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invision posted:e: I even tried saying things like "it sure is slow today" and "haven't had a good one in a while", but nothing. This didn't work because you were hoping it would work and it doesn't work that way. If you want to ensure that you get calls you need to not want them. Bring in homework, start working on your car, try and take a taco poo poo, etc.
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Dec 9, 2014 21:10
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Come in hungover.
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Dec 9, 2014 22:10
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Start watching a movie you've never seen before. Works wonders to make those tones drop.
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Dec 9, 2014 23:43
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I would never suggest you take up this awful game, but one of the squad guys at my old department would play WoW during slow nights and inevitably every time he started a raid the squad would get toned out. it was always a stuck elevator too 
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Dec 10, 2014 16:45
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I went to the station earlier to sign some papers and then left... and they immediately got an MVA where one of the medics got his first needle decomp.
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Dec 10, 2014 23:10
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I'm riding on the only rig in the town tonight. As a 3 person crew. Where one of those people has been a firefighter for like 3 months. We also have like 20 wineries in a 5 mile area that like to have huge parties with wine. 
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Dec 31, 2014 18:59
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Fire with possible entrapment came in the other night. Thought it would just be another house fire and the person would be at their neighbors like usual, but boy was I wrong. Fire was already busting out the windows by the time we got there and the first floor's floor was already burnt through. Found the victim when I was hydraulic venting a room. Cleared it up enough to the point where I spotted the body in the middle of the room on the floor pretty badly charred. I never had any expectations that we can save everyone, but finding a person like that still came as a shock. I find that during the work day the thought of it creeps back into my head and unsettles me a bit. I'm taking a vacation soon so hopefully that'll help take my mind off it. Next time an entrapment call comes in though, definitely will have to prepare myself for the possibility of encountering another body like that.
IronDoge fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Feb 13, 2015 |
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Feb 13, 2015 08:46
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I still remember my first burned victim, 19 year old kid lost control while speeding and ended up hitting a tree. The tree went into the car from the passenger side and ended up right against the victim. Couldn't tell he was there until the fire was out.
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Feb 15, 2015 03:13
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IronDoge posted:Fire with possible entrapment came in the other night. Thought it would just be another house fire and the person would be at their neighbors like usual, but boy was I wrong. Fire was already busting out the windows by the time we got there and the first floor's floor was already burnt through. Found the victim when I was hydraulic venting a room. Cleared it up enough to the point where I spotted the body in the middle of the room on the floor pretty badly charred. I never had any expectations that we can save everyone, but finding a person like that still came as a shock. I find that during the work day the thought of it creeps back into my head and unsettles me a bit. I'm taking a vacation soon so hopefully that'll help take my mind off it. Next time an entrapment call comes in though, definitely will have to prepare myself for the possibility of encountering another body like that. drat dude, that's rough. Talk to someone about it if you need to, even if it's just on here. So, wound up quitting my department. They wanted three 12 hour shifts a week on a rotating schedule, plus mandatory monday drill nights from 7-10pm. It was kicking my rear end, especially since even working there 40 hours a week for the past 3 months I'd only ran like 6 calls, 4 of which were false alarms. So, I decided to ride it out until last weekend when we had a donated house to burn down. Got yelled at for making an attack from my knees instead of *laying down on the goddamn floor on my back like an rear end in a top hat, full-body clamping onto the nozzle, and then spraying water.* It was apparently "too hot" and "I was going to get burned". Okay, whatever, maybe I had some adrenaline going and didn't feel the heat. Burn #4, I'm second on the hose, and we get into the back bathroom and the "instructor" tells the (brand new) nozzle guy to wait on it. There's a good 3 minutes of them going "WOW ITS SO loving HOT OH WOW FEEL THAT HEAT? DUDE ITS SO HOT THIS IS WHAT A REAL FIRE IS LIKE" while I'm sitting in the door way staring at this thing. I don't have words to describe how not very hot that fire was. It wasn't even that "uncomfortably warm" that you get sometimes. No rollover, didn't break the mirror in the tiny rear end bathroom it was in, nothing. Probably the most unrealistic real-fire I've ever been in. And then the whole getting yelled at for not making my attack from the "taking a nap" position. This was also where I learned that a transitional attack is, and I swear to god I'm not making this up, making an INTERIOR attack with a 2 1/2, pulling out, then going back in with an 1 3/4 to finish it off. What the gently caress kind of sense does that make? (it doesn't.) When I asked, I was told "ah, yeah that's how we do it here!". I don't know if I was brought up in an unreasonably aggressive firehouse with extremely lax time commitment requirements or what, but I'm losing my goddamn mind trying to find a department out here that a) will actually take my IFSAC certs and then submit them for reciprocity like they're supposed to, b) doesn't have insane, inflexible time requirements, and c)believes in putting water on fire from the inside of the building without doing weird interpretive dance routines. I feel like I'm complaining about this way too much and should just suck it up, but holy poo poo ya'll. Someone tell me I'm not crazy.
