Fire suppression on top of EMT-B course??

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shadow5606

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Hey there folks, I'm registered for an EMT-B course that begins next week at my local hospital.

This course meets Mon, Tue & Thurs, four hours each night (12hrs per week) and the orientation sheet recommends 4-6 hours a week of study outside of class.

Just last week I learned about a fire suppression course at a community college that would serve as a pre-req for the FFI&II certs. This course is a primer to FFI&II, not a part of it. This course meets only one day per week for four hours in the morning.

On top of all that I work a full time job as a sales rep for a publishing firm, selling college text books. It's serious work but my time is very flexible. I'm also a husband and father so there's family time mixed in there as well.

My question is for those of you who've taken these courses. How much out of class time did you find you needed to spend while becoming an EMT? Has anyone taken a course similar to the fire suppression course I'm describing? Do you think a person could handle both of them on top of family life and a full time professional job?

I'm fired up about this, committed to make it happen and excited, I think that will carry me well but I don't want to botch all this up.

Also, part of my sense of urgency is that I'm 29 and only have about 6 years to make it into fire service which is my long term plan. I plan on working as an EMT/Medic while doing everything I can to make myself competitive on the fire side.
 
shadow5606 said:
Hey there folks, I'm registered for an EMT-B course that begins next week at my local hospital.

This course meets Mon, Tue & Thurs, four hours each night (12hrs per week) and the orientation sheet recommends 4-6 hours a week of study outside of class.

Just last week I learned about a fire suppression course at a community college that would serve as a pre-req for the FFI&II certs. This course is a primer to FFI&II, not a part of it. This course meets only one day per week for four hours in the morning.

On top of all that I work a full time job as a sales rep for a publishing firm, selling college text books. It's serious work but my time is very flexible. I'm also a husband and father so there's family time mixed in there as well.

My question is for those of you who've taken these courses. How much out of class time did you find you needed to spend while becoming an EMT? Has anyone taken a course similar to the fire suppression course I'm describing? Do you think a person could handle both of them on top of family life and a full time professional job?

I'm fired up about this, committed to make it happen and excited, I think that will carry me well but I don't want to botch all this up.

Also, part of my sense of urgency is that I'm 29 and only have about 6 years to make it into fire service which is my long term plan. I plan on working as an EMT/Medic while doing everything I can to make myself competitive on the fire side.
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FFI&II are so easy why would anyone pay to take a primer? If you can pass EMT you can certainly pass fire class.

The general wisdom is not to take a fire and emt class on top of one another. Usually because you are so exhausted from the fire class that it interferes with studying for EMT. I have seen fire classes that add EMT to the begining or end and run as one class, do the same for hazmat, extrication, and various rescue specialties as well.

Rather than "prefire" which sounds like a marketing gimmic, if you are going to spend time and money, get another cert that makes you more marketable.
 
Part of me wondered about this pre-req for FFI&II but the chair of the public saftey department tells me that it's required for anyone with no fire experience.

FYI, this course is offered by Ivy Tech in Indianapolis, IN if that helps anyone.

So, unless I find my courses elsewhere I need to take this course before they'll accept me in FFI&II.

I do know that this course uses the same textbook from FFI&II so it may be fairly similar but a lower pace or intensity to get folks geared up for the main courses?

Also, my EMT course will be over before I would begin the actual FFI&II courses.
 
Prefire sounds worthless. Get your EMT, and consider volunteering for a local fire dept. They'll usually put you through FF1 for free. No need to pay the college.... plus the experience will look good when applying for Fire jobs. You'll make connections and get good references. Some departments today are "combination" as well. My boyfriend is currently a volunteer FF/EMT who works for a combination department, meaning all of their medics and officers are paid, they have a few paid EMT/FFs, and they hire some of the volunteers to do extra work during the busy wildfire season.

EMT is pretty easy, but some people, even if they're smart, take a little bit of time and studying to "get it" because it's a whole new thing. It's a different way of thinking, and learning how to take the practical test is a thing in and of itself.

Remember that on top of lecture, EMT courses require clinical time. The amount varies among courses.

If you're set on being a medic, I'd say get that as soon as you can. It will make a big difference as to whether or not you get a fire job.

Also, start applying for fire departments ASAP, even if you don't think you're completely ready. Again, their testing processes are very unique and the more familiar you are with them, the better. You can't just be a good candidate anymore, you have to be good at jumping through their hoops.
 
LucidResq said:
Prefire sounds worthless. Get your EMT, and consider volunteering for a local fire dept. They'll usually put you through FF1 for free. No need to pay the college.... plus the experience will look good when applying for Fire jobs. You'll make connections and get good references. Some departments today are "combination" as well. My boyfriend is currently a volunteer FF/EMT who works for a combination department, meaning all of their medics and officers are paid, they have a few paid EMT/FFs, and they hire some of the volunteers to do extra work during the busy wildfire season.

