impact in other peoples lives.

[Byte Stryke]

I ran fire for 7 years and with a paid Dept for 4. It's a lot of fun and even more work. To be competitive you'll need to have as much schooling as you can get your hands on. Firefighter 1/2, Vehicle rescue tech, Fire Officer if you can get the class, as much Hazmat and EMS training as you can get (running with an ambulance service will be a plus to get you experience). Being in shape is definitely a requirement. I've witnessed guys go down for chest pains and heart attacks because they were way out of shape. Also, run volunteer if you can. It will get you familiar with the processes and procedures of firefighting. Most of it's pretty simple but it can get complicated (Pump classes calculating friction loss and flow rates and such). FF jobs are hard to come by. Even back east where I'm from where there are many more paid positions available it's still very difficult. Last thing I'll say is take a Structure Burn class as soon as you have the opportunity. Many people think they can do it until they get in with the heat and soon change their mind. A real fire is going to have more smoke and sometimes more heat than any Burn class you'll ever take. It's a great line of work if you can get over the lousy pay and boredom and overall it's satisfying knowing you're actually having an impact in other peoples lives.


+1

Its all Cool and stuff until you are Blind, Breathing like you ran a Marathon up a Mountain in full gear and your own sweat in turning to steam and cooking your own flesh.

If you have any Compartmental issues or if you are empathetic at all, you might want to consider this also.

[ghettodub]

Cool goal, and good luck. My brother is a Captain for Aurora, and loves what he does, and has been doing it for a long time

[sniper7]

one of my buddies is a FF up in the mountains. just finishing up his emt.

another buddy i went to high school with is still trying to get a paid job (8 years after starting). he does volunteer work but is just trying to get something close to the north metro area.

very hard to get into, but it can be done.

[sniper7]

oh, and it isn't all fires. I watched a car accident this last thursday unfold right in front of me. (narrowly missed it all myself). firefighters were first on scene, followed by an ambulance. cops never showed.

so be prepared to see some nasty stuff.

I got an email from one of my friends about a guy texting while driving in europe. he was in a little car (a bit bigger than a smart car), hit a dump truck head on. they had pictures of everything...the cut was literally cut in half and they showed the pictures and everything....very very very disgusting yet eye opening.

[BigMat]

I spent two years on an Ambulance for a fire dept. Not a fire fighter myself, but very familiar with it and spent a lot of time with them and was medical for more than a couple fire fit-tests and academy days. My biggest suggestion would be to run stairs. Ideally with weight. If you can find a parking garage/open appt. building near by with a few stories start running stairs with a weight vest. Best bet would be to figure out the standards you are looking at. For example, in AZ my dept had you run stairs for 1 min. on a machine in a vest that was 30 lbs without touching the handles. then run outside and run stairs with a bunch of hose touching a single handle with one hand, only on the way down. There were a lot of other parts of the fit tests, but the stairs were what tended to smoke guys. That and the firemans carry. my suggestion if you have to pull a dummy is to learn to do it right, just ask a firefighter/EMT, most should know. If you do it wrong it is much harder than it has to be. HINT: If it has handles, this isn't always what you should use.

I say grab your EMT as quick as you can and get on a box. Many, many guys I worked with wanted to go fire side eventually, and used the years on the ambulance to get to know people and get experience. Before every fire class was selected half the guys I worked with knew all the questions they would be asked during their boards, beyond that they knew the BCs that would be asking the questions and the captains that ran academy.

And buy a laptop, be ready for a lot of down time in the house depending on where you work!


As to fires, out west here big fires aren't what you are gonna run on all the time, but they do happen. Expect a ton of car accidents and medical calls. In my time I went to three structure fires and a bunch of car accidents and obviously (ambulance) a lot of medical calls. The fire guys would get a few more fires, but not a ton, frequently, just dumpsters or bushes on fire.

