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Ironsights posted:
Muting the audio wasn't necessary for me, I was saying the same things as that woman in my head anyway. I feel like I need a cigarette after watching that, holy gently caress. 
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Mar 29, 2014 17:59
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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National Registry Paramedic is probably the number 1 thing that will give you a boost anywhere when applying to a department. Seconding that you please not apply if you plan to leave a department after a few years to do something else. However, there are part-time paid on-call firefighter positions available in many rural areas that might be more to your liking. I believe windshipper works two such positions at the same time and can explain more how that works. Volunteering is really not necessary, but if you want to be a full service firefighter (Fire-Rescue-EMS), a department that doesn't have its own recruit academy (i.e. a publicly-funded county or municipality) may not let you apply even with a medic certification. Volunteering might be a way to get the other certifications you want in the meantime before applying (e.g., FF I/II, EVOC III, HazMat Operations, Technical Rescue, etc.) as they will sponsor you for classes in most cases, and you will get a chance to work inside the department taking shifts at the same time. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Apr 9, 2015 |
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Apr 9, 2015 15:17
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IronDoge posted:Had a reefer truck full of frozen chicken crash hard last night and splattered chicken all over the highway. This was also during a torrential downpour. I tell you what, dragging hose through a nasty soup of chicken, diesel, and oil was not the most pleasant thing to be doing at 2 in the morning. I'm just glad I don't have to go back out there after that gunk has a day or two to cook on the hot pavement. Call the hazmat team!  Real talk though I'd be looking forward to decon after wading through that slop just reading about it.
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Jun 2, 2015 21:51
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So while in the recruitment process with four departments now, I've passed the written exams for all of them so far and passed the CPAT about 2-3 weeks ago (haven't stopped training though since), so I'm basically waiting on polygraphs all around now, soon as I get that certificate and can hand it to the other departments. I'm not really sure what to expect from the polygraph(s) to be totally honest. I'm scrupulously honest and fully disclosed everything but I've heard a lot of tales of people "showing deception" when seemingly they'd been completely honest and upfront during the poly. Trying not to let that psych me out, but until I have the first one I'm completely unsure what the progression of it will be and how to feel about it. I expect to be scheduled for the first poly sometime this month, not sure about the others yet.
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Aug 4, 2015 15:05
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Paramemetic posted:Welp I'm studying Tibetan language and as a final oral exam we have a presentation. Rather than some religious topic that's been done to death and which I'd have to translate from my English learning, I'm going to do intro to fire suppression and an overview of fireground operations. Easy vocab, basic concepts, something I'll be able to wing it on if the professor wants to grill me. I hope this isn't a prelude to your inevitable death on Everest.
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Aug 4, 2015 16:53
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The Gardenator posted:Well the captain does not want to take those steps at this time. I can see where it is a liability, but it is not that far off from having a fresh recruit or a firefighter on his last legs physically. I had to look up OSHA standards on theatrical fog because dude was freaking out over it during one of the training sessions. Simulated smoke right? The stuff that it's supposed to be simulating is quite a bit worse for you, and the steps for protecting yourself from it are the same. Sounds like a bigger potential for headaches than any fog machine ...
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Oct 26, 2015 15:26
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windshipper posted:I work part time at two departments, just moved to a different district with my girlfriend... It's one of the premier fire departments in the county and I looked into volunteering here. You just almost literally described the combination system in my county (NoVA). Volunteers are essentially auxiliaries to the paid staff. Volunteers that meet the minimum certification requirements are eligible to ride 3rd on medics/5th on trucks and engines, but members that are not have no options other than ad-hoc special services units. And for volunteers certified to ride, there is otherwise no formal system in place to handle that process once you get placed on the eligible to ride list; it functions almost entirely on having a good, working interpersonal relationship with whatever shift and station you choose to ride with. Essentially you just show up like it's a meet and greet and try to make yourself useful and make friends. Without speaking ill of anyone, I could reasonably say that it's considered... less than optimal by most people here. But it's what we got.
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Dec 4, 2015 22:37
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IronDoge posted:You also start to look more like a robot than a firefighter with the camera and a voice amplifier on at the same time. Pretty neat! This sounds interesting. How large of a field of vision did the camera have? I can only imagine it's less than a handheld TIC. Also wonder how much more terrifying I can be to children with my mask on. Still, wouldn't mind a chance to play with one. e: what air pack supplier? Scott or MSA? HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 17:14 on May 17, 2016 |
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May 17, 2016 14:06
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Holy crap, that looks incredible. Did adding weight to only one side of the head noticeably affect the fit or comfort of the mask? I'm not even sure how to estimate how much it might weigh, but it looks bulky enough to potentially be a factor.
