EMT to Firefighting

[Dwoodsjdr]

Hello!
First post and I just wanted to say you all have an amazing community, very informative and broad in terms of experience and advice. I love it!

Now my question is this; I've always wanted to be a firefighter, I remember seeing them helping people in the worst of times anywhere and at any time be it on the side of a scorching hot highway to a campground in the dead of winter, I love the dedication and compassion that comes with the career. I'm 19 now and I've been working to save up to go to community college. With Chandler Gilbert community college I can get an EMT-B certification class by the end of next semester before taking the national exam.
My thought process is to get experience as a medic as most firefighters have told me calls are usually medical 70 percent of the time and it would be a factor to make me competitive when I decide to make the jump in a few years. I have so many options and so many paths I can go down so Im open to any advice. Thank you so much and God bless

 

[VentMonkey]

Hello! My thought process is to get experience as a medic as most firefighters have told me calls are usually medical 70 percent of the time and it would be a factor to make me competitive when I decide to make the jump in a few years. I have so many options and so many paths I can go down so Im open to any advice. Thank you so much and God bless

Hello, and welcome to the forum. My only piece of advice revolves around the ever so cliché don't get into EMS just to be a firefighter.

When I first started doing this, my thought process was similar to yours, then I got a job and saw how vastly different fire based EMS was from what I had in mind. Either way, good luck and know that joining a fire department can be a long and competitive process, but there are much more qualified forum members on this particular subject matter than I.

-VentMonkey

 

[EMDispatch]

Somewhere around 70% of firefighters in the US are volunteers. The good news is it sounds like you are in the Phoenix Metro area where you have paid career departments.

Career fire departments are highly competitive agencies to join. We're talking like 200-1000 applicants per 1 slot in the academy. Some agencies will hire separately for FF/medics, which will result in slightly better odds, more like 200 per 1 slot, a lot don't. Call local agencies or check their recruiting or HR pages for local specifics.

The actual employment process usually consists of a crazed rush to get your application in before they reach the cut off. Then a few weeks or months later you'll sit for a civil service test, which honestly a trained monkey could pass. Then most agencies do an oral board interview/exam, where they'll start to rank candidates. If they pass you through, you get to do the CPAT test, after a physicians clearance. You'll get 2 tries to pass the physical agility test, a lot of little things can screw you up on it. They will provide practice sessions and training in advance of it so you are less likely to mess it up. After you pass a CPAT, they'll look at your resume and your scores, and assign you a ranking. If you are lucky enough to be ranked in then number of spots they have for the academy, you will get an offer. If you aren't, the ranked lists are good for 1-5 years depending on agency. If you do get an offer you then get to go to the academy.

I've done a few hiring processes here on the east coast. You get used to the routine, and if you really want a job you just keep going around to all the tests. Unfortunately being pre-certified and or over certified usually has no bearing on getting a slot.

 

[CALEMT]

My only piece of advice revolves around the ever so cliché don't get into EMS just to be a firefighter.

This times 1,000. How'd I miss this thread? I to am in your boat(?). My end goal is to become a firefighter paramedic and I've taken the necessary steps to do so like getting into a medic program. Now I'll be honest, back when I was younger (yeah, yeah you old folk will laugh but you get the idea) and had no clue what EMS was or EMT's and paramedics were I was a fire explorer at my local fire station. I eventually made my way to where I could ride out on the engine and pieced together that I needed this whole paramedic thing to get hired on. So what do I do? I research. I find I need to get my EMT so when I turned 18 I enrolled at my local JC. 4 years later I'm in medic school. Now the whole point of this story is yes, way in the early days of me getting serious about a job in public safety (i.e. a FD) I was going to get my medic just to get on with a FD. During my EMT I loved know what the body did and why, granted it was just a small knowledge base I found it to be interesting. Now while yes I still want to go FD I'm not getting my paramedic just to become a firefighter. Im getting my paramedic because I want to become a paramedic. There is a difference, I'm once of the few that enjoys running medical aids along with structure fires, veg fires, auto extrications etc.

Don't be that guy who get his EMT or medic just to become a firefighter. Do it for the right reasons (not saying that you're not, just making a point). As far as hiring goes, its über competitive anywhere you go. Like EMDispatch pointed out. The main thing is physical fitness. Also compose a list of departments you want to work for. Look for things like pay, retirement, benefits, cost of living etc. You should have a couple places on this list. Don't hold out for 1 specific department, otherwise it can/ will take a while. Take me for example, I have a list of about 12 or so fire departments that I'd be perfectly happy working for. Don't give up, Rome wasn't built in a day. The process takes time, be patient.