# H8 - Part time San Francisco Fire Department paramedic.



## BeachMedic (Feb 3, 2021)

Ambulance only.

Protocols aren't super progressive but the pay can't be beat. In recent history it's been a way to get your name out there and to get hired on as a fulltime EMT with the department. 

Our system isn't perfect but it definitely turns a job into a career. There are promotional opportunities for both the EMS branch and the Fire suppression branch.

It's also a great part time gig for people who just want a supplemental ambulance job.


----------



## BeachMedic (Feb 3, 2021)

I forgot to add the link. Losing it in my old age.

*





						Announcement: H-8 Level II Paramedic - City and County of San Francisco
					

Provides listings of current City and County of San Francisco Job Openings, including available positions, pay rates, job descriptions, application procedures, job resources, and the hiring process.




					www.jobapscloud.com
				



*

SALARY$47.5625 - $60.4125 / hour


----------



## Intothefog (Feb 3, 2021)

I’m highly interested. I’m just down the road in Sonoma county. What is the schedule like?


----------



## BeachMedic (Feb 4, 2021)

Mainly 12 hour shifts. Not allowed to do 24's on the ambulance.

There are plenty of other special event shifts too when Covid isn't happening. (e.g. Fleet Week or the Chinese New Year Parade) 
Always something big going on in SF. Those might be short 8 hour shifts and you'll probably be on a gater instead of an ambulance; more fun
since you don't transport haha.

As an H8 you're per diem so you kind of just work when you feel like it. Just put in your availability. 

They are also using H8's (all paramedics in the city really) to administer vaccines. They are taking overtime sign ups for people who want to
do that.

I know our EMS division is having staffing issues and it's "level zero" constantly but I haven't worked a shift on the box for a few years now
so I don't have any idea beyond that.

If you can turn this H8 gig into a fulltime job when the H3 list opens up again you'll have a shot at being one of the best paid single role EMT/Medics out there.


----------



## DesertMedic66 (Feb 4, 2021)

Well sure one of the highest paid single roles however you are also working in one of the areas with the highest cost of living in the US. Single bedroom apartments are going for $3,000+ per month there. So you are going to have to commute from a distance for 12 hour shifts.


----------



## BeachMedic (Feb 4, 2021)

DesertMedic66 said:


> Well sure one of the highest paid single roles however you are also working in one of the areas with the highest cost of living in the US. Single bedroom apartments are going for $3,000+ per month there. So you are going to have to commute from a distance for 12 hour shifts.



You're not wrong but there are plenty of Bay Area medics making **** wages by comparison just outside of SF.

If you do make it a career you can go anywhere you want in retirement. We're the last ones with 3% a year up to 90% pension in the state. 

One of the main reasons I tough it out here instead of settling for somewhere less desirable to me with a lower cost of living. I get to live in a pretty cool area and when I retire I can literally move anywhere.

That said, our department has a fair number of inter-state commuters. Not saying it's right; but we are getting priced out.


----------



## DesertMedic66 (Feb 4, 2021)

BeachMedic said:


> You're not wrong but there are plenty of Bay Area medics making **** wages by comparison just outside of SF.
> 
> If you do make it a career you can go anywhere you want in retirement. We're the last ones with 3% a year up to 90% pension in the state.
> 
> ...


With your retirement/pension, is it set up how pretty much 99% of other single role fire department positions are, as in single role EMTs/medics are not considered a safety position and do not qualify for the better benefits and the only way to get them is to transfer onto an engine, or it is the exception?


----------



## BeachMedic (Feb 4, 2021)

Same retirement benefits as suppression personnel. My ambulance time counts towards my retirement.

EMS division gets all the same benefits as we do. Except I think the way the math works out we accrue vacation hours a little faster
than EMS.

The Firefighter Paramedics (not regular firefighters) actually have the same job classification with the city that the EMTs and Paramedics do.
The pay scale is divided into 11 steps. 1-4 is Ambulance EMT, 5-8 is Ambulance Paramedic, and 9-11 is Firefighter Paramedic. If you promote faster you get to skip some steps. I've known regular firefighters the went from Step 1 FF to Step 9 FFP in less than two years. Big salary jump there.

That said, if you want to remain strictly EMS there are promotional branches that are strictly EMS and non-suppression. (Rescue Captain, Airport Bike Medic, Community outreach paramedicine, EMS lieutenants and Chiefs.)

It's not as dead end as every other paramedic job I've had.

Not saying it's all roses though. While we all get along for the most part EMS definitely has that chip on it's shoulder (like it does everywhere I've been.) and they do do a lot of heavy lifting for the department call-wise. I've been on both sides though; I think there is just a major lack of understanding between people who haven't been on both sides and seen both points of view.


