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Beach posted:After two years on the eligible list for my city and six months of residency/background checks I have my first board interview in front of members of city fire, personnel, and legal department in two weeks! I have been reading Paul Lepore's "Smoke Your Firefighter Interview" and am keeping a notebook of thoughts and responses, as well as practicing question and answers with friends and family. Any other suggestions for getting through the board interview process? Keep your calm.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:14
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 17:59 |
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This thread just ain't the same without the truck icon. Just did a Large Animal Tech Rescue Awareness course, it was pretty good with the lesson of the day basically being "don't get kicked by a horse." Hoping we can get the Ops level course in my county soon. I'm also doing HazMat Technician this Autumn. I've heard people say the chemistry is scary but this is for boots on the ground not chemists so I assume it's less "here's how to determine how many cations are in a molecule" and more "put this poo poo on that poo poo to neutralize it, here's where to look it up." Is that accurate?
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Aug 17, 2014 22:08
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It's all reading placards and looking things up in the ERG. If you're not a total knucklehead you'll be fine.
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Aug 26, 2014 02:04
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JamMaster Flash posted:It's all reading placards and looking things up in the ERG. If you're not a total knucklehead you'll be fine. That sounds like Operations level? This will be Technician, for suiting up and going into the hot zone. I understand the practical part of it is a lot of dam/dike/divert and how to move barrels, but there's rumors of chemistry stuff. Or do you mean the chemistry stuff is reading placards and looking things up because that's what I'd expect actually.
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Aug 26, 2014 02:28
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Paramemetic posted:That sounds like Operations level? This will be Technician, for suiting up and going into the hot zone. I understand the practical part of it is a lot of dam/dike/divert and how to move barrels, but there's rumors of chemistry stuff. Or do you mean the chemistry stuff is reading placards and looking things up because that's what I'd expect actually. Yeah it's ops and the Chem stuff is limited to things like "will <insert dangerous chemical> change state at its vapor point and become a different type of hazard." It's easy stuff and most of it is open book (using the ERG).
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Aug 27, 2014 04:24
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Yes, Tech is for going level A entry team and all, I don't believe the written stuff was that difficult. Source: Am Hazmat Tech
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Aug 28, 2014 18:41
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Awesome. That's what I was figuring too but people were taking like it was biochem. Then again the same people think EMT is just under rocket powered brain surgery in complexity so that figures.
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Aug 28, 2014 20:13
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There is some memorization involved but a lot of it you wouldn't need to remember unless you are actually working on a hazmat company. Most important thing for me was to recognize initial hot zones 50/100/150 ft and how to pronounce the methyl ethyl poo poo. Level A's are confining but I'm a large guy so I hate level B's even more. At least in a Level A suit you can have a rag to wipe up sweat and a clipboard to write things down without contaminating everything.
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Aug 29, 2014 05:55
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Paramemetic posted:Awesome. That's what I was figuring too but people were taking like it was biochem. Then again the same people think EMT is just under rocket powered brain surgery in complexity so that figures. This is an accurate comparison.  e: there were people that failed the first test in both classes. I did not know how that was possible. (not being sure what the national standard is, for those out of state, 'failing' is a 60/65% correct with one retest allowed for scores between 65-69% with a max of 2[? I think?] retests) HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Aug 29, 2014 |
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Aug 29, 2014 22:54
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Wait Hiro do you have Hazmat Technician? Did I miss a MFRI Hazmat Tech because this one in Western Region is the first one I've seen not a million miles away.
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Aug 30, 2014 00:47
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I managed to pass a "firefighter physical agility test" today. I haven't worked out in about 6 months.
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Aug 30, 2014 18:08
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invision posted:I managed to pass a "firefighter physical agility test" today. Was it the cpat or something else? Regardless that shows how bad most standard agility tests are.
