[Chad Daring]

This idea was pitched to me recently as a career option. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with this? In fairness this was always a career I thought about, the little kid idealism of being a hero always made it a job I thought would be great to have. I was under the impression that you had to have special schooling for it, which kept me from looking into it, but I was told that isn't true, that you just have to pass basic tests and they train you from there.

Also, I'd imagine "oh I'm a fire fighter" would moisten panties with a quickness

[MikeCF]

VERY hard to get if you're a white male without family connections. "Very hard" would understate the difficulty.

[Chad Daring]

(10-22-2011 03:56 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

VERY hard to get if you're a white male without family connections. "Very hard" would understate the difficulty.

From what I was told, in Baltimore (where I'd be looking for this) there's currently a lack of fire fighters because no one wants the job, but that does sound like what I've been told. I was always under the impression that its not an easy job to get.

[Gmac]

I looked into it earlier this year actually. As Mike said, it can be very hard to get into some established houses as a CAREER fireman, but if you volunteer (something like 80% of firefighters are volunteers) the process is much simpler.

As you well know, being a Chef doesn't really allow a flexible "on call" second gig. You wouldn't have the availability unless you quit or took up something else. That's why I gave up on it... though the idea appealed to me a great deal as well.

[Brian]

you dont make a lot of money but there are a lot of perks like stacking shifts together so you can work 40 hours in 3 days and a sweet pension. i've hung out w/a lot of firemen and few seem to get married - i think partly because its hard to support a family on a firemans salary and partly because there is so much camaraderie w/in the fire dept that you dont really see the need to start a family, you already have one, and you have a bunch of wingmen for traveling, vacations, etc, and an endless supply of fireman groupie pussy.

[MikeCF]

Why are these jobs hard to find? Because despite the hype, they are EASY.

You can earn six figures a year by working two days a week. "Work" means hanging out with other cool guys, cooking, reading, playing basketball, lifting weights, and running your second business.

You retire after 20 years, and you get tax-free retirement, since you get classified as disabled. So you got six figures coming in while starting your second career.

Firemen are a totally hyped.

I have a good gig that I enjoy. I would give it up in a second to be a fireman.

[Brian]

(10-22-2011 06:50 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

Why are these jobs hard to find? Because despite the hype, they are EASY.

You can earn six figures a year by working two days a week. "Work" means hanging out with other cool guys, cooking, reading, playing basketball, lifting weights, and running your second business.

You retire after 20 years, and you get tax-free retirement, since you get classified as disabled. So you got six figures coming in while starting your second career.

Firemen are a totally hyped.

I have a good gig that I enjoy. I would give it up in a second to be a fireman.

a lot of this is spot on, the only thing i don know about is how easy it is to make 100k or more. i think its possible if you are cranking out lots of OT but base salaries aren't that high

[OGNorCal707]

(10-22-2011 08:12 PM)Brian Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 06:50 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

Why are these jobs hard to find? Because despite the hype, they are EASY.

You can earn six figures a year by working two days a week. "Work" means hanging out with other cool guys, cooking, reading, playing basketball, lifting weights, and running your second business.

You retire after 20 years, and you get tax-free retirement, since you get classified as disabled. So you got six figures coming in while starting your second career.

Firemen are a totally hyped.

I have a good gig that I enjoy. I would give it up in a second to be a fireman.

a lot of this is spot on, the only thing i don know about is how easy it is to make 100k or more. i think its possible if you are cranking out lots of OT but base salaries aren't that high

100 K a year for a fireman, I've never researched the profession, but that seems like a huge over-estimate. Maybe if you've been the highest ranking dude and been on the job for a decade, but I'd guess the average guy only makes $40,000-60,000 a year.

Oh yeah my friends' brother is a fire fighter, and he's been saying for years that it's a huge pussy magnet.

[Brian]

(10-22-2011 08:28 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 08:12 PM)Brian Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 06:50 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

Why are these jobs hard to find? Because despite the hype, they are EASY.

You can earn six figures a year by working two days a week. "Work" means hanging out with other cool guys, cooking, reading, playing basketball, lifting weights, and running your second business.

You retire after 20 years, and you get tax-free retirement, since you get classified as disabled. So you got six figures coming in while starting your second career.

Firemen are a totally hyped.