EMT is pretty easy, but some people, even if they're smart, take a little bit of time and studying to "get it" because it's a whole new thing. It's a different way of thinking, and learning how to take the practical test is a thing in and of itself.

Remember that on top of lecture, EMT courses require clinical time. The amount varies among courses.

If you're set on being a medic, I'd say get that as soon as you can. It will make a big difference as to whether or not you get a fire job.

Also, start applying for fire departments ASAP, even if you don't think you're completely ready. Again, their testing processes are very unique and the more familiar you are with them, the better. You can't just be a good candidate anymore, you have to be good at jumping through their hoops.
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Do what she says, it is spot on.
 
shadow5606 said:
Hey there folks, I'm registered for an EMT-B course that begins next week at my local hospital.

This course meets Mon, Tue & Thurs, four hours each night (12hrs per week) and the orientation sheet recommends 4-6 hours a week of study outside of class.

Just last week I learned about a fire suppression course at a community college that would serve as a pre-req for the FFI&II certs. This course is a primer to FFI&II, not a part of it. This course meets only one day per week for four hours in the morning.

On top of all that I work a full time job as a sales rep for a publishing firm, selling college text books. It's serious work but my time is very flexible. I'm also a husband and father so there's family time mixed in there as well.

My question is for those of you who've taken these courses. How much out of class time did you find you needed to spend while becoming an EMT? Has anyone taken a course similar to the fire suppression course I'm describing? Do you think a person could handle both of them on top of family life and a full time professional job?

I'm fired up about this, committed to make it happen and excited, I think that will carry me well but I don't want to botch all this up.

Also, part of my sense of urgency is that I'm 29 and only have about 6 years to make it into fire service which is my long term plan. I plan on working as an EMT/Medic while doing everything I can to make myself competitive on the fire side.
Click to expand...

With a full time job, 3 young children and a husband who worked 24's, I still managed to carry a 4.0 in EMT and Medic class. It's definately possible. Good luck :>)
 
shadow5606 said:
This course meets Mon, Tue & Thurs, four hours each night (12hrs per week) and the orientation sheet recommends 4-6 hours a week of study outside of class.
Click to expand...

That is worthless advice. To actually truly study you should plan on at minimum 1 hour of study for every hour of class. Study is not skimming the material it is reading, researching beyond what is in that thin emt book, then taking time to analyse what you have read and researched to put it into your mind firmly.

Perhaps this bad advise from the school is why so many post here and other sites that they failed NREMT exams.
 
If you have no medical experience or education, are working full time and have a family, EMT school will probably be moderately difficult, assuming this is a normal 4 month class, and will require pretty much what the orientation sheet says in my opinion.

FF 1 and 2 are generally considered easier than EMT class by those that have done both, so I would imagine this fire suppression course would be a breeze, if not a waste of time.

If you're taking some accelerated summer EMT course, you better be studying a lot more than what the sheet says. From what I see on here EMT mills and accelerated classes have high fail rates, crappy instruction, and inadequate clinical time.
 
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The EMT course I'm doing is not accelerated, it's a regular four month program. I tend to retain things fairly well and have passed all my CPR & FEMA/Hazmat/ICS courses on the first try but want to be smart about all this.

As for the fire pre-req course I'm not sure what to do... There's very few places in central Indiana that I'm aware of who offer FFI&II on a night or weekend schedule.

Ivy Tech does but is requiring this additional course.... There's a place called Central 9 in Greenwood but that's about a 45 minute+ drive which could make a night schedule rough...

I suppose I'll just see what the C9 schedule looks like and if it's not manageable then I'll suck it up and do the extra course at Ivy Tech.

If anyone is familiar with the area I'm all ears on other options.

I may just look for a volunteer department to help with the training (I do plan to volunteer) but I'm trying to be proactive about all this.

Oh, and since a few people have mentioned clinicals, I do have a clinical requirement of 48hrs... 24 in the ER & 24 in the ambulance (through a firehouse)
 
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If you manage to get hired by a career department, a lot of them will make you do their academy anyway.
 
Oh, sure, I know that I may have to do more training if I get hired on as a firefighter but I'm planning to get my FFI&II, EMT & Paramedic certs while I'm looking for and applying to fire departments.

From what I've read it's incredibly competitive and I'm assuming I'll probably need all these certs (particuarly the medic) to stand out.

If I get hired sooner and they train me that's all the better, just want to make myself competitive.

Plus, if I don't make it into fire service I do plan on working as a medic so none of that training would go to waste anyway.
 
If it were me, and I had to have this fire supression course knocked out, I would probably take it with the EMT class, but make EMT class my priority.

EMT class will probably be easy for you, but some people get stressed and overwhelmed at the end when it's time for practicals, finals and NREMT. Just make sure you study throughout so you dont have to cram at the end.
 
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