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Aug 30, 2014 18:49
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senor punk posted:Was it the cpat or something else? I was loving terrified that it was the CPAT, but it was: Coat, pack w/carbon fiber 30min bottle, gloves high rise pack to third floor rope hoist a roll of 2 1/2 to third floor lower 2 1/2 to ground high rise pack down the stairs dummy drag (hose dummy... probably 80 pounds?) charged 2 1/2 advance ladder raise x2 and then the weirdest one... roll 50ft of 5 inch into a donut unroll it flatten it out I think max allowed time was 5:30? either way, lol. e:The kid before me failed it. e2:There was supposed to be a "climb the stick" portion also, but I'm pretty sure the truck was just out of service so we skipped it. e3:For anyone worried about passing a physical agility test, my diet/workout consisted of zebra cakes, copenhagen, and walking down my stairs to the bathroom. invision fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Aug 30, 2014 |
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Aug 30, 2014 21:19
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2WuJX4rfyM German firefighters go hard with their training, but I am so confused why they do all these things on machines? Like, I'm never going to be using just my bench press glamour muscles on a fire scene. But I suspect this is just the "let's see if he's worth teaching to do a thing" part, not a CPAT necessarily. Still some of that agility stuff is pretty cool, the crossbeam walk stuff and the parkour and so on.
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Aug 30, 2014 23:16
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Paramemetic posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2WuJX4rfyM Would do all of that 10 out of 10 times instead of the cpat. Especially the parkour poo poo. CPAT ain't hard, it just sucks and is kind of boring during the stair climb section. That parkour poo poo though would be fun to do, I think.
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Sep 1, 2014 00:42
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Paramemetic posted:Wait Hiro do you have Hazmat Technician? Did I miss a MFRI Hazmat Tech because this one in Western Region is the first one I've seen not a million miles away. Hazmat Ops but the only difference is that its outside the hot zone vs. in. I don't see myself being anywhere near a hazmat hot zone any time soon so haztech is probably going to be last on my to-do list, cert-wise. But at least I know how to use the ERG, and call for the guys who actually spend their entire careers doing this type of thing!  Oh, and don an L1/2 suit like a pro. Women love that.
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Sep 1, 2014 04:22
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My plan to get Instructor I and Officer I done by July is coming together splendidly. I start Instructor I in a few weeks, wish me luck!
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Sep 2, 2014 04:07
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Firebros the police have been lamenting they aren't as cool as firemen.
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Sep 24, 2014 00:14
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As they should. I dunno, watching on demand movies or chilling out and watching TV every night when you're waiting for a call/waiting to go to bed is pretty awesome. Assuming you're not studying for upcoming certification exams like me. 
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Sep 24, 2014 09:43
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Dear Firefighting Thread: After busting rear end for the past three years and switching from one department to another during that time... I've gotten a gig as a part-timer.  It's at the same department that I switched to 7-8 months ago. I've had opportunities here that I never imagined having as a volunteer at the previous department and I really like this place. A year ago, I was seriously doubting if I wanted to continue in the fire service due to my experience at my previous department, but over the past half a year at this new department, it's seriously made me kick myself for ever harboring those doubts. Not all departments are created equal. It truly is all about who you work for and who you work with. I feel kind of bad for jumping in front of others who were in line for this position (from this same department) but at the same time... Goddamn. I start training on Monday. Right now? I'm just basking in the glow of finally having my foot in the door and well on my way towards what I've worked for during so long. I know I ain't got poo poo on what most people here have done or where they are but damnit... I'm working towards it and damnit I'm happy. This department has given me opportunities I merely hoped to have at the previous, and I really want to stay here for as long as I can.
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Oct 5, 2014 10:43
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windshipper posted:I still eagerly await this story. I should have posted this sooner, it's really not all that interesting of a story. We got dispatched to a single vehicle PIA on the highway at some early hour of the morning. The driver had fallen asleep while heading home with his passenger and somehow managed to spin his car around, tear up the guardrail, and ride it like a track with the actual railing going between himself and the passenger. If that railing would have gone a foot in either direction somebody would be missing a head. No serious injuries, just a cut forehead, both patients refused treatment. After the patients are removed from the situation we start to work on how to get this car out of the rail. Conveniently, the section of rail the car was attached to had been torn from the posts so we decide to cut it with our brand new K-12. We have never had a circular saw before and had only used it once during a training session. So one of our guys starts to cut through the rail and it seems to be going pretty well, then about half way through the saw completely freezes. I don't know if he let off the gas or if stopped on his own, but now we are in trouble. We didn't have another saw to cut the blade out and we didn't want to risk another circular blade getting stuck. We detach the blade and start trying to get it out. There was a lot of pushing, pulling, and kicking, but it wouldn't budge. It reminded me of the sword in the stone except neither of us was King Arthur and there wasn't going to be a reward for pulling it out. Someone eventually came up with the idea to hit it with a sledgehammer and use a rubber mat to cushion the blow. I figured the guy was just going to give it a series of gentle swings to slowly bump it out, instead he pulls back and nails it. This, to nobodies surprise, bends the unholy hell out of the saws teeth. At this point the blade is useless so there's no reason to take a gentle approach, it gets smashed out. We ended up lifting the rail through the roof by hand. Overall a lesson was learned and and everyone walked away with a bit more experience.