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Feb 16, 2015 07:27
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I'm not sure what the official name is, but our SOP(G?) is to have the officer lead into a structure and do a heat read from the floor with an exposed back of the hand traveling towards the ceiling. At the point where it is too hot, the hand will come down. You want to have that point be somewhere above half the height of the room for safety. I don't like the idea of laying down with a hose on top of you or pulling out a 2 1/2" while still fighting active fire. Sure you could see fire rolling over you, but then your helmets water and impact protection is negated. We only use 2 1/2" lines for longer lays, large buildings, or exposure protection. Our main attack is one 1 3/4" at 150gpm followed by a second line if we have the manpower/need.
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Feb 16, 2015 12:09
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invision posted:
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Feb 16, 2015 13:04
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Erwin posted:That's volunteer, right? If so, you're not crazy. They sound like a company that gets so few calls that they have way too much time on their hands to come up with weird tactics. And I've never seen a volunteer department that requires shifts. Maybe it's different around here where plenty of members live close to the station, but if I was told I had to do three 12 hour shifts per week (or any regular shifts at all), I'd laugh on my way out the door. I would agree with this. What the gently caress is that lying on your back thing about? I've never even heard of that. And with regards to the 2 1/2... I've always been taught that if it's a roaring fire and/or a wide space (like, warehouse kind of thing), then yeah that goes in. But for most things you'll encounter in a residential structure, 1 3/4 is enough (again, at 150 gpm, etc). But why the gently caress would you pull the 2 1/2 out if it's already in there? I hope they at least bring the 1 3/4 interior before they pull the 2 1/2 out... That's also just insane. Too many moving parts and poo poo you're trying to get done when you've already got a lot of poo poo to get done. You're loving up your man power. Volunteer departments around here require X many responses in a month/quarter, and time on shift can count towards that, but as far as straight up requiring shifts...? That's no longer volunteer, in essence. There is a department that I know of though that, when they next get audited, will get hosed and implode. Theoretically an all volunteer department, but the reality is something different as far as how they operate and pay their volunteers.
