I'll probably start some beef with this, but I feel that EMS is better off being merged with either police or fire. Why? The career development benefits alone blow away what's available with single role EMS.
For example, in my dept, there are many positions for officers with ALS certs. That fufills the job requirement in a lot of places for EMS management. They ask for "X" amount of years in a supervisory role. It's way, way easier to get a gold badge in a fire department than in single role EMS, where the promotional opportunites are severely restricted. If you want to retire from or leave your current department to be a supervisor or even run an EMS department somewhere else, you'll need supervisory experience, and probably a degree. Good luck getting that necessary experience in most places, where promotions past field provider are few and far between. No one's hiring a career road EMT or medic from somewhere else to run a department.
We have Inspector positions in the Fire Marshall's office, and also Investgation and Code Enforcement positions that require the employee to go through our county's police academy, paid at your regular rate, of course. There's plenty of six figure gov't and private positions available for someone with this type of fire and LE experience. All the better if you have Hazmat or USAR experience, which goes nicely with an Emergency Management degree, which will surely edge out someone with the same degree who has only worked EMS transport in comparison (which the fire/EMS applicant has also done.)
There's plenty of open doors for the EMS/LE employee as well.
Don't believe me? Check out usajobs.gov, filter for jobs over $100k, then filter for positions that can be filled with fire or LE experience as above. Do the same at the state level, and also municipal. Don't forget consulting work as well. How about the FBI? They hired three from my department last year.
Single role EMS offers none of these benefits. This is what smart people do - they retire from their first job, ge tthe pension, then move on to something much more lucrative.
Career development's where it's at! Most EMS employers top out at $60k/yr for medics if you're lucky. I don't know about you, but I can't live on 50% of $60k or less in retirement. That's $2500/month or less pre-tax! If you don't like fire, I would suggest applying for LE positions, and keep EMS on a part-time basis. Some places do LE based flight, such as Montgomery Co. MD and Fairfax Co. VA, for example.
For example, in my dept, there are many positions for officers with ALS certs. That fufills the job requirement in a lot of places for EMS management. They ask for "X" amount of years in a supervisory role. It's way, way easier to get a gold badge in a fire department than in single role EMS, where the promotional opportunites are severely restricted. If you want to retire from or leave your current department to be a supervisor or even run an EMS department somewhere else, you'll need supervisory experience, and probably a degree. Good luck getting that necessary experience in most places, where promotions past field provider are few and far between. No one's hiring a career road EMT or medic from somewhere else to run a department.
We have Inspector positions in the Fire Marshall's office, and also Investgation and Code Enforcement positions that require the employee to go through our county's police academy, paid at your regular rate, of course. There's plenty of six figure gov't and private positions available for someone with this type of fire and LE experience. All the better if you have Hazmat or USAR experience, which goes nicely with an Emergency Management degree, which will surely edge out someone with the same degree who has only worked EMS transport in comparison (which the fire/EMS applicant has also done.)
There's plenty of open doors for the EMS/LE employee as well.
Don't believe me? Check out usajobs.gov, filter for jobs over $100k, then filter for positions that can be filled with fire or LE experience as above. Do the same at the state level, and also municipal. Don't forget consulting work as well. How about the FBI? They hired three from my department last year.
Single role EMS offers none of these benefits. This is what smart people do - they retire from their first job, ge tthe pension, then move on to something much more lucrative.
Career development's where it's at! Most EMS employers top out at $60k/yr for medics if you're lucky. I don't know about you, but I can't live on 50% of $60k or less in retirement. That's $2500/month or less pre-tax! If you don't like fire, I would suggest applying for LE positions, and keep EMS on a part-time basis. Some places do LE based flight, such as Montgomery Co. MD and Fairfax Co. VA, for example.