Jobs in Washington State for a newbie?

waaaemt said:
Honestly job prospects for entry level emts are probably the best I've seen them in a few years. I think people are finally realizing how little they will make as an emt and less are pursuing it which is finally creating a demand for emts. I would say average starting pay has gone up at least 2 or 3 bucks an hour since I started. You'll get hired by somebody no problem.
Click to expand...

I think there is a war waging among the privates. Making a buck more goes a long way when it comes to who you apply to first.
 
Drax said:
I think there is a war waging among the privates. Making a buck more goes a long way when it comes to who you apply to first.
Click to expand...

Oh yea that war is always brewing. Now with R/M and AMR joining forces it's mostly just between them and Falck.
 
Falck pays a little less than AMR but have you heard about their benefits package? Most major companies you wont get better benefits.
 
FireWA1 said:
Falck pays a little less than AMR but have you heard about their benefits package? Most major companies you wont get better benefits.
Click to expand...

Comparatively speaking, I think AMR only pays more in Seattle. Falck doesn't discriminate.
 
Welp, Got results back and I didnt pass the NREMT, Studied over all the things my instructors gave us to 'prep' for the NREMT.. The test stopped at 110 Questions. I felt good honestly.. Some questions I aint never heard of nor learned in school. So I signed up for EMTprep and several other online sources and books.. Will be restesting early march.. SO ive been craming a few hours a night.. Plan on increasing my study time for these next few weeks.

Any recommendations would be great.

Like stated.. I felt good like I knew what I was reading, but I probably picked the 'right answer' but not the 'right right answer'
 
On another note, Signed up for information in regards to Volunteer Firefighter in Washington State, as well looking into Fire departments to possibly apply for coming 2017 as I want to work in Fire preferably.. Considering going to school to get my FF1 as well.
 
DEmedic said:
Bates in Tacoma.
Click to expand...


Bates you say? Is it Bates that has one of the best FF programs in the country? Someone over here in VA .. A paramedic said one of the schools in WA had one of the best FF programs around.. I though it was Clover Park Technical College? Unless he said Bates. Don't remember lol
 
Oxygenforeverybody said:
Bates you say? Is it Bates that has one of the best FF programs in the country? Someone over here in VA .. A paramedic said one of the schools in WA had one of the best FF programs around.. I though it was Clover Park Technical College? Unless he said Bates. Don't remember lol
Click to expand...

You can only do Bates (Pierce County) if you have full coverage insurance. They also do a like 9-5 schedule Monday-Friday. Makes having a full time job extremely difficult.

Pierce College (Pierce County) has a really good Associates Degree Program, gets you a ton of IFSAC certs. Plus it's all online (minus certain events obviously), I do believe you have to have a background in fire though, and volunteering might suffice.

South Puget Sound Community College (Thurston County) has one as well, I think you don't have to have any experience and you do this sort of internship at McLane-Black Lake Fire Department. I went to the same volunteer fire academy as a few of these guys. I wasn't overly impressed with the program based on their feedback about it.

Everett Community College (Snohomish County), don't know anything about it, other than it exists.

These are the only programs in the Metropolitan area/Western Washington that I can think of. Clover Park doesn't have one that I'm aware.

Honestly, you might be better off volunteering and then getting into paramedic school when you get the chance, if you're trying to get hired. Obviously up to you.
 
Drax said:
You can only do Bates (Pierce County) if you have full coverage insurance. They also do a like 9-5 schedule Monday-Friday. Makes having a full time job extremely difficult.

Pierce College (Pierce County) has a really good Associates Degree Program, gets you a ton of IFSAC certs. Plus it's all online (minus certain events obviously), I do believe you have to have a background in fire though, and volunteering might suffice.

South Puget Sound Community College (Thurston County) has one as well, I think you don't have to have any experience and you do this sort of internship at McLane-Black Lake Fire Department. I went to the same volunteer fire academy as a few of these guys. I wasn't overly impressed with the program based on their feedback about it.

Everett Community College (Snohomish County), don't know anything about it, other than it exists.

These are the only programs in the Metropolitan area/Western Washington that I can think of. Clover Park doesn't have one that I'm aware.

Honestly, you might be better off volunteering and then getting into paramedic school when you get the chance, if you're trying to get hired. Obviously up to you.
Click to expand...


Yes, but you can get hired as a FF right out of Bates. :) The op might not have the requisite experience for Paramedic School.
 
DEmedic said:
Yes, but you can get hired as a FF right out of Bates. :) The op might not have the requisite experience for Paramedic School.
Click to expand...

Hard to say when someone will get hired in relation. I didn't go to Bates or the Medic school. But I did investigate Bates and it is clearly not a serious option for people who have to work full time and have families.

I did go there for EMT school though.
 
Last I heard, Bates doesn't even get you your FF1. And the training, from what I've been told, is a joke. That was all from a coworker who went there. I wouldn't waste my time . Unless DEmedic or someone else can say otherwise ?

For volunteering I would recommend Riverside Fire dept in Pierce County. Very small dept but actively need people and they get pretty legit calls.

