Quote: (05-28-2015 08:34 AM)Lochte Wrote:
For some balance, I know a lot of people in California who have worked season after season of volunteer firefighting, and despite having all the EMT credentials, were never able to find a permanent firefighting job, and ended up returning to school for a career change.
I also know some departments do a police/firefighter combo, whicb means you'd spend time being a police officer as well, but I believe it also increases your chances of getting in
I'm not disputing that, Lochte. There are many more applicants than there are available slots. The younger you are when you start testing, the better though.
I know a guy who spent $10,000 testing for various departments. He traveled to Boston, New York, Denver, Chicago, Phoenix, etc. Plus he tested for a myriad of municipal departments.
It paid off for him. In the time I have known him he has been on four different departments. He finally landed where he wanted; Chicago.
His progression went like this:
1. Riding along busy companies in the city when he was a kid.
2. Was a member of an explorer program.
3.He got an Associates Degree in Fire Science.
4.Completed college while continuing to volunteer and ride in the city.
5. Moved to fire protection district where he was a paid on call fire fighter.
6. He got hired with me to a full time department.
7. He took every class, got every certification and got on as many special teams as possible.
8. After six years he got the call from Chicago and away he went. He's still angling to get to Squad 2.
He is not a female(obviously),a minority or veteran. AND his father is a somebody in the Fire Service. This is the kind of guy you are testing against.
PM me if you have any questions.
Some communities have Public Safety Officers, combo police and fire. I only know of two in the suburbs surround me and there are a lot of them. Funny thing is on all of those departments the new guys are police and the old guys are firefighters.
I've taken classes with them on occasion. They tell me that they haven't ridden on an engine or truck in years or in some cases ever!
They are all waiting for senior guys to retire so they can move over to an engine.
We have a saying:
"You'll meet a lot of cops who want to be firefighters but you'll never find a firefighter who wants to be a cop."