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The trucks the air force use to inject foam into a burning plane are so loving bad rear end looking.
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May 6, 2010 03:40
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The Sheriff Jake posted:The trucks the air force use to inject foam into a burning plane are so loving bad rear end looking. Are they standard ARFF trucks? If not, the regular ones look badass too.
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May 6, 2010 04:22
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The Sheriff Jake posted:The trucks the air force use to inject foam into a burning plane are so loving bad rear end looking. The ones that look like a Mad Max vehicle with the "stinger" looking thing above the cabin?
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May 6, 2010 04:29
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Slippery posted:The ones that look like a Mad Max vehicle with the "stinger" looking thing above the cabin? gently caress yeah dude. That's how a god drat American fire fighting truck should look.
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May 6, 2010 04:33
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The Sheriff Jake posted:gently caress yeah dude. That's how a god drat American fire fighting truck should look. gently caress yeah those things RULE 
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May 6, 2010 04:35
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The Sheriff Jake posted:gently caress yeah dude. That's how a god drat American fire fighting truck should look. We like to get Albany International Airport FD involved in our yearly open house. They always bring one of those crash trucks equipped with a piercing nozzle boom. They're the bee's knees.
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May 6, 2010 06:25
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THREAD RESURRECTION I'm planning on going to EMT-B school in August, and then on to an accelerated paramedic school in March 2011, which will graduate sometime in August, assuming I don't gently caress it up (I won't). I have first responder experience as a police officer, and I am also a veteran that can speak Chinese. I know that firefighter jobs are very hard to get, what did you guys do to stand out on your applications? I'd love to be a firefighter/medic, and I'm trying to stack the deck in my favor by being certified as a paramedic. Any tips or strategies you can give me would be awesome. I'm 33 if that matters.
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Jun 18, 2010 18:05
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SixtySix posted:THREAD RESURRECTION Well, hiring practices vary depending where in the US you are wanting to go. If you want to go to a big department, they may well make you re-take the EMS/Fire training you already have. This mostly applies to Fire training, but some places will make you re-take EMS stuff too. Places that are civil service often will give you extra points for veteran's status. Speaking more than English may also play into your favor. Make sure you stay/get in shape, while you aren't old by any stretch, many of the applicants you are competing against will be in their early/mid 20's. You can, of course play the experience card with your 'advanced' age. Look at places you would like to work, and find out what their requirements are to test, so you know what you need to do to be eligible. Unfortunately, in this economy many departments are cutting hiring, and in some cases, laying firefighters off.
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Jun 21, 2010 00:11
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If you can get some volunteer experience and training under your belt, that could help you land a job via experience and/or connections you make in that VFD. Even if you don't land a career gig from that, you can use it to land a contract job. Those can be real nice. $12 an hour to do nothing on a paradise island in the south Pacific. $100k a year tax free for contract work in Afghanistan(it's actually pretty safe). $40k for a year down in Antarctica.
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Jun 21, 2010 08:49
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I put wet stuff on hot stuff. I'm almost done with paramedic school dammit!!! Ok, not really I have like 5 months left...
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Jun 22, 2010 04:03
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I know this is some thread necromancy, but I just wanted to stop in and update. I got out of the military at the end of June, and decided to take an EMT class. Just before I started that, I joined my local volunteer fire department. I'm waiting to go to my first class in January (Firefighter 1).
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Oct 20, 2010 05:51
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Kashew posted:It's not so much a gripe as a concern about the lack of experience becoming a safety issue as fewer and fewer firefighters actually have experience putting fire out. One of my sergeants spent the first 5 years of his career as a firefighter before becoming a cop. He fought one fire in that entire 5 years.
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Oct 20, 2010 08:50
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We're just starting to light fires again at work- Spring burn program is underway!
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Oct 20, 2010 14:06
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Cage Kicker posted:I know this is some thread necromancy, but I just wanted to stop in and update. I got out of the military at the end of June, and decided to take an EMT class. Just before I started that, I joined my local volunteer fire department. I'm waiting to go to my first class in January (Firefighter 1). I tried to join my local volunteer (I liked firefighting on my boat) but because of my lovely knee and back, they said they couldn't take me. Stupid Navy ruined everything.
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Oct 20, 2010 20:04
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I just got called back by my local volunteer service, they're interviewing me on the first Monday in Nov. Basically something to fluff my resume and help out the local community while I jerkoff in college for the next 2.5 years. From what I understand 90% of the calls are medical. If someone calls 9/11 and mentions having any kind of breathing problem, that district's volunteer dept gets paged and they all go stand around for a couple hours while the paramedics to their job.
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Oct 20, 2010 22:06
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the amber trap posted:I tried to join my local volunteer (I liked firefighting on my boat) but because of my lovely knee and back, they said they couldn't take me. Stupid Navy ruined everything. drat. How bad are your knee and back? Volunteer companies take anyone that can pass a physical usually.
