Alright Firemen, how do I join your ranks?

I've tried to break into the cubicle life. It sounds great. Nine to five, weekends and Holidays off. But I'm still asking myself, "What have you done today?".

Out of all the duties, fire fighting is the one that I p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l-l-y view as the most worthy of my sacrifices. Whether it's Forest Fire Fighting or Urban Fire Fighting, I want to be at your sides.

I've kicked doors in Baghdad, found that Law-Enforcement just isn't for me, and have decided that Firefighting is a duty that I'm willing to devote myself to. It's a bit personal, but my reasons for deciding on Firefighting are strong and won't be discouraged. Please don't try to change my mind.

However, if you would provide me with any tips concerning successful recruitment into Firefighting, I would appreciate them very much. Thank you very much.

best way is to join as a volunteer andget alot of training under your belt both in firefighting and EMT work then practice on general t/f tests:wave:

The last test given in my area was for 3 openings. 5000 people showed up to test.

It's really competitive, and anything you can do to stand out (in a positive way) helps.

I'm not a firefighter, but I have a friend who is one and a family member who went through the training to be one, but didn't quite make it through. From what I understand, you can volunteer, you can take courses in community college to pass the tests to be one, or you can join the Conservation Corps.

http://policelink.monster.com/videos/quizzes?page=3&quiz_order=descCrap. I have got to start reading more.

I have many friends who are firemen and we often end up responding to the same scenes many times weekly. Over time I have realized that all firemen I know are also medics. Some are a higher level of medic and can actually administer various types of injectible meds on scene.

Regardless of what level medic training they have they all are a basic certified medic. The test for firemen in my Department (Bham Al.) is also very competitive and they are on a pretty decent pay scale. The new guys I have noticed hired have some type of past medical training or even certificates as actual medics.

With your military and police past you may already have an advantage over a recruit without such a history. If you were to maybe add in some medic training to your resume I believe you would be at the top end of the list.

Good luck and stay safe....

Robocop said:

I have many friends who are firemen and we often end up responding to the same scenes many times weekly. Over time I have realized that all firemen I know are also medics. Some are a higher level of medic and can actually administer various types of injectible meds on scene.

Regardless of what level medic training they have they all are a basic certified medic. The test for firemen in my Department (Bham Al.) is also very competitive and they are on a pretty decent pay scale. The new guys I have noticed hired have some type of past medical training or even certificates as actual medics.

With your military and police past you may already have an advantage over a recruit without such a history. If you were to maybe add in some medic training to your resume I believe you would be at the top end of the list.

Good luck and stay safe....

Click to expand...

To add to that. The pay for fire fighters is a little less than what officers get. This is why most of our fire fighters also work as EMTs.

They put in a lot of hours.

I see you're posting from "home", therefore I'll be area specific...

Basically as some have already stated, some I know became EMTs (University of Alaska courses) first, waited patiently for the Anchorage Fire Department test to come around and reamained persistant. One fellow then started out in Fairbanks, but now works on the slope for the BIG $$.

Another I know started out (again as an EMT) working for the contractor that operates the Anton Anderson Memorial (Whittier) Tunnel and now works with the Anchorage Fire Department. Most if not all of the Whittier Tunnel contract employees were at one time required to be certified fire fighters or EMTs. I don't know what the current contractor's requirements are. They changed names, but many of the prior contractor's employees are still working there as far as I know.

Another started out as a volunteer fireman in Houston/Willow, then went to work at the Whittier Tunnel, then moved on to some fire department...don't know where though.

I'd agree about the EMT training. For what it's worth, there's a great page that lists EMT training opportunities here in AK: it's available at this website. The layout's a bit confusing, but from the pull-down menus at left, just select the EMT-1 class and your region. There are 13 classes listed here in Anchorage.

Hope this helps!

- FITP