For NREMT, remember to take your time on each question and really read it thoroughly. Some Qs are all word play. Other Qs will have distracting info like "you arrive in scene blah blah blah trauma, you see pt ejected, blablah what's the first thing you should do?" and it'll be like: c spine, airway, call als, bsi/scene safe. So you'll see the first couple answers and think oh duh airway but wont notice bsi/scene safe.
 
Last edited:
I know at least three people who attended Bates and were hired right out of the chute, but as with anything, YMMV.

This was also a few years ago, when everyone was hiring, thanks to SAFER money flowing wild and free.
 
Appreciate all the feed back guys.

Yeah I got a number for the Pierce county area in regards to volunteer FF and who to call. Im originally from Lakewood WA but was stationed in VA because I joined the Navy

and in regards to experience, I went to several firefighting schools while in the navy and was apart of several teams onboard the ship for firefighting (Flight deck firefighting, Flying Squad aka first responders to all casualties, Team leader for Repair 3.. Which I was leading about a team of 6-8 people etc) So does Navy firefighting experience help?

I have like 30 months left on my Post 9/11 so going to school isn't a issue because I will get payed to go to school.

I also did find a college in Western that supports my EMT/Paramedic associate degree program so I can transfer over to that as well.

Also as for working full time, I may beable to get away doing part time as like stated ill be using my post 9/11 benefits from the military which I get like 1500$ per month while attending school.. Plus my wife is still in the military and i have family in WA to help watch my kids.. SO i think i could juggle all that.. I think ha
 
Last edited:
Oxygenforeverybody said:
Appreciate all the feed back guys.

Yeah I got a number for the Pierce county area in regards to volunteer FF and who to call. Im originally from Lakewood WA but was stationed in VA because I joined the Navy

and in regards to experience, I went to several firefighting schools while in the navy and was apart of several teams onboard the ship for firefighting (Flight deck firefighting, Flying Squad aka first responders to all casualties, Team leader for Repair 3.. Which I was leading about a team of 6-8 people etc) So does Navy firefighting experience help?

I have like 30 months left on my Post 9/11 so going to school isn't a issue because I will get payed to go to school.

I also did find a college in Western that supports my EMT/Paramedic associate degree program so I can transfer over to that as well.

Also as for working full time, I may beable to get away doing part time as like stated ill be using my post 9/11 benefits from the military which I get like 1500$ per month while attending school.. Plus my wife is still in the military and i have family in WA to help watch my kids.. SO i think i could juggle all that.. I think ha
Click to expand...

Of course it will count. Sounds like to me you're doing exactly what you're supposed to and know what you need to get done. Don't be shocked if you're not the only one in your family sacrificing for this dream. You keep at it, always trying to figure out what more you can do, you'll get it. Good luck brother.

Remember this, you're probably one of those guys that has had very little difficulty being successful in anything you attempt. Like 95-98% of the time, you succeed in what you put your mind to. It is the opposite for getting hired in the fire service. You may apply for 99 jobs and finally get hired on 100th one. Don't let it get you down, keep at it, we'll do beers when you get hired. Let me know if you need any other help.
 
Wow you got plenty of experience that will count towards points! Like Drax says you won't have too much trouble I think. If you really want to milk school though, I would suggest going through nursing school, getting your RN. Then you can do a 2 week RN to paramedic transition. this way you can make $40 an hour as a nurse while testing for a FF medic job. Or you could do CCT transport which if you worked for Northwest ambulance in marysville, you make $90,000 a year starting, working two 24s a week. wishing I had done that back in the day...
 
waaaemt said:
Wow you got plenty of experience that will count towards points! Like Drax says you won't have too much trouble I think. If you really want to milk school though, I would suggest going through nursing school, getting your RN. Then you can do a 2 week RN to paramedic transition. this way you can make $40 an hour as a nurse while testing for a FF medic job. Or you could do CCT transport which if you worked for Northwest ambulance in marysville, you make $90,000 a year starting, working two 24s a week. wishing I had done that back in the day...
Click to expand...

I'll admit, I seriously contemplated this option.

More or less though, my wife and I decided I would have a maximum of an additional five years (following my first year) to accomplish my goal of getting hired on. RN was my plan B.

I worked with a guy, while working privates, who was a career firefighter/medic for JBLM. He had also gotten his RN and was picking up part-time shifts with the ambulance company. He had to have been banking well over six figures.

Personally, I think you must be a real EMS ninja if you're an RN and a Fire/medic.
 
There's a couple that work at Olympic.

The real cake job is working as a Medic at Madigan.
 
DEmedic said:
There's a couple that work at Olympic.

The real cake job is working as a Medic at Madigan.
Click to expand...

One of them told me their pay wasn't all that great...to be honest...besides opening the ER door, what do they do? Like one transport a week? We were picking up and dropping off at Madigan on the regular.

Unless you're talking about the floor medics...everything from secretary to various ER responsibilities I think...
 
Drax said:
One of them told me their pay wasn't all that great...to be honest...besides opening the ER door, what do they do? Like one transport a week? We were picking up and dropping off at Madigan on the regular.

Unless you're talking about the floor medics...everything from secretary to various ER responsibilities I think...
Click to expand...

All of the Madigan medics I knew were old fire guys, it was like the retirement gig.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top