I have a good gig that I enjoy. I would give it up in a second to be a fireman.

a lot of this is spot on, the only thing i don know about is how easy it is to make 100k or more. i think its possible if you are cranking out lots of OT but base salaries aren't that high

100 K a year for a fireman, I've never researched the profession, but that seems like a huge over-estimate. Maybe if you've been the highest ranking dude and been on the job for a decade, but I'd guess the average guy only makes $40,000-60,000 a year.

Oh yeah my friends' brother is a fire fighter, and he's been saying for years that it's a huge pussy magnet.

yeah if you make that kind of money its going to be many years into your career. you can also sometimes bank mad cash if you can get the overtime.

the other thing is that because you can work basically your 40 hours in 3 days you can have side businesses or do things like bartend

[wi30]

Salary is all relative. If you are in a city like NYC the pay will obviously be pretty good. If you are in a small suburb in middle America it will probably be volunteer. I have a couple buddies from high school who went into firefighting. They went to a tech school while in an apprenticeship and started their career after a couple years. I believe they make around 50K.

[Neo]

(10-22-2011 03:56 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

VERY hard to get if you're a white male without family connections. "Very hard" would understate the difficulty.

This is very true at least where I am. If you are a regular white guy you absolutely need a connect to get into the profession. I'm not talking about being a volunteer firefighter, but a work for the town, city, or whatever as a paid employee. I've known guys that have applied every application cycle for years and never gotten in.

Here's a tip, but I'm not sure how much it may help. Join groups with cops, correctional officers, and firefighters, in the area you want to work. I know a lot of them because I trained in an MMA gym for years where a lot of them trained. One of my instructors even instructed the police force in self defense. I don't have any desire to be in any of those professions, but for some guys in my class just knowing someone helped them get into the police academy, or become correctional officers.

[playa_with_a_passport]

(10-23-2011 10:16 AM)Neo Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 03:56 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

VERY hard to get if you're a white male without family connections. "Very hard" would understate the difficulty.

This is very true at least where I am. If you are a regular white guy you absolutely need a connect to get into the profession. I'm not talking about being a volunteer firefighter, but a work for the town, city, or whatever as a paid employee. I've known guys that have applied every application cycle for years and never gotten in.

Here's a tip, but I'm not sure how much it may help. Join groups with cops, correctional officers, and firefighters, in the area you want to work. I know a lot of them because I trained in an MMA gym for years where a lot of them trained. One of my instructors even instructed the police force in self defense. I don't have any desire to be in any of those professions, but for some guys in my class just knowing someone helped them get into the police academy, or become correctional officers.

This all infers that if you are minority the job is going to be handed out to you something which is just not true and is an urban legend. Also, it insinuates that a Black fighter Fighter in a fire truck some how is less qualified and got the job by scamming, something that couldn't be further from the truth. Fighter fighting is still one of the few city jobs that blue collar white guys have still managed to keep minorities out. Pretty much every inner city at least Eastern Seaboard states are almost entirely all White. FDNY is currently 91% White something that's amazing considering how other comparable jobs with the same pay, pension, benefits are "relatively" integrated http://www.citylimits.org/multimedia/257...-breakdown . Currently, almost every major city in the US with a professional Fire Department are fighting anti discrimination lawsuits because of the Games they play with regards with hiring(I wont bore you with the details).

The end result of all this litigation will be to actually to help out White guys with no family connections(Affirmative action actually helped White Females way more than it ever did Brothas). Because the hiring process will be more transparent and "on the level" So, you don't have to compete with candidates whose firefighter father/cousin/Brother called in favors at fighter house equivalent of HR to unfairly disqualify your ass in order to let his alcoholic relative in at your expense.

But yes, its a very good job assuming you work in a Eastern Seaboard State because they are all operate the same way. In NYC the pay of a FF after 5 years is 75K after you add night differential, uniform allowance, holiday pay you are making $100K a year without any overtime and just walking thru the door. Keep in mind that FF can swap mutuals and are the only agency where you can sleep and get paid for a 24 hour shift. Thus you can work your required monthly 160 hours(8 hours* 5 days a week * 4 weeks) in 6 days straight(160 hr/24hrs) and have the rest of the month off for your side gig. Also, nobody is checking on you during those 6 days that you are suppose to be working, so you can be at your bitch house near the Fire House the whole time. The only bummer is that during the 90's their union forced all the new guys to get cross trained as EMT's so they have to respond to medical assistance calls when before they only left the fire house to respond to fires which are rare due to better construction.