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Oct 5, 2014 13:14
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Well, I was really excited to start with that vollie department I mentioned earlier. Me: IFSAC FF1/FF2/Awareness/Ops, Tech Rescue, EVOC, blah blah. I'm not like "tooting my horn" or whatever since my certs are basically "okay you can put out fires now good job" and I'm sure all of ya'll all have the same poo poo. I felt pretty good about it on the first day of "the academy". Then I found out that the academy is MANDATORY ~5 hours on wednesday, and 8-12 hours on saturday for the next THREE months, and after that no one is able to even test for FF1 due to lack of requirements covered in class. On top of that they want a three 24 hour shifts per month commitment. Then I heard one of the instructors explaining how "new houses burn slower than old houses since they were all made out of wood and stuff" and a few other insanely wrong things. Dude's, listen, I loving love this job. I love firefighting. I love running med calls. I love washing trucks and spinning up the Q and everything else that goes along with firefighting. But there's no way in hell that I can balance real work, national guard duty, and their requirements. It feels like I'm just wasting time going over "heres how you put on your bunker gear. this is a ladder. this is a fire truck." for an ungodly amount of hours for the next 3 months (for free, mind you). I get it. You can't have people on the truck that don't know what the gently caress they're doing. I get the list of "reasons why you need to go back through this fire academy, even though you have experience". I just can't make it work on that schedule. Back in Texas we were loving STOKED if someone wanted to come play. We'd get them trained, then let them ride, and it was all good. There was a solid understanding of "we're not paying you anything, so we're not gonna expect you to spend hundreds of hours here", and it worked really well. I don't understand how a department that is apparently hurting for volunteers expects to run it like a paid department, minus the "paid" part. I'm so loving bummed out about this. I was ecstatic to get back on a department and to start putting out fires and picking up fallen-over old ladies, but there's no way I can make it work with that schedule, and there's 0 leeway on possibilities of me skipping sections of the academy. If it was a paid department paying me to go through it again then I'd have NO problem. gently caress it, sign me up if you know of one that's hiring. tl;dr am I just being a whiny bitch or am I justified in wanting to bow out?
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Oct 7, 2014 10:59
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I don't recall, are you in Florida now? I know for whatever reason Florida doesn't recognize pro board/ifsac Firefighter certs. Personally, I'd bow out as soon as I had instructor teaching me poo poo that will kill a firefighter. New houses burn slower? Yeah, and you don't need SCBA after the fire is out because of those cancer free materials right?
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Oct 7, 2014 11:54
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That sucks you can't get reciprocity for any certs at all. As much as I would hate not running at a department, it sounds like it's definitely not worth the hassle with that place. Especially with those ludicrous time requirements. Is their call volume that ridiculuous they need people manning the station for 24 hour shifts? Also those instructors sound like they need a refresher course themselves. We need the  smiley with a fire helmet on it.
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Oct 7, 2014 17:09
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Are you applying to be a reservist at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue? This sounds really familiar.
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Oct 7, 2014 20:15
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The state/department both use IFSAC for certs. That's the part that really doesn't make sense to me.
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Oct 7, 2014 22:22
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Sweet jesus. Run for the hills. Live in a stone hut. You don't want a structure on fire that they'd have to put out.