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Feb 19, 2015 19:42
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windshipper posted:I would agree with this. What the gently caress is that lying on your back thing about? I've never even heard of that. And with regards to the 2 1/2... I've always been taught that if it's a roaring fire and/or a wide space (like, warehouse kind of thing), then yeah that goes in. But for most things you'll encounter in a residential structure, 1 3/4 is enough (again, at 150 gpm, etc). But why the gently caress would you pull the 2 1/2 out if it's already in there? I hope they at least bring the 1 3/4 interior before they pull the 2 1/2 out... That's also just insane. Too many moving parts and poo poo you're trying to get done when you've already got a lot of poo poo to get done. You're loving up your man power. Yeah dude, the lying on your back thing is *maybe* a valid technique if you're trying to 1 or 2 man a 2 1/5, doing some nozzle forward poo poo (which is honestly an amazing class, and the guy that teaches it, Aaron, is awesome as well. ) With a 1 3/4, it's stupid stupid stupid for so many reasons that I'm not even gonna take the time to list them out. Enjoy having ceiling fall on your SCBA mask and knock your reg out or something I guess. 2.5 is a totally 100% legit handline to fight fire with, when it's big fire. Big fire = big water is about as true of a statement as you can come up with in the fire service. I'm not upset by the usage of the 2.5 - I actually think it's great and that more departments should be more willing to take one inside - but to pull it inside, and then back out, and then bring in a 1 x/x handline is pants on head stupid. And then to teach the probies that THAT is what a transitional attack is, is beyond stupid. That's not at all what a transitional attack is, not even a little bit. I guess the fact that it includes two different size hoses might get it part of the way there, but that's some backwoods redneck bullshit firefighting if I've ever heard it. Also, the chief never submitted my reciprocity paperwork as required by the state. And I had to explain the word "reciprocity" to him. I'm not even super mad about the shift thing - it kind of makes sense if there were, you know, calls, but there weren't. My little department in Texas runs ~400 calls a year, with NO medical. So we saw actual work every time we rolled (not including false alarms). And we operated with NO paid staff, not a chief, full-time guy, anything. All 100% no-money-at-all volunteer, with like 10 active members out of 30, and we loving kicked rear end. It seems like all of the small towns out here have chiefs that are getting paid and have to justify their positions by making up crazy rear end stuff. Ain't no reason a town with a 1.5 mile AOR with 300 calls a year needs a paid chief, 2 (3?) paid guys, and a 40 hour a week sleep at the station commitment from vollies. I don't think firefighting in the PacNW is for me. I love firefighting more than anything else I've ever done. I spent years of my life, including a year of full-time college to do what I've done, and then they're wanting me to literally work at a vollie house for no money 40 hours a week. That's stupid on my part to even agree to that. I know that there are a million people out there wanting to become firefighters, but I also know that if someone walked into my department in texas with a book full of certs and classes and experience, who wanted to be active, we'd accommodate them within reason. I called to talk to the chief about maybe chilling out on the hours-per-week thing and he was like "yeah, well, come turn in your shirts and your keys and stuff", in a department that has like 4 members with more than a year of experience. I'm drunk and ranty, but man, I'm incredibly loving disappointed. I don't expect/want to go somewhere and have them hand me the keys to the engine and throw gear and a pager at me and say "have at it", but I also won't go somewhere thats gonna work me harder than a paid guy and just be like "WELP, LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT PAL". 
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Feb 22, 2015 05:19
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Be careful out there when making the push. I got burned today on my shins. It was a good, hot first due job in a high rise multi-dwelling. Knock down went quick but there was a lot of pent up heat in the apartment, as well as a lot of junk everywhere (not enough to call it hoarding but it was pretty bad). I had the nozzle and had a hard time doing anything but kneel, which meant I got exposed to a lot of scalding water. Somehow also got burning paper or something up my bunker pants and then down my boots. Not a pleasant time. Luckily my captain could see I was having a hard time and pulled me out. If I had tried to stick with it I probably would have been burned a lot worse.
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Feb 23, 2015 00:19
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Y'all hear about this yet? http://www.emsworld.com/news/11855547/los-angeles-county-fire-department-cheating-scandal In other fire-related news, I'm finally about to start FF I/II after having to repeat Haz Mat Ops since my cert didn't transfer states. Probably not a bad idea to have to do it again, since VA's is a bit more intense than MD's was and at a Fire/EMS department instead of a primarily EMS rescue company now I could see it potentially being a more likely thing to be expected to do. Still really pumped about FF I/II starting next week.  All of this is as a vollie (in case that wasn't clear), but I did put in an application last December to the local county department and sat for the written test at the beginning of this month. Huge, huge crowd at the testing center (and it was only one of the four test administrations total) for a department with 26 sqmi total service area and 10 stations so I don't expect to make it past this first cut, but still eager to find out either way. Should hear about it at some point next week as well. I've also put in apps all over the eastern seaboard though, even though I really don't want to leave DC. Including one as a Federal firefighter for the VA at Perry Point, which seemed kind of weird in concept but might turn out to be cool.