Good luck

[Geardo]

As what has been said before work out physically as much as you feasibly can. Besides that if you want a career in fire you cant be too picky as to where you work. If a department has openings near you apply and test. It takes years for most people to get onto a career dept. the average is 4 years of testing and applying to land a job. Ive been volunteering for 5 years spent a year at Aurora FD and now im at school for forestry fire science. Through all of it i can tell you that 90% is medical. The AFD house i was at averaged 14 calls a day and only had about 3 or four calls a day that weren't medical. If you have a weak gut dont do it, i have had to bag bodies, get slapped with human shit, picked brain matter outta my boots the whole nine yards. Last year there were 1600 or so applicants to AFD for 30 spots so do as much as you can to make your self appeasing to the dept. (EMT, fire degrees, construction experience, anything). Sounds like your on a good start so keep trucking and dont get discouraged.

[Geardo]

BTW if you have any specific questions or want any information specific to Aurora Fire dont hesitate to PM me

[Byte Stryke]

If you have a weak gut dont do it, i have had to bag bodies, get slapped with human shit, picked brain matter outta my boots the whole nine yards.

The ones that always got me sideways involved Kids and Stupid Adults


Highway Rollover 6 Children ejected from the back of a Pickup truck.


Really? exactly when did that strike them as a smart and responsible action?

[Geology Rocks]

Good luck man and welcome to the process. I have been in it for a while now. I have my EMT/IV and have tested at every test I could. Denver? 8 spots and 17,000 applicants. Aurora just had 2000 test for 4 spots, and Thornton just had 2 spots and got 1000 applicants. Its tough in the streets right now.

if you have questions just let me know..

joe

[birddog]

After 8 years of being a stay at home dad, and upon the birth of our last child, I decided it's time to start planning on my next career. I want to be a firefighter. It's something I've wanted to do for several years, and now is the time to get to it.

I'm back in the gym 5-6 times a week. I'm eating better. And I'm enrolled in an EMT class (figure this cant' hurt my chances any). I'm looking at South Metro, Aurora and Castle Rock as my best chances. I'd love to get a gig here in Elizabeth, but with only 1/3 of their staff paid, I'm not going to hold my breath. I do expect to spend some time on a volunteer basis before getting a paid position, but the paid position is my ultimate goal.

Anyone want to shed some light on the testing/interview process? or if anyone will even be hiring this year?

Hey arz:

A lot of the information posted here is fairly accurate. The hiring processes for fire departments are garbage but if you are willing to be persistant you can make it happen. The good news for you is that a lot of departments have delayed any hiring in the past few years due to the economy. Additionally there has been a lot of attrition that has gone unfilled. Aurora just ran an academy but I'm pretty sure South Metro hasn't hired for a a few years, at least since they took over Parker.

Sounds like you are on good track with diet and excercise. An EMT class surely wont hurt but if you have some time, motivation, and money your odds would be even greater if you were a paramedic. It would be good to get your hands wet as an EMT first though for some reasons listed in the thread.

Most of the hiring processes involve a general knowledge written test, a physical (google CPAT, its what a lot of departments are going to), an oral board which is an interview with a panel of people, and usually a medical and or psychological screening. Some will require more, maybe a polygraph and interviews with Chiefs only. There is a lot of competition in these areas so they have a lot of different avenues for weeding people out.

Lastly, Volunteering is a good start to figure out what this jobs all about. Elizabeth would be a good start and depending on their pool of candidates you may have a pretty good shot at getting picked up out there after a few years. You will at least get a lot of good experience out there and gain tons of knowledge. Some of the city departments wont care if you have volunteered as they will want you to do it their way, but its still a good move.

Overall its one of the best jobs out there. Go to work and hang out with your buddies and have a good time. It is a very rewarding career with plenty of highs and a few lows mixed in. Every day is different and you never know if you will sit around all day or if you will work like a dog. Use the internet as a resource, there is tons of information out there about testing, studying, and hopefully getting hired.

Good luck, feel free to drop me a PM if you want any more info. Sorry for the long winded response.

-Josh

[gnihcraes]

Arvada Fire just got their Mil Levi, so they have money this year 2011 and will probably be hiring. FYI.