Any Fire Fighters? I gotta question if so.

[carlson]

Hey so I have a year left in my fire science degree. I will be graduating with FF lvl 1&2 hazmat ops, emt, wild land, air craft and operator (driver). After I graduate ill be looking for jobs any where in the country for full time paid department. So here in lines the questions.... Would it be better for me to stay in school for another two years and get that emt changed to paramedic, and also add on confided space rescue, ropes and heights rescue, hazmat tech and wild land search and rescue too my list of certs? As you can see most that stuff is rescue certs the big one is paramedic, I would rather just be a FF/EMT but if paramedic is where more departments are leaning to hiring I would have to go get that too.

[Erndogg]

I dont what its like around the rest.of the country but around here (suburb of minneapolis) most of the fire depts around here require FF1&2 hazmat awerness and ops, and emt. Then once you have 3 or 4 years on the dept, you got to get your apparatus ops.

[C&H Exotic Morphs]

As far as getting your Medic certs it's kind of a double edged sword. Alot of departments would rather you be a Medic coming in, but there are still alot of departments that if you get hired on as an EMT they will pay for your Medic school.
As far as the other certs go just gradually take a class here and there to get them. Don't go and try to get them all in a short period of time. They are also something that either your department will pay for you to get if they are in need of someone with the certs or possibly do the training themselves.
It's always good to have as much training on your resume as possible, but at the same time alot of departments have certain ways they want things done and like to do the training themselves.

The BIGGEST thing to work on in my opinion is your Oral Boards! They are where you can either really stand out in a good way or blow everything no matter what training/schooling/certs you have!
Also doing alot of ride alongs with departments you are interested in working for can go along way. It will show them you are dedicated and also build a relationship with the other FF's, Captains and Chiefs that you could end up working with.

[carlson]

I'm going to the college in duluth that's a FF college I love it, not sure if the guy from the cities knows what one i mean. An k ill just finish up next year and see where I can go excited for school to be done and get on a department. School has turned into alot of drills, live burns and we work on oral board stuff in one of my classes. Getting ready to take my FF 1 and hazmat ops cert test in a couple months. I passed my emt pratical just got to study my butt off for the written test. Just wanted to get some imput from you already in the field cuz I'm going on 25 would like to get on a crew before I'm much older

[AmandaJ]

I'm not a firefighter nor am I an EMT, but a friend of mine is the author of Ambulance Driver Files (cool dude) at Fire/ EMS Blogs and seems to be a really good source of knowledge for most things in that area. I've "known" Kelly since around 2007, albeit virtually, and honestly, I'd put my life in his hands if the situation warranted it.

Contacting him for his opinion might be worth a shot.

[Erndogg]

I'm going to the college in duluth that's a FF college I love it, not sure if the guy from the cities knows what one i mean. An k ill just finish up next year and see where I can go excited for school to be done and get on a department. School has turned into alot of drills, live burns and we work on oral board stuff in one of my classes. Getting ready to take my FF 1 and hazmat ops cert test in a couple months. I passed my emt pratical just got to study my butt off for the written test. Just wanted to get some imput from you already in the field cuz I'm going on 25 would like to get on a crew before I'm much older

Nice you're going to the fire academy in Duluth? I hear its a great place to train. I did mine at Hennepin Tech. I am not sure if your familiar with the process, but when I applied to a few different departments here in the cities (about 4 or 5 years ago), there were three steps to the process. The first part was a written test consisting of basic fire knowledge, read the article provided and answer the following type questions, map reading skills, that kind of stuff. Then was the physical abilities testing, carrying a hose bundle up stairs, proper form for raising a ladder, search and rescue, assembling a hose and charging it at the hydrant, swinging a sledge X number of times, a body drag, and a few other different tests. Then the oral interviews.

As was already said, and I cant stress enough, be prepared for the oral interview boards. When I went through the process, I scored very high on the written (I personally know a fire fighter on the dept for many years and I guess they hadn't seen a written test score so good in a long time but that's hear say, looking back he may have been trying to cheer me up), average on the physical ability but TANKED the oral board. I had never done anything like that in my life, I had never really had to interview for a job even. The jobs I had up to that point I filled out the applications, dropped them off, got a call a couple days later, and then told me what I was in for, finished the paper work, started the next day. A week after the interview I got a letter in the mail that told me how they weighed all the tests and what my scores were. 28 out of 30% on the written, 22 out of 30% on the physical abilities, and 8 out of 40%. The letter also told me that there would be 7 others offered a job before I would be offered a job.

To add more to your question of should you put in the time and get your paramedic, I don't know to tell you the truth. Its going to have to be something you need to a bit of research for. Some one told me once that MPLS and ST. Paul require paramedic, but I don't know for sure. I know where I applied they told me straight out, that before your year of probation was up, you HAD to have FF 1 and 2, Hazmat Awareness and Ops, and EMT. No one was a medic.

The best advice I can give you is to get on a dept as a volunteer or paid on call after you pass state fire board, get some experiences while looking for that full time gig. That will be a huge factor going your way.

[carlson]

K thank you. And yes sir I'm at the fire academy up here in Duluth. I love it! It's unlike any college I've been too the hands on stuff is the best. The instructors here are all on the duluth department they have us focusing on the pre employment physical, an the oral exam. I ran the physical course a few weeks ago minus the search tunnel in 7:36 or 7:39 I can't member one of two I was busy trying to keep my breakfast down haha

[Erndogg]

I am glad you are enjoying your time there. I enjoyed my time at Hennepin Tech, looking back though I only really had one problem with it. There was no preparation for the actual application process. Being that it was a college, and every thing was set up like every other college level course, structured to cover topics, and then preparation for the state board test and that was it.

The hands on is always the best part! lol.

[carlson]

O ya there is no lack of hands on here! They make sure your prepaired to succeed I really like it, like they don't say do this an your getting a job! But do say here are things they helped us, and we do so many drills to get ready for the state practical. We worked on pulling up to burning cars yesterday so fun I like being nozzle man but we gotta switch around lol