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Feb 27, 2015 16:30
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senor punk posted:Be careful out there when making the push. I got burned today on my shins. It was a good, hot first due job in a high rise multi-dwelling. Knock down went quick but there was a lot of pent up heat in the apartment, as well as a lot of junk everywhere (not enough to call it hoarding but it was pretty bad). I had the nozzle and had a hard time doing anything but kneel, which meant I got exposed to a lot of scalding water. Somehow also got burning paper or something up my bunker pants and then down my boots. Not a pleasant time. Luckily my captain could see I was having a hard time and pulled me out. If I had tried to stick with it I probably would have been burned a lot worse. drat, dude. gently caress fighting fires in those Collier's Mansion-style dwellings. Stay safe, man. EDIT: Two weeks late, but this thread has been rocking for five years! Woo! Good times, y'all!
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Feb 27, 2015 18:42
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HiroProtagonist posted:
Nothing is cool about Cecil County. If you want to stay in DC but want something different go work for MWAA, the pay is good and you'll eat, sleep, run mutual aid, and occasionally run actual calls on the airport.
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Feb 27, 2015 19:39
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HiroProtagonist posted:Y'all hear about this yet? http://www.emsworld.com/news/11855547/los-angeles-county-fire-department-cheating-scandal Honestly man, don't worry about the testing. I took Houston's test a few years ago while I was uhhh... in the beginning stages of my hangover... and made it past the written test. Unfortunately I had moved clear across the country before the called me and confirmed, so I couldn't move forward. ~10-20% will score high enough on the written to get to the physical test ~50-75% of those will make it past the physical, unless it's the CPAT then you can expect that to drop to %10 Of those that pass the physical, you're gonna lose a lot to not being able to pass the background check On my Houston test I ranked somewhere in the high 300's/low 400's on my written test (because I was loving miserable and had to throw up the entire time), and still got called in because of how many people got kicked out from the physical and background checks. If I can do it in that kind of shape, you should be able to nail it no problem, hombre. Also, and I'm sure you know, but a paramedic cert will pretty much hand you a job as long as you have a pulse and aren't methed out right that second. It's way more valuable than FF1/2, and I hate myself for doing my IFSAC stuff instead of my medic. Not to stereotype or whatever, but you're articulate, and can spell, so you'll have a leg up on most of the dudes trying to take the written. We might be "the bravest" but we're sure as hell not the brightest.
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Feb 27, 2015 20:31
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Thanks for the info and encouragement. I pretty much assumed that a not-insignificant percentage of the people who applied with me had their P cert already and with thousands of applicants (based on the numbers taking the test just on my day), statistics alone would have a pretty good chance of eliminating me off the bat. Plus a probably decent percentage of applicants who already had actual-firefighting experience (I don't, just a few years as a vollie and no practical fire experience) or even a full rack of IFSAC/EMT-B certs, and some probably with all of the beforementioned and a P cert to boot. Still, this is all pretty much managing expectations on my part, I don't have anything really to base that speculation on other than the knowledge that career fire/ems is incredibly competitive. I'm 29 but I'm in decent enough shape and the fire training I have been through so far has not been a problem (probie class at my vollie department and the practicals for hazmat both before and again now). Taxing at points, sure, but that's true for anyone. Cardio is my only real weak point, though with my current level of fitness I don't feel worried about having the time to really tackle that aggressively before I have to worry about even the medical clearance, let alone being in a recruit class or on the job. Had the same physicals more than once as a vollie so I know what's involved. It is the CPAT they're using but I'm familiar enough with the test setup that I can get a sense of the physical requirements and it doesn't scare me on paper. If I get past the written, I plan to attend the two CPAT practice sessions that come before the real one and I'll have a better understanding of how aggressively I'll need to train up after the first one. There's going to be a couple months between the first practice and the third for-real test and I'm confident that I can fit any training needs in there. If I get past the written I'm going to start working on cardio right then, though. The one leg up that I know I have is that I started volunteering originally to do EMS, and that's still the most important part of fire-rescue service to me. I'm well aware that a lot of firefighters do EMS only reluctantly at best, so if I can get to the panel interview step with a department I will definitely have a good story to tell them. Plus I know beyond a doubt that it's the career for me, after 8 years of office jobs, I'm ready to declare that white collar is for sissies.* Apparently according to the county fire chief, people get to the point in the process of taking a job offer and deciding--in recruit school  --that it's not the job for them. Yeezus.