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Oct 20, 2010 22:56
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Kashew posted:drat. How bad are your knee and back? Volunteer companies take anyone that can pass a physical usually. You're living proof of this!
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Oct 20, 2010 23:11
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senor punk posted:You're living proof of this! Har har har. I'm not *that* out of shape.
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Oct 20, 2010 23:17
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Kashew posted:Har har har. I'm not *that* out of shape. After all, you are a shape.
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Oct 20, 2010 23:27
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Kashew posted:drat. How bad are your knee and back? Volunteer companies take anyone that can pass a physical usually. My back has a muscle strain that isn't too bad unless I overdo it on yardwork or whatever. Last winter was hellish because we got more snow than I'm used to. It was an interesting welcome back to New Jersey. I've also got some issues with both ankles (running on Ft. Meade in the dark during command PT, found a couple pot holes the hard way). My knee is the real issue. I've got a minor meniscus tear with water on the knee and a bakers cyst. I can't run, standing for too long really irritates it, and crouching causes pain almost immediately. I'm perfectly capable of working through it, like I did while I was in the Navy and medical was ignoring my complaints. I'd just rather not have to. When I went to the physical, I could have easily have bluffed my way through it. I chose not to because I didn't want my physical problems to become a real liability in an emergency, and I don't want to make a minor disability something major.
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Oct 22, 2010 19:15
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Speaking for large municipal departments (Los Angeles specifically), I've been hearing more and more that you really need to have your Paramedic nowadays to be competitive. I also know of candidates working as EMTs, with fire certs and academy, HAZMAT, Explorer and volunteer work not being able to find a job. With that said, are my chances of getting hired as a Trainee essentially nil unless I take ~2-3 years off work to get my medic and certs? Are the days of hiring guys off the street and sending them through the training over?
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Oct 22, 2010 21:28
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FooGoo posted:Speaking for large municipal departments (Los Angeles specifically), I've been hearing more and more that you really need to have your Paramedic nowadays to be competitive. I also know of candidates working as EMTs, with fire certs and academy, HAZMAT, Explorer and volunteer work not being able to find a job. I can't speak of the LA or California market specifically, however I'd say the easy days are over for people looking to get into any big city department. With the lower rates of fires and tight budgets many cities are looking at layoffs or staffing decreases through attrition, making getting on that much more challenging. If at all possible you should do whatever you can to make yourself more marketable to the department(s) that you are trying to get on. If LA staffs FF/medics then do your best to try and become a medic, as well as the other certs.
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Oct 22, 2010 22:12
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senor punk posted:I can't speak of the LA or California market specifically, however I'd say the easy days are over for people looking to get into any big city department. With the lower rates of fires and tight budgets many cities are looking at layoffs or staffing decreases through attrition, making getting on that much more challenging. If at all possible you should do whatever you can to make yourself more marketable to the department(s) that you are trying to get on. If LA staffs FF/medics then do your best to try and become a medic, as well as the other certs. Yeah, attrition is pretty big right now. This past year we've retired 8 dudes, not looking for any replacements either. Then again we were riding four to an engine when I started and I guess we're just moseying down to the standard three. Also, if the only paramedic classes in your area are the 1.5 to 2 year programs - just do yourself a favor and go to nursing school.
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Oct 25, 2010 16:11
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Marx posted:Yeah, attrition is pretty big right now. This past year we've retired 8 dudes, not looking for any replacements either. I believe Albany NY is and has been 20 people under full staffing for years now. It was only when they got to 35-40 under that they hired 20, to get back to their maintenance level. FDNY currently staffs 60 5 man engines (5 FFs+ the officer), with the rest of the engines being 4 man, however the city wants to kill the 5 man engine altogether and then close companies.
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Oct 26, 2010 04:57
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Kashew posted:Har har har. I'm not *that* out of shape.
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Oct 26, 2010 13:53
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Any NE Ohio goons around that can give me some information on the application process ?
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Oct 30, 2010 22:17
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Epikhigh posted:Any NE Ohio goons around that can give me some information on the application process ? Most full time positions require a general knowledge test, lie detector, psych eval, Paramedic Cert, 240 firefighter cert, physical ability test, and if you pass all of that stuff you get an interview! If you have a degree and/or military experience you get a bunch of extra points.
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Nov 1, 2010 17:32
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con posted:Most full time positions require a general knowledge test, lie detector, psych eval, Paramedic Cert, 240 firefighter cert, physical ability test, and if you pass all of that stuff you get an interview! Is there any possible way to get your FF certs other than pay to go to an academy or take ~1-2 years off to go to school? I realize it's pretty much impossible to get hired to LAFD nowadays, especially when I already work full time. But it doesn't hurt to dream...
