New member-question about firefighter eligibility

chester33

chester33

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Hello everyone. First time poster from Iowa. I am currently in paramedic training and have been thinking of pursuing a fire science degree afterwards.

I was wondering what the physical requirements would be to become a fire fighter. I have a total knee replacement and was wondering if anyone would hire someone with this? I am 23 years old and have had it since I was 15. You would never know that I have it, as I do things that anyone would do with a normal knee and I feel that I would be ok. I understand the wear and tear on the joint but it has held up great so far and I am surprised nothing has happened since I am hard on it.

Any fire fighters with knee replacements out there? Would love to hear some comments on this subject. Thanks
 
No clue, but a firefighter forum who has a lot of firefighters instead might.
 
A knee replacement may or may not bar you from the process. Look up NFPA 1582, which is the requirements for the medical physical to be a firefighter. when I say may or may not, it depends on the doctor you get to do your physical. Even if you're able to complete all rigors of the job, a doctor and department may consider it too risky. You will also need to take the CPAT, which is the agility test required for all IAFF departments. The hardest part by and far is the initial stair climb of 3:20 with 75 pounds of weight.
 
Ask at the firehouse.com forums, they'll be more knowledgeable about firefighter hiring stuff.

I'd love to help, but I honestly have no idea about how disabilities work for FF hiring.

Good luck
 
Linuss said:
No clue, but a firefighter forum who has a lot of firefighters instead might.
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Wrong forum bud. While we have lots of FFs on here this is an EMS forum, not a Fire forum.

Firehouse.com is a good one.

From the little I know about fire it's going to vary from department to department.

I would think that all other things equal between you and another applicant with your knee replacement and them with a healthy knee that they would be picked over you. With that said, plenty of FFs out there blow out different joints and continue working in the fire service.
 
Where's NYMedic? He left us for the dark side.
 
Hey I can speak with some (read: this guy is still a probie) authority,
I joined the fire service a year ago and left for basic training where I suffered an injury resulting in surgery to correct torn cartilage and a meniscus tear I am currently training to take the physical agility test for another department which includes a 3 stair flights climb with a 25 pound hose load, rescue manikin drag, and the keiser sled. I have also recently taken a practice CPAT, for testing purposes know that your knee will hate you but realize the pain only lasts for a while and the faster you complete it the faster you can relax. In the actual firefighting aspect my knee doesn't really hold me back, I have times on an interior attack where my knee fires up but it upsides if you change from bear crawling (on all fours) to the knee crawl (kneeling push off with the uninjured leg and use the injured one to step forward switching as needed) but this is all manageable with stretching, anti-inflammatory medicine etc. if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them!


note:firehouse.com is a great resource, but they can be a bit grouchy ;)
 
Thanks for the info and sorry for posting in the wrong forum! I will most likely stick with being a medic on an ambulance. I don't wanna have to go through fire science school to get turned down in the end.
 
chester33 said:
Thanks for the info and sorry for posting in the wrong forum! I will most likely stick with being a medic on an ambulance. I don't wanna have to go through fire science school to get turned down in the end.
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There are many departments that hire you without fire certs, particularly as a medic. I would apply to many of these departments, and then follow up with whoever they use for pre-employment physicals, and see if your PSHx is acceptable for employment.

Some forum members here have said that there are members OTJ with joint replacements, but they're already OTJ. You have to call and see if a TKR excludes employment or not.
 
To add on what 46Young said, a degree in fire science is rarely worth the money for being hired as a firefighter. Usually any other type of degree is just as helpful, and if you don't end up in the fire service, your fire science degree is completely useless.

Go ahead and get your certs if you want, but if you're going to attend college, I would get a more broad reaching degree. Heck, my degree is in economics and I got hired as a FF.
 
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