*Sort of half-joking, I know some people prefer to spend their lives volunteering only and I don't look down on that at all. Personally though, I'm tired of the bullshit that comes in an office and if I had to pick a perfect job, my answer would be "something that every time you wake up for it you can know will make a difference that day." Untagged posted:Nothing is cool about Cecil County. Yep this is true but they won't hire people without all of their certs, which I don't. Also god only knows when they'll look to be hiring again and with only 150 total spots on their rolls the competition will be endless regardless of the exact number of hiring spots they'll be looking for. Regardless of how far I make it in this hiring process I'm going to keep getting certs for the next one so I may well get there eventually though. Including my medic cert if I go that long. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Feb 27, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 21:26
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Best day ever: - Get off shift at one department and find out that while, no, I won't be able to make it for the next EMS evaluator class due to being on shift at a different department, they'll find a way for me to get it. -Go to do payroll at that other department, tones go out for a chimney fire, jump in and go to it on the brush truck with another dude. We're first in and, while the fire is out for the most part, start doing truck work and pulling out insulation around the chimney with a pick head axe and 3' halligan (no pike pole nor New York hook on the rig). Brush truck work best truck work. The engine was basically just chilling outside after having laid 300' of 5" LDH forward. -Get to go back and add on another hour to my time card for the month. HiroProtagonist posted:Apparently according to the county fire chief, people get to the point in the process of taking a job offer and deciding--in recruit school For some people, the time commitment and/or the bodily commitment just isn't worth it to them. I think that's a fair choice to make at that point. I can't speak from experience when it comes to being full time/career firefighter, right now I'm only at a halfway point (part-time firefighter/emt at two departments). However, the way I see it, if your heart isn't in it for whatever reason, then that's a fair choice to make. Otherwise, your job is to throw yourself, your body, and potentially your future health or life in it for something that you don't really want to do that badly. If that ends up being the case for you, then is it really the best choice for you or your community? Making the choice at that point, in my mind, is probably a wise one. As far as the CPAT, you say you're familiar with the set up, I don't know if that means if you've taken it or not, but if you haven't... Just keep moving. Don't stop moving at any point and don't take any time to think on anything beyond the task you're doing right then and there. Not even when you're walking between tasks - just focus on what you need to do right then and there. It's not that hard, especially in the scope of things you'll potentially have to do in your career as far as I see it. I've done it while out of shape - it sucked - but I passed with well over a minute and a half to spare simply because I just never took the time to realize how much it sucked right then. Just keep moving. windshipper fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 02:14
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windshipper posted:For some people, the time commitment and/or the bodily commitment just isn't worth it to them. I think that's a fair choice to make at that point. I can't speak from experience when it comes to being full time/career firefighter, right now I'm only at a halfway point (part-time firefighter/emt at two departments). However, the way I see it, if your heart isn't in it for whatever reason, then that's a fair choice to make. Otherwise, your job is to throw yourself, your body, and potentially your future health or life in it for something that you don't really want to do that badly. If that ends up being the case for you, then is it really the best choice for you or your community? Making the choice at that point, in my mind, is probably a wise one. I guess that's true, but if someone got to the point of being in a paid department's academy recruit class before deciding that being a firefighter wasn't for them, not only did they screw at least one person out of their dream job, but they wasted a poo poo ton of time for a whole mess of folks with nothing to show for it. That's pretty aggravating all by itself. I agree with your basic point though. I mean even leaving aside volunteering, pre-service education and everything else as far as options to try before you buy so to speak, how do you even get to that point in the recruitment process, as long as it takes, before you figure it out? Mind boggling. windshipper posted:As far as the CPAT, you say you're familiar with the set up, I don't know if that means if you've taken it or not, but if you haven't... Good advice. I haven't taken the exact CPAT before but through a combination of training evolutions and skills exercises that basically approximate all of the CPAT stations in one form or another, I feel like I have a good picture of how it would play out and I'd bet it'd be similar to your experience (one foot in front of the other, don't think how much it sucks until you're done, etc.). The instructors for my probie school were really good and made a point to include a lot of CPAT-like physical exercises, which I can credit for a lot of my confidence in my ability to pass it now and be thankful for that. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 03:11