----------



## CALEMT (Feb 5, 2021)

BeachMedic said:


> We're the last ones with 3% a year up to 90% pension in the state.



Cries in state 2.7@57


----------



## ExpatMedic0 (Jun 3, 2021)

Hey guys, poping in with a quick question. Does AMR san francisco also do primary 911 or is that exclusive to Fire? Thanks


----------



## E tank (Jun 3, 2021)

ExpatMedic0 said:


> Hey guys, poping in with a quick question. Does AMR san francisco also do primary 911 or is that exclusive to Fire? Thanks


The privates 'back up' fire, but there seems to be a lot of work for them. Don't know specifically about AMR or others but King-American has been around forever...disclaimer...I haven't been in that system for a long time but am generally familiar with it as operations there have been variations on the same theme for decades.


----------



## fm_emt (Jun 12, 2021)

how the hell did I miss this thread back in March? *facepalm* I totally would have applied! I'm a just being a professional PRN these days anyway. 

Working in SF would be both nuts and fun at the same time. I like that.


----------



## Aprz (Jun 13, 2021)

You live close the SF or would you move there? I am surprised how many people are in the Bay Area here that I haven't met or just don't know it. Wonder if they know me? :x


----------



## fm_emt (Jun 15, 2021)

Aprz said:


> You live close the SF or would you move there? I am surprised how many people are in the Bay Area here that I haven't met or just don't know it. Wonder if they know me? :x


I live close enough that I would totally commute to SF for a PRN job.


----------



## wcspa (Jun 16, 2021)

@BeachMedic Out of sheer curiosity, do you know what the minimum requirement is for per diem? Like how many shifts required to staff/month?


----------



## BeachMedic (Jul 15, 2021)

wcspa said:


> @BeachMedic Out of sheer curiosity, do you know what the minimum requirement is for per diem? Like how many shifts required to staff/month?


Not sure. They weren't too strict on enforcing it last I heard. I haven't been on the ambulance for awhile now.

We had a ton of firefighters from different departments or captains working part time on our boxes for a bit.


----------



## BeachMedic (Jul 15, 2021)

ExpatMedic0 said:


> Hey guys, poping in with a quick question. Does AMR san francisco also do primary 911 or is that exclusive to Fire? Thanks


AMR and King American have a lot of 911 units but those units also do IFT. I don't think King American transports outside of SF.

The way the system is designed is for SFFD to handle 75-80% of the run volume but it's technically a three-way 911 tag team between King American, AMR, and the SFFD. It's still level zero all the time anyway. We just don't staff EMS enough.

I think the full-time EMT test for SFFD will open in the next few months. It happens about every 4 years and it's been 4 or 5 since the last test. I'd put in an interest card if anyone has any interest in working for SF Fire on the box.

"It turns a job into a career." -- Had a Rescue captain tell me that when I was new 7years ago and I found that to be definitely true.

EMS has rapidly evolved over the last couple years too. They got all kinds of teams now. They have Community Paramedics (Rescue Captain Pay), Bike paramedics at the airport, 20 new street crisis response unit spots (it sounds like the roll around with counselors trying to drop SFPD response to unnecessary psych problems and other things you don't need cops for.) New EMS lieutenant positions. I'm not on the EMS side anymore but it seems like there is a lot of room to promote now.


----------



## Aprz (Jul 15, 2021)

I'm gonna be honest, I am not usually a fan of fire departments, but I have never considered working for a fire department that does transport. When you say ambulance only, is it really ambulance only or do they require ambulance crews to cross train? Looks like great pay, ambulance, per diem, which are things I'm definitely interested in. I only work 24 hours a week right now and I got a lot of free time now.

I saw on the job requirement that they require First Responder Awareness, the hazmat course. Does that thing even expire? I have both FRA and FRO from like the year 2012.

I don't see openings right now. Are you just thinking it's going to open soon?


----------



## BeachMedic (Jul 15, 2021)

No requirement to cross train.

It actually takes years to even get a shot at cross training. That leads to some burnout in the EMS division but I haven't worked in a system yet that didn't have EMS burnout. (Including Honolulu EMS)

The county EMSA kind of sucks and the protocols aren't the best. Definitely a quantity over quality of calls. Short transports. When I worked on the box we all used to reminisce about our time in the "privates" when we "used to be good medics." Everyone that comes from out of county goes through a period of adjustment shock at how stupid a lot of things are and how much of it doesn't make sense. You get used to it though. It's a county problem and getting along with the fire department problem. There are some good chiefs in EMS right now though making a lot of moves.   One of the EMS chiefs currently was the founder of the idea of community paramedicine(Niels Tangherlini you can youtube him). The rest of the country ran with his idea while the department ignored it and let it die. It's coming back though and the Mayor seems to be all in on community paramedicine.