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Nov 1, 2010 17:40
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Most of the fire academies around here are 8 week courses that are Mon-Fri 8am-4pm. So you wouldn't have to take 1-2 years off, just dedicate a summer to it. Something I'm not willing to do at this point, which is why I'm stuck as a stupid paramedic wandering between going back to school and the military.
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Nov 1, 2010 18:10
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What's sad in Florida, especially south florida, that Fire Rescue mainly works medical calls, and they don't know dick about fighting fires. "OH GOD WE hosed UP A CONTROLLED BURN AND NOW WE GOTS A BRUSH FIRE..."
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Nov 1, 2010 18:34
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I went to my first local VFD meeting tonight. I got to spray poo poo with a huge water hose and hook up poo poo to a firehydrant and play around in a $250k big red truck. This job is the best job.
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Nov 2, 2010 04:39
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invision posted:I went to my first local VFD meeting tonight. Fact.
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Nov 2, 2010 19:06
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Kashew posted:Fact. Yeah, there's absolutely no doubt about it. I don't think I can wait a whole nother week to do it again. I feel like a 12 year old. (and I'm fine with that.)
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Nov 3, 2010 01:10
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invision posted:Yeah, there's absolutely no doubt about it. I had fun doing it on my boat. I'm kind of sad that I'm too broken to do it as a civilian. Maybe I can at least go EMT...
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Nov 3, 2010 05:42
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I'm interested in possibly becoming a wildland firefighter at some point in the future and wondering if anyone has any information or tips on the process.
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Nov 5, 2010 07:20
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FooGoo posted:Speaking for large municipal departments (Los Angeles specifically), I've been hearing more and more that you really need to have your Paramedic nowadays to be competitive. I also know of candidates working as EMTs, with fire certs and academy, HAZMAT, Explorer and volunteer work not being able to find a job. We still take them off the street. We are supposed to run 40-80 next year though. We will get like 10k or so apps. This is in Indy btw. Military, Paramedic, College is a huge plus. This is all rumor. I am betting within 3 years we will need a few hundred being about 150 have over 30 years in and like 500 have at least twenty. You need to study for the general ed exam. I scored around a 93ish when I got in but mine was a previous cert class. Last time we did our off the street process the min. score to get hired was 95ish. Get ready to compete for a job. Our fire load is very good. Subs are averaging 10-15 fires a month ( they float the city ). Half the trucks average some type of fire a shift. We do EMS but not transport. Only about 300 or so fire paramedics out of maybe 1200ish. 46 engines, 21 Ladder and 5 Squads ( the little ones ). We cover about 5/8 of Indy at the moment and moving up. Good pay, decent benefits, retirement takes some explaining. Loco179 fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Nov 9, 2010 |
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Nov 9, 2010 03:22
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So I roll up to my second ever Volunteer Fire Department meeting. I get out of my truck and start to walk in when all kinds of sirens and loud poo poo start going off. Some guy goes "Hey you wanna ride?" Hell yes I do. It's a car fire. So, we roll out of the station and it turns from a car fire to "Car fire with infant locked inside." Jesus, I should have stayed put. WELP. It was some drunk guy who hit a curb and saw the sparks from his rimzz grinding on the curb, freaks out and stops his car and runs off. No fire. No baby. No anything. Then I sat through a 3 hour meeting about not much of anything really. I did get mistaken for someone named "poptart" though. That was fun.
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Nov 9, 2010 05:24
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invision posted:So I roll up to my second ever Volunteer Fire Department meeting. I get out of my truck and start to walk in when all kinds of sirens and loud poo poo start going off. Some guy goes "Hey you wanna ride?" That is pretty much how it goes. Usually, the crazier the dispatch sounds, the bigger the BS when you actually get there. Couldn't tell you how many times we get to a call dispatched sounding like the Apocalypse and when we get there someone has a stubbed toe. Last shift we got dispatched to a 3 y/o 'CPR in progress' and when we got there we found a 3 y/o with a fever.
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Nov 9, 2010 22:31
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Crazy Dutchman posted:That is pretty much how it goes. Usually, the crazier the dispatch sounds, the bigger the BS when you actually get there. Couldn't tell you how many times we get to a call dispatched sounding like the Apocalypse and when we get there someone has a stubbed toe. Last shift we got dispatched to a 3 y/o 'CPR in progress' and when we got there we found a 3 y/o with a fever. I'm not sure about that. Usually when the dispatcher says something like "fire coming out of the windows", the fire is coming out of the windows. Although, "fully involved" can mean either there's visible free burning of any sort or the whole thing is up.
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Nov 9, 2010 22:40
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Kashew posted:I'm not sure about that. Usually when the dispatcher says something like "fire coming out of the windows", the fire is coming out of the windows. The fact that you relate someone describing an actual structure fire to "crazy sounding BS" shows just how few fires your department does  I agree with Crazy Dutchman
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Nov 9, 2010 23:03
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