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HiroProtagonist posted:I guess that's true, but if someone got to the point of being in a paid department's academy recruit class before deciding that being a firefighter wasn't for them, not only did they screw at least one person out of their dream job, but they wasted a poo poo ton of time for a whole mess of folks with nothing to show for it. That's pretty aggravating all by itself. I agree with your basic point though. A lot of people just tend to score high enough on exams, interviews, etc., where they pass through. That's not a knock on them, it's just that some people haven't entered the field first before they hit that point. Either that, or they only have EMS experience and were hoping for a firefighter job, or they only have experience in smaller departments without as strict a regimen for training or what have you... It all comes down to the passion you have for it, basically. I haven't hit the process where I've been in an academy for a big department or a super strict department, so I can't speak to the experience, but I'd imagine it's a world of difference from my experience so far. That said, it's something I want badly enough where I'm busting my rear end for it. Once I hit that academy, I believe fully I will have the passion for it and I am sure I have the passion for it - having done the job as I have thusfar, knowing the experiences I've had and everything I've gone through it's what I want to do to my heart, but again... You only know when you know. I know, personally, that I want this, but I've been through enough that I believe I want it. Not everyone has hit that point. posted:Good advice. I haven't taken the exact CPAT before but through a combination of training evolutions and skills exercises that basically approximate all of the CPAT stations in one form or another, I feel like I have a good picture of how it would play out and I'd bet it'd be similar to your experience (one foot in front of the other, don't think how much it sucks until you're done, etc.). The instructors for my probie school were really good and made a point to include a lot of CPAT-like physical exercises, which I can credit for a lot of my confidence in my ability to pass it now and be thankful for that. When you're on the stairmill - Count your steps. I don't remember the exact number that it consists of off the top of my head, but counting down until you're done gives you a rough time of when it will end. You won't have a stop watch yourself and I didn't have a clock or whatever in front of me, but it's that, "I only have to do this...." and then off to the next thing kind of thing that helps somewhat. More than anything, it's boring and then tiring towards the end of it and you kind of just wish it would stop. The stairmill goes a lot faster than it would otherwise feel if you have some way to measure it. If you're measuring it in steps, it goes pretty fast. Move your legs as fast as you can between exercises. That said, the best advice I can give you, having taken it 3 times, is to just be in as good of shape as you can be. Do a stairmill with weights on, whatever. Just know that they're going to try to kill you right out of the gate and THEN make you do stuff and that's the entire point of it. Once you make it past the stairmill, it's all pretty easy as long as you keep moving. That part is what washes out most people. Lunges, running stairs, whatever. If you've been a vollie and done CPAT like stuff, you know what you need to do to be in the best shape for each part of it, just try and do it. It's not as hard as it might seem - for a lot of people it's a giant wall that they have to climb. In reality, it's just one step in a process. Again, I say this as someone who hasn't been hired for career yet. I'm only a part timer. I'm still in the process. Take this all with the grain of salt that it should be taken with.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:05
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No, actually that all fits completely with what I was thinking. I already know that the 3:20 on the stairmill is going to kill me more than anything else having done 10+ story equivalent stair climbs in full structural kit already, the main (big) difference being that the CPAT is a metered pace, but if I can get through that then the rest of it is a breeze by comparison. Cardio, cardio cardio son.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:23
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HiroProtagonist posted:No, actually that all fits completely with what I was thinking. I already know that the 3:20 on the stairmill is going to kill me more than anything else having done 10+ story equivalent stair climbs in full structural kit already, the main (big) difference being that the CPAT is a metered pace, but if I can get through that then the rest of it is a breeze by comparison. It's one step a second - that's as fast as it will go. As long as you can do 1 step a second for a 3 and a half minutes with 75 lbs of weight on, you're in better shape than a lot of people who take the CPAT. Edit: poo poo, you can even elbow the railings once if you must in order to keep balance.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:37
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Yup, and now I'm wishing I had timed myself on that aforementioned stair climb, but welp. Pretty sure it was over 3:20 in any case. Just gives me a reason to do it again at least a few more times, but with a physical goal in mind.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:45
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Either way, climb 240 steps with weights on, trying to average 1 step a second. If you can do that, then you can handle the CPAT. That's basically the gist of it+cardio. Now, the FireTEAM test on the other hand...