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May 17, 2016 18:14
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Question for you guys--I recently applied for a job at a nearby county department. After seeing that they offered preference points for county residents in the rankings, I applied using my mother's address instead of my own as she lives in the county. Is this something that will come back to bite me in the rear end? There's still another ~month to go before the test is scheduled to take place so if the consensus is yes I can correct it without a problem. I did live with my mother briefly a bit over a year ago while in the process of moving states and might do the same thing briefly again if I get hired, but mainly I wanted to maximize my odds. I had a recent experience with another nearby department where I was unable to claim the residency preference and I basically wrote my chances off after I got my ranking back--mid 2000s out of around 3500 despite acing the test, on a list that lasts two years. Also this is technically irrelevant to the issue but I did live within the county for ~20 years until my aforementioned move.
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May 18, 2016 18:06
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Delivery McGee posted:You don't use the small end of the fireaxe? I'm a little disappointed. OTOH, go get the heavy-rear end axe off the truck and swing it vs. a pen-sized tool in your pocket, makes sense. And nowadays the axe on the truck is just a regular axe, the Halligan does all the prying jobs. On tempered glass the center punch takes zero effort or force, and controlling the shattering is good. For laminated glass a saw is quicker, safer and easier than trying to bash it in, especially considering if you need to it means there's probably a victim in there under it that needs to be extricated. The pick end of the fireaxe is more for tradition than anything, I think. When I was in fire school someone said it used to be used mostly for vent jobs like pulling shingles and tiles off the roof (rather than prying), but in any case I can't think of something you'd pick a fireaxe to do instead of a tool that is either better at its job (chainsaw, pike pole/roof hook) or more multipurpose (halligan, flathead). Unlike the flathead it's sharp, but if you need something cut there's always a more effective and useful option. Actually can anyone name something the fireaxe is better at than any other tool? Now that I've thought about it I'm curious. Crazy Dutchman posted:You have direct experience with a brand new piece of equipment that was revealed at a trade show less than a month ago? Pretty sure there aren't any of these even in the field yet. Not sure, but I think he was talking about regular TICs and being over-reliant on them in general. e: derped and reversed glass types HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 20:59 on May 23, 2016 |
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May 23, 2016 20:48
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The Gardenator posted:For cutting plywood roofs or walls, we will start with the axe side then flip to the flat side to crush our way through. This is one of my least favorite things to do. It will kick your drat rear end. Great workout though.
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May 24, 2016 14:21
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Yup, think I put down two or three liters of fluids after the last time I did that. Then I got down, leaned my SCBA back a bit so it hits that nice reclined angle and just sat there on the ground for a while with my coat open. 
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May 26, 2016 21:00
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Heh, you would have seen a lot more than one apparatus for any kind of nonmedical emergency at one of those big box stores.
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Aug 7, 2016 17:55
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I think MWAA (the National Airport administration) runs that weird European-like hi-lo electronic siren on their ambulance around here. It sticks out in a big way.
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Aug 17, 2016 21:01
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dexter6 posted:Most of the rigs I've ever driven have a euro-sounding hi-lo tone built into them. In Europe, it's typically two physical horns that produce the different tones, not an electronic siren. Hmm, the latter must be what it was then. It definitely wasn't a typical hi-lo. You're more of a siren nerd than I am though, so who knows. I wish I could remember which department it was though, cause I'm still not positive it was MWAA, only pretty sure.
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Aug 24, 2016 17:01
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Shooting Blanks posted:Firefighters in Dubai get some pretty cool toys: how on earth does the operator brace against the backpressure like that. This cannot possibly be a 125 gpm flow. e: yeah it's clearly not, I shouldn't have stopped the video.
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Feb 19, 2017 06:57
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MrYenko posted:Do you float when wearing bunker gear? That seems appropriate for the OSHA thread. Lol actually, it turns out that you do. You can even sorta snorkel with it but a few feet down the pressure differential would likely be pretty uncomfortable and the demand valve would basically stop operating correctly. Good to know if you work around bodies of water or something where there's a risk of falling in while wearing full kit, but don't expect to be able to do water rescues or something with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VMkH9N1ELk e: also as you might expect, the thermal layer in your bunkers gets real heavy when it gets waterlogged.
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Feb 19, 2017 22:40
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