It's also better to be a community servant than working for private profit. Not that it matters but the way the public treats you is like night and day. I've never taken so many pictures with babies and tourists than when I was on the ambulance in SF. Plus it's a completely different mindset when the public citizens are your boss. There is pride in that.

But pay and benefits wise I don't think you're going to find a better single function EMS gig on the planet.

SF is it's own little bubble. Very little communication between what happens inside the city and the rest of the surrounding Bay Area. I've worked around a little bit and knew next to nothing about SF.


----------



## Jim37F (Jul 16, 2021)

So is SFFD EMS and Suppression totally separated then? Like once you cross train as a FF and move from the ambulance to the Engine/Ladder, do you ever still work shifts on the ambulance? Or once your a FF you only work Suppression apparatus with no cross over between FFs and EMT/PMs?


----------



## BeachMedic (Jul 16, 2021)

Jim37F said:


> So is SFFD EMS and Suppression totally separated then? Like once you cross train as a FF and move from the ambulance to the Engine/Ladder, do you ever still work shifts on the ambulance? Or once your a FF you only work Suppression apparatus with no cross over between FFs and EMT/PMs?


Not totally.

After your cross train any shifts you work on the ambulance are completely voluntary.  Not a lot of firefighters pick up ambulance shifts though. I've only done it twice because they let me pick my partner and hours. A few do to keep their skills up and a few do it because they love overtime. We're super short on suppression and EMS though so most firefighters are working suppression OT right now.

There are no ambulances out of the firehouses. They deploy dynamically from the street and have a giant ambulance barn called Station 49 (EMS personnel are called the 49ers haha) right behind our Station 9 fire station.

In recent years if a firefighter wants to promote to firefighter paramedic they make them spend six months or 1000 hours on an ambulance before they can go back to an Engine and their seniority goes to the bottom of the firefighter paramedic list even if they have like 20 years as a firefighter. Both those things stop a lot firefighters with their paramedic license from going that route. First or second year firefighters promoting to fire medic makes the most sense because you have no seniority and it ends up being like a 50,000 raise in like the first year. I think our firefighters start at like 76 or 80k and our first step firefighter paramedic is like 132k now or something. We just got a raise so I don't know the numbers anymore.

If a regular firefighter wants to pick up OT on the ambulance they have to do a two day class. Personally, I'm just happy to have the option if I ever wanted to pick up a box shift and visit the ER staff I miss haha. 

If you get hired in EMS you have to do a two month academy and a year of probation. You cross train in the same academy as all the civilian firefighters but that is 5 months.  I've done both academies. Always thought it was funny that when firefighters came over for OT they were expected to know in a two day class what I learned in a two month academy. Kind of shows what the department thinks of EMS lol. Our Chief now is an ex-fire medic though so she kind of gets it.

There's also a lot of cross over in training because obviously all our EMS training is done primarily by EMS personnel and captains. Firefighters can also promote up the EMS ranks but if you do that you're basically kissing suppression goodbye. There are "rescue captain" positions which is basically a paramedic supervisor and they respond out of 4 of our fire stations in buggies to all critical calls or MCIs but it'll take a decade of seniority to make a field RC spot at this point. You'll either get stuck in radio or training or station 49. Oh there's also a field RC spot at the airport but you need to be cross trained suppression to go work at the airport.

When I was with Honolulu EMS there were all kinds of merger rumors with HFD lol (SFFD merged or more like took over EMS from the Department of Public health a little over 20 years ago now only a few DPHers left on suppression). Thought it might happen at the time. HFD will never go ALS though haha. Firefighter paramedic is a great gig though. I get to fight fires and I only have to stick around in the back of an ambulance for the cool or fun EMS calls.


----------



## Jim37F (Jul 16, 2021)

BeachMedic said:


> When I was with Honolulu EMS there were all kinds of merger rumors with HFD lol


Without intending to derail anything... rumors still lersist but are still just rumors. Although EMS is apparently trialing a new dark blue uniform a lot closer in color to FDs vs the white shirts they wear, and at least a few units in Downtown Honolulu are being converted to BLS units with a couple Medic SUVs (Rapid Response Units), so a couple medics floated the theory that that could serve as a basis for a model where BLS Fire guys can do BLS ambulance with the ALS Medics in SUVs Squad style.... there's absolutely nothing from our Chiefs to even support any of that, but since pretty much our entire Executive Staff (Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, and all the Assistant Chiefs) are changing out this year we'll see if any of that ends up gaining traction....


----------



## Medic510 (Jul 27, 2021)

BeachMedic said:


> Ambulance only.
> 
> Protocols aren't super progressive but the pay can't be beat. In recent history it's been a way to get your name out there and to get hired on as a fulltime EMT with the department.
> 
> ...