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Feb 28, 2015 04:56
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I've heard of this but I think it's a west coast thing maybe? I remember seeing it mentioned in a lot of CA and a couple of Midwest departments' hiring processes but nothing on the east coast hirings that I have seen.
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Feb 28, 2015 05:02
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HiroProtagonist posted:I've heard of this but I think it's a west coast thing maybe? I remember seeing it mentioned in a lot of CA and a couple of Midwest departments' hiring processes but nothing on the east coast hirings that I have seen. https://nationaltestingnetwork.com/publicsafetyjobs/ntn-test-firefighter.cfm Edit: NTN isn't east coast though, really. It's west coast primarily.
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Feb 28, 2015 06:40
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windshipper posted:Either way, climb 240 steps with weights on, trying to average 1 step a second. If you can do that, then you can handle the CPAT. That's basically the gist of it+cardio. I've taken the drat fireTEAM test twice now, and honestly, gently caress that test. My scores are usually in the area of: 90, 72, 98, 94. gently caress the mechanical section. I haven't met anyone yet who's scored better than an 85 on the mechanical portion. Also, the first section kinda sucks because a lot of times, there are a lot of correct answers; but you need to choose the MOST correct answer... Ugh.
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Feb 28, 2015 12:41
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EZipperelli posted:I've taken the drat fireTEAM test twice now, and honestly, gently caress that test. My scores are usually in the area of: 90, 72, 98, 94. Mechanical portion is easy-ish. That first section is just such a pain in the rear end, and then making you go back and rate each person on how you found them, when you've only had brief moments of seeing most of them and trying to remember who is who or did what...
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Feb 28, 2015 19:41
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windshipper posted:Mechanical portion is easy-ish. That first section is just such a pain in the rear end, and then making you go back and rate each person on how you found them, when you've only had brief moments of seeing most of them and trying to remember who is who or did what... I was lucky enough to have a proctor that told everyone to pay close attention to all the characters actions and personalities, so going back and rating them wasn't TOO bad, but the videos themselves sucked. I'm assuming you also had the brick factory for the mechanical?
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Feb 28, 2015 20:35
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Not a whole lot so far that's been worse than doing decon and damming practicals for hazmat in sub zero temperatures with a leaky boot. I can't ever bring enough socks. 
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Feb 28, 2015 22:31
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EZipperelli posted:I was lucky enough to have a proctor that told everyone to pay close attention to all the characters actions and personalities, so going back and rating them wasn't TOO bad, but the videos themselves sucked. I did. I didn't find it too hard. Not to say that I scored outstanding on it, but upper 80s. Either way, that first section is a bitch with the multiple right answers one way or another and gently caress that test. Rumors are that NTN will be switching to a new test though in the near future (whenever that is), so I look forward to that...
