Arizona EMT... Question about Southwest/Rural Metro/ better options?

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BruinPride

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hey everyone....
First off, this is my very first post so if I did anything wrong or didn't put it in the right place I apologize. I'm learning as I go. I'm an EMT who's about to apply for my first actual job in EMS and am relatively new to Arizona (yes I got my state licesne through AZDOHS)

I have two questions....

1. If applying with Southwest/Rural Metro is there a way to apply for a specific location or area? or will they just put you where ever they want in Maricopa County? Also, I want 911 calls but I'm hearing that PMT is a better bet for new EMTS to get more patient contact. Any thoughts?

2. Aside from AMR (who I think is still just doing IFT's correct?) does anyone have any better suggestions than Southwest? Pay is not my main concern, I just want to get as much as I can from the job so I can continue to grow within the field and continue to further my education.

Thank you all so much for you time, I appreciate any thoughts or hints or suggestions you may have. A new job a new field and a new state all at once gets a little overwhelming when you over analyze as much as i do lol

:)
 
My first questions would be. What part of the Valley do you live in? Rural Metro has openings everywhere. I am sure they would try to put somewhere close to where you live.

PMT only has certain contract cities. I cant imagine one company having more calls then another.

Southwest, AMR and PMT are about it unless you are working for a private company.
 
Southwest would be your best bet. Lots of openings and tons of hours. AMR I feel is more corporate feeling and less about the individual employees. AMR is asking the state for a AOR now but southwest is fighting back. They might get a couple AORs this year but will not get everything. Some fire departments are gonna be taking over ALS like apache junction and rumors are mesa might as well. I hope the fire departments dont do that cause it's gonna be a cluster **** plus they already said they are just gonna hire out of Southwest. PMT is owned by southwest which are both owned by Rural Metro.
 
Southwest will start you in inter facility with the ability to work ot shifts in EMS. After you gain enough seniority you can bid onto a EMS ride full time.

Interfacility rides come up out of Mesa and Peoria with 12 hour shifts starting all over the board. This is the same for PMT.

Ajfd is going to be staffing als ambulances in the new year and Mesa hopes to follow shortly after. Both will be recruiting heavily from southwest ranks for these positions.

Amr is currently accepting applications but is in a hiring freeze and only runs 5 units currently. Their hope is to get 911 contracts but it's not a priority.
Most fire districts are not looking for another ambulance provider and would prefer to staff their own rescues if it came down to it.

While southwest has its problems it's not a bad place for a new emt to get some experience and although nothing special the pay isn't terrible. And overtime is capped at 96 scheduled hours which is a lot.
 
WildlandEMT89 said:
Southwest will start you in inter facility with the ability to work ot shifts in EMS. After you gain enough seniority you can bid onto a EMS ride full time.

Interfacility rides come up out of Mesa and Peoria with 12 hour shifts starting all over the board. This is the same for PMT.

Ajfd is going to be staffing als ambulances in the new year and Mesa hopes to follow shortly after. Both will be recruiting heavily from southwest ranks for these positions.

Amr is currently accepting applications but is in a hiring freeze and only runs 5 units currently. Their hope is to get 911 contracts but it's not a priority.
Most fire districts are not looking for another ambulance provider and would prefer to staff their own rescues if it came down to it.

While southwest has its problems it's not a bad place for a new emt to get some experience and although nothing special the pay isn't terrible. And overtime is capped at 96 scheduled hours which is a lot.
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You see the letter from the chief of fire for APJ or mesa? It basically says southwest response times suck and want their AORs for that area to go into competitive bid. It's a real cluster. I'm just waiting for Rural to sell PMT off or declare dankruptcy again. It's such a mess. I sometimes question management on their thinking. I think they should drop some IFT and focus on their 911 contracts more before AMR convinces cities to go with them.
 
escapedcaliFF said:
I think they should drop some IFT and focus on their 911 contracts more before AMR convinces cities to go with them.
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Actually it seems like that's what they are working towards doing currently. And pmt is picking up the slack on the ift side
 
WildlandEMT89 said:
Actually it seems like that's what they are working towards doing currently. And pmt is picking up the slack on the ift side
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Yeah about time then. I just hear all the time from hospital transport department they have southwest on their crap list cause two hour plus lead times.
 
Thanks wildland, that was a great response and very helpful. So if I apply with southest/rural metro no matter what they'll send me to Mesa or peoria to do IFTs till I work my way up to 911? That's cool, I would think you get more patient contact with IFT at least. Hopefully.
I got my red card a few weeks ago and was told I'm hired on as fireline "medic" with a private company that does both wildland and also events here in the valley I guess. I confirmed the offer with them twice and it was a unanimous "yup, you're in" but I haven't heard anything from them at all. I know it's on call but I would think they'd want talk to me again at least once before they actually call to send us out to a fire. Any suggestions?
(If I should've started a new thread for that part I apologize, I wasn't sure but just figured I'd ask since you work wildland and it's brand new to me)
thank you again, I really appreciate the help.
 
BruinPride said:
So if I apply with southest/rural metro no matter what they'll send me to Mesa or peoria to do IFTs till I work my way up to 911? That's cool, I would think you get more patient contact with IFT at least. Hopefully.
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Most ift units average 5-6 calls in a 12 hour shift. If you want to see calls that could be interesting you want to get yourself into an ap(Als) or cc(RN) unit. Most BLS ambulances run psych transfers and Bariatric lift assist. You get a transport bonus which is very nice and seriously something I miss from my ift days.

BruinPride said:
I got my red card a few weeks ago and was told I'm hired on as fireline "medic" with a private company that does both wildland and also events here in the valley I guess. I confirmed the offer with them twice and it was a unanimous "yup, you're in" but I haven't heard anything from them at all. I know it's on call but I would think they'd want talk to me again at least once before they actually call to send us out to a fire. Any suggestions?
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I work for a volunteer department as well as work a wildland medical contractor here in Phoenix and can say my experience was very much the same. After signing my new hire paperwork (tax documents and the like) I don't hear from them aside from emails with events they need covered. One thing to note is I did not get any wildland assignments last year from private work. Neither did a friend of mine who works for another company. But another person I know of managed to pull down over 50k work of work in the season, it's all luck of the draw and who gets the call. I would recommend at least maintaining part time regular employment.
 
So how would I go about getting in with an ALS or CC unit? While being an EMT.
 
Yeah both don't run a lot of fireline stuff. Best money is building a type 6 engine and getting it on the state strike team list. Rural metro has been trying to get into the wildland stuff but they are clueless. They don't even know the difference between a type 6 and type 3 truck. They have a type 6 that they swear is a type 3 and is marked in big red letters type 3 but dosent have the water capability of a type 3 instead it has that of a type 6. They tried to start up a type 2 handcrew but last I heard was just a claim made on their website. I have a skid type 6 so if I get board I'll contract and load it in the truck. Just not enough stuff burning right now. I've done the wildland stuff and if I was smart I would buy a type 2 water tender and get it on the list.
 
they confirmed everything twice and got all my info but i haven't heard a word from them since my pack test, nor have i gotten my red card sent to me :(
 
BruinPride said:
they confirmed everything twice and got all my info but i haven't heard a word from them since my pack test, nor have i gotten my red card sent to me :(
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So you did your s-110, s-130 and s-190 with the feild exercise? What agency is issuing the red card and do you have all the certificates of completion for the classes? Where did you go to get it all done? Let me know and I might be able to help you out.
 
Head down to Tucson, Smaller rural/SWA operation, not the crappy traffic of PHX. Plus you can go fire down there for R/M if you want to.
 
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