If you are serious about joining a department, skip being a cop or a correction officer. Because of nepotism alot of firefighters jobs in cities require an entry level test to get in which ironically makes things worse because the FF relatives always "mysteriously" do well in them regardless of ability thus fucking up the curve. Just find out when the next test is being given and make you sure you qualify residence wise. I wouldn't do volunteering, those spots are more for married guys to go hang out, bullshit and be away from their wives.

[Chad Daring]

I've got a neighbor thats a fire fighter, I might talk to him about it then. There's a firehouse by me looking for volunteers, I'll look into it. Thanks for the input guys, its something to think about and even though it seems like it might be difficult, its actually making me want to get into more. Its kind of a childhood thing I gave up on, but now I Dont know.

[thegmanifesto]

(10-22-2011 08:28 PM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 08:12 PM)Brian Wrote:  

(10-22-2011 06:50 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

Why are these jobs hard to find? Because despite the hype, they are EASY.

You can earn six figures a year by working two days a week. "Work" means hanging out with other cool guys, cooking, reading, playing basketball, lifting weights, and running your second business.

You retire after 20 years, and you get tax-free retirement, since you get classified as disabled. So you got six figures coming in while starting your second career.

Firemen are a totally hyped.

I have a good gig that I enjoy. I would give it up in a second to be a fireman.

a lot of this is spot on, the only thing i don know about is how easy it is to make 100k or more. i think its possible if you are cranking out lots of OT but base salaries aren't that high

100 K a year for a fireman, I've never researched the profession, but that seems like a huge over-estimate. Maybe if you've been the highest ranking dude and been on the job for a decade, but I'd guess the average guy only makes $40,000-60,000 a year.

Oh yeah my friends' brother is a fire fighter, and he's been saying for years that it's a huge pussy magnet.

Median annual wages of fire fighters were $44,260 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $31,180 and $58,440. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $22,440, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $72,210. Median annual wages were $44,800 in local government, $45,610 in the Federal Government, $25,300 in other support services, and $37,870 in State governments.

Median annual wages of first-line supervisors/managers of fire fighting and prevention workers were $67,440 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $53,820 and $86,330. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $40,850, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $108,930. First-line supervisors/managers of fire fighting and prevention workers employed in local government earned a median of about $69,000 a year.

According to the International City-County Management Association, average salaries in 2008 for sworn full-time positions were as follows:

PositionMinimum annual base salaryMaximum annual base salary
Fire chief $78,672 $104,780
Deputy chief69,166 88,571
Battalion chief66,851 81,710
Assistant fire chief65,691 83,748
Fire captain 60,605 72,716
Fire lieutenant50,464 60,772
Engineer 48,307 62,265

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos329.htm

I remember reading somewhere that a Fire Chief of a large city like NYC or Chicago makes something like $250,000.

Could be more these days.

Although, being fire chief of NYC would be a heavy job, and the chances of making it (especially without generations of fire fighters in your family) would be like making it to The NBA.

[Brian]

I'm sure those numbers are correct but keep in mind most of the USA is flyover country and you dont need 100k a year to live. Some of the higher ups in the biggest cities definitely fall way outside the averages, and there are many ways to juice the income w/things like overtime. Then you can juice the income in the years used to calculate the pension and use that as the baseline for the rest of your life.

[el mechanico]

My buddy the fire chief.....
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafet...al/1072016
If you have any question about how fucked up it is where I live this is everyday nonsense..
Three Jacks huh?

[Brian]

yeah he had three Jacks then went home to do fireman homework. sure, i buy that

[gringoed]

I used to be a firefighter.

The financial appeal of the job is stability as well as lots of free time to have a second job or start a business.

In the county I was it, you worked 24 hours and then had 48 hours off. Of course you're also getting paid to sleep so you're mostly refreshed by the time you get home.

Just go to your local firestation and ask them what it takes to get in, and if there are any "backdoors."

Starting as a volunteer is a great way to get started, since you can do a trial run to decide if you want to make a career out of it, and you're much more likely to get hired if you have some volunteer training and experience.