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Mar 1, 2015 02:17
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Just found out today that I passed the written portion of the test. Scrambling to make sure I can get the rest of my documentation together before the deadline in a little less than three weeks so that I can take the CPAT and move on. Family is pulling out all the stops so far helping to dig up the old stuff for me that I still need which is great, because I don't want to have to rely on central records places in Podunk County to keep myself in the recruitment process right now. I swear to god paperwork is a fine loving FD tradition, if I do say so myself. E: and somehow I need to hold down my day job amidst all this too. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Mar 4, 2015 |
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Mar 4, 2015 05:06
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HiroProtagonist posted:Just found out today that I passed the written portion of the test. Scrambling to make sure I can get the rest of my documentation together before the deadline in a little less than three weeks so that I can take the CPAT and move on. Family is pulling out all the stops so far helping to dig up the old stuff for me that I still need which is great, because I don't want to have to rely on central records places in Podunk County to keep myself in the recruitment process right now. Every cert I get I scan in with my phone and upload to my Dropbox. I use Handy Scanner to process the doc and save it as a pdf.
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Mar 6, 2015 20:32
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IronDoge posted:Every cert I get I scan in with my phone and upload to my Dropbox. I use Handy Scanner to process the doc and save it as a pdf. Oh I'm not talking about that kind of documentation. I'm talking about stuff like my college diploma and certified transcript, high school diploma and certified high school transcripts from each high school I attended (I went to two  ), certified driving records from every state I've lived in, criminal records checks from the same, etc. A few need to be notarized as well.It's seriously a mind-blowing about of documentation. I'm about halfway done and hopefully can get the rest of it together, including whats already working its way through the mail system right now, before the deadline. At least being local I have a tiny bit of a convenience advantage in that I can drop the packet off in person if need be rather than having to mail it, but still, sheesh.
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Mar 6, 2015 20:41
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HiroProtagonist posted:Oh I'm not talking about that kind of documentation. I'm talking about stuff like my college diploma and certified transcript, high school diploma and certified high school transcripts from each high school I attended (I went to two Most jobs don't make the applicant do that kind of stuff, but at the FD, they know there are so many applicants that they can get you to jump through all sorts of hoops. One of the FD's local to me used to post the results of the written test at 11pm on Fri for the physical agility on Saturday morning. Paper only at fire admin. It was a super dick move done only to see how high they could get applicants to jump.
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Mar 13, 2015 21:15
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I'm one of the few volunteer ambulance drivers in my company, so most volunteer shift days I end up stuck on the bus. Today, I finally have an assignment on the tower and rescue, only the back ambulance, so naturally no fire calls at all all day long. The rest of the crew is getting antsy, but I suspect my white cloud syndrome is incurable. I've tried eating, taking a poo poo, taking a nap, and scheduling work for tomorrow morning, but we've had only six EMS calls in 15 hours so far, and all of those were the front bus crew. I'm now posting about what a quiet day it's been, a last attempt to get a call during this shift. Welp. Edit: box alarm, in service before we even disembarked. Sigh. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Mar 15, 2015 |
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Mar 15, 2015 02:13
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If it makes you feel better, Monday was the most calls I've had this year so far. Every shift I've been on I have been a massive white cloud. That number of calls I had Monday? 5. 5 calls in 24 hours. I've gotten a lot of training in though!
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Mar 22, 2015 00:09
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windshipper posted:If it makes you feel better, Monday was the most calls I've had this year so far. Every shift I've been on I have been a massive white cloud. Don't feel bad, those taxpayer dollar flatscreen TV's don't watch themselves, ya know? So shitshow update, I quit my dumb FD. When I went to hand in my poo poo (loving t-shirts, really?), the chief saw me pull up and immediately ran to the back of the station to his chiefs car and drove away. 3-4 months of 40hrs a week bullshit and all I got was a "hey, thanks for bringing this stuff back!" from the probie with 4 months experience that they had on shift that night. Never would imagine myself saying this, but I'm glad I left. gently caress that place. No wonder they can't keep vollies and recruitment is in the shitter.
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Mar 25, 2015 07:20
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