Worries

[bryanpearl]

I'm an EMT with about 1 1/2 years of experience (Private transport emergent/non emergent) and I'm about to relocate at the end of the year to Southern California. I keep reading horror stories of people not able to find work for months, and it's really worrying me. My goal ultimately is to get into a fire department, and get my Paramedic and live happily ever after. I'm very motivated, but man this kind of thing is discouraging.

Basically, does anyone have any actual advice or is anyone who's actually working in the Socal/OC area have any advice?

(Also, sorry for yet one more of the 10,000,000,000 SoCal EMS posts..)

 

[DesertMedic66]

Your best bet to get hired with a fire department is to already be a medic. Very few departments hire EMTs anymore.

 

[bryanpearl]

Well I would be willing to get my medic ahead of time, I have looked into it a bit. Although, when I spoke to someone at a college in the area about their accelerated medic program they informed me that it was mainly fire fighters being put in it via their departments. For the time being my main worry is finding an EMT job that would pay me at least what I make now (12.00/hr)..

 

[ghost02]

Well, where are you going in Socal? We can take a look at some options when we find out what part of socal you are going to be at.

 