Very interested in this PT gig. Only interested in the EMS, not fire suppression, side of SFFD. Love working as a medic but tired of these private ambulance companies. With that being said, I see the PT gig is still available. I meet all the qualifications, but my ACLS/PALS/ITLS is expired. Would it be best to submit my app now, including copies of my expired certs, or wait until I've taken the classes again in a few weeks? Don't want to miss this opportunity..


----------



## Aprz (Jul 27, 2021)

Medic510 said:


> Very interested in this PT gig. Only interested in the EMS, not fire suppression, side of SFFD. Love working as a medic but tired of these private ambulance companies. With that being said, I see the PT gig is still available. I meet all the qualifications, but my ACLS/PALS/ITLS is expired. Would it be best to submit my app now, including copies of my expired certs, or wait until I've taken the classes again in a few weeks? Don't want to miss this opportunity..


I don't think the part time/per diem thing is open now otherwise I'd probably apply.


----------



## BeachMedic (Jul 28, 2021)

Medic510 said:


> Very interested in this PT gig. Only interested in the EMS, not fire suppression, side of SFFD. Love working as a medic but tired of these private ambulance companies. With that being said, I see the PT gig is still available. I meet all the qualifications, but my ACLS/PALS/ITLS is expired. Would it be best to submit my app now, including copies of my expired certs, or wait until I've taken the classes again in a few weeks? Don't want to miss this opportunity..


I'd just apply.

The worst they can do is say no. I doubt they will.

I'd also apply for the full-time EMT spot and just go through the process. It might not open again for another four years.
You don't have to take the job if you don't want it but it might be a nice option to have a couple years down the road.


----------



## Aprz (Jul 28, 2021)

I don't see the part time gig available. Is it?


----------



## andrewr1296 (Nov 5, 2021)

Came across this while looking into the department. So currently I’m an EMT have been since 2016 in Fresno. Just about done with medic school and I have a fire academy. I applied as just a EMT yesterday with SFFD. How do recommend I approach this situation as by the time they could even contact me I could be a medic and would it be worth it or even possible for me to get hired as a Fire Medic. Or would my hopes just lie in the EMS Medic.


----------



## BeachMedic (Nov 5, 2021)

Two ways to become a Firefighter paramedic.

Get hired as an H3 EMT and promote up which could take years.
Get hired as an H2 FF and promote up - which comes with a fat raise but you gotta spend six months on an ambulance.

Firefighter paramedic rank is getting pretty full though.
Not a lot of firefighters really want to be a firefighter paramedic around here. 
Probably easier to just get hired as a straight firefighter then promote up then to go the EMT ambulance route.

Getting hired as a firefighter paramedic from the start won't happen. They hired lateral firefighter paramedics once but that was over 20
years ago.

**** always changes around here though. I know it's confusing but if you want to be a firefighter just apply for the H2 firefighter job
opening. Apply to both H2 and H3 if it's just about getting on and getting your retirement started.


----------



## Aprz (Nov 6, 2021)

Just keeping my eye out for a part time ambulance paramedic position. Seems like nobody is hiring part time at all. My options are very limited since I cannot work AMR; They made me quit since they consider my current job a conflict of interest. I've thought about reaching out and asking people if they'd be interested in a part time paramedic even though it just says full time online.


----------



## BeachMedic (Nov 6, 2021)

Tbh I don't know if they'll do it again. A lot of the part timers never pick up shifts. 

They have an academy of 50 EMTs starting soon I hear though. 

I'll give you a heads up if I hear anything but I'm not as in tune with the EMS division as I used to be.


----------



## andrewr1296 (Nov 7, 2021)

BeachMedic said:


> Two ways to become a Firefighter paramedic.
> 
> Get hired as an H3 EMT and promote up which could take years.
> Get hired as an H2 FF and promote up - which comes with a fat raise but you gotta spend six months on an ambulance.
> ...


Applied to both. Do they hire just straight medics? I don’t mind th


BeachMedic said:


> Tbh I don't know if they'll do it again. A lot of the part timers never pick up shifts.
> 
> They have an academy of 50 EMTs starting soon I hear though.
> 
> I'll give you a heads up if I hear anything but I'm not as in tune with the EMS division as I used to be.


they have the applications up. I applied to both like recommended and am doing the NTN test on Monday. I guess we’ll see. I’m hoping to get on full time if they offer that and if they’ll even look at me for being like a month or so away from having my medic license. SFFD really interests me cause I honestly love the EMS side and like that I can get paid fire wages and still work on a box there.


----------



## BeachMedic (Nov 9, 2021)

Well looks like they are going to hire straight medics for the first time in like 10 years. Don't have to be an EMT for 8 months like I did.


----------