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Oct 8, 2014 05:25
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Feedback on this please: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3670878
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Oct 9, 2014 23:51
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Pt. 2 of my rant above: That department runs ~700 calls a year, mostly EMS, BLS only, no transport. 60 square miles, ~10k population. ~33.5% of those calls are mutual aid. The large majority (98%?) of personnel are volunteer that receive a very very tiny stipend that wouldn't even cover my gas getting to and from the station. Annual budget? $2.5 million. Paid chief's salary? $120,000/yr. Not only is that super loving shady, but the tax payers are getting loving HOSED. edit for some context: My old department had ~20 members on the roster, all totally unpaid volunteers including the chief, 6k population, 120sq miles, 3 stations, 12 apparatus, 450 calls a year. Budget? Less than $200,000/yr. AND we provided awesome fire protection and response to our community. invision fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Oct 13, 2014 |
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Oct 13, 2014 03:31
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That does seem like a lot of money, but there isn't enough to make fair comparisons. My volley department was one of twelve in a large town. There were several different types of department. Some existed as a part of the local village government and got their funding specifically from the village they were a part of. If they wanted to do a capital project (new rig, station, etc) they'd need to get voter approval to float a bond to pay for it. Their budgets were obviously smaller because they did not budget for capital projects. My department was a fire protection district. We were a private, not for profit corporation that contracted with the town to provide services. In theory the town could have ended the contract and we'd be out, though it was really more of a theoretical concept. Our budget was quite a bit larger than other departments because of the fact that we had to take a bit more every year and manage it ourselves in the event that we needed to do something big. My point is that there's always more to the story, though 120k for an all volley department that does less than 1000 runs a year is pretty sick. I want that gig. My engine, one that is pretty middle of the pack for FDNY (but slow for our general area of the city) does double that in EMS runs, never mind total fire runs.
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Oct 13, 2014 04:08
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senor punk posted:That does seem like a lot of money, but there isn't enough to make fair comparisons. I'll 100% agree with your point. I guess what gets me though is that you can make that chiefs position unpaid volunteer, and hire enough full-time guys to cover your full-time stations and only spend a little bit more and offer better service to the community. The department also doesn't budget for capital projects - they recently voted on a 1.27 million dollar bond to buy 2 new engines, a brush truck, and misc poo poo like "parking lot repair". I'm not gonna break my back so a few people can pull in really loving nice salaries when they should just cut that poo poo and hire some full time guys to relax the poo poo out of their volunteer requirements. You can't bitch about "not having enough volunteers!!!" when you're dropping that much cash on a dudes salary so he can attend some meetings and check some email, then making your vollie requirements that time consuming because you "don't have the money to hire more people". e:And then they have this "internship" program where they take dudes from the local fire-science college courses and make them what amounts to a full time firefighter, yet totally unpaid, for the privilege of getting to ride an engine in a volunteer department. They're screwing their ff's. A lot. invision fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Oct 13, 2014 |
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Oct 13, 2014 04:27
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For the second time in 2 months, I have been unable to retake the firefighter 2 written exam. I showed up, early, each time to take the exam. Each time, I was informed by the TCO that he was not sent an exam for me to take. He even confirmed the second time that the request was put in by my department's training officer for me to take the exam along with the necessary paperwork. The state just hadn't sent an exam for me to take. 
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Nov 20, 2014 05:54
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windshipper posted:For the second time in 2 months, I have been unable to retake the firefighter 2 written exam. Don't worry, poo poo is incredibly easy.
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Nov 22, 2014 03:37
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invision posted:Don't worry, poo poo is incredibly easy. I know. I failed the first time mainly because I had a poo poo ton of family stuff going on which didn't help for me getting the studying time in. I just want to take it again and get it done and knocked out. Apparently there's some poo poo going on at the state level right now, though, which is causing problems for TCOs. I don't know much more than that, but that's apparently been the issue so far.
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Nov 22, 2014 09:07
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Happy thanksgiving, firefighting thread. Getting paid to watch football is not a bad job to have.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:03
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windshipper posted:Happy thanksgiving, firefighting thread. Getting paid to watch football is not a bad job to have. This combo post with the EMS thread is perfect, thanks for that bro.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:21
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windshipper posted:Happy thanksgiving, firefighting thread. Getting paid to watch football is not a bad job to have. Free-O lunch and dinner too, while earning overtime. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
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Nov 28, 2014 16:20
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So, wound up getting on at another department. I did one day of their "recruit academy", talked about my certs, and now, a week later, I'm working shifts and riding the engine. gently caress yeah, feels good to be back. Also, I worked a 24hr from yesterday until today with 0 calls. I walked out the door to go to work and tones dropped for a structure fire and an unconscious pt. ~white cloud~ e: I even tried saying things like "it sure is slow today" and "haven't had a good one in a while", but nothing. invision fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 19:59
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Tried polishing your boots? That or working on your personal vehicle.
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Dec 9, 2014 02:36
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 17:59 |
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Some people are intractable like that. Did you try going out for a sit down meal with the crew? Or eat some high test chili the night before going in.
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Dec 9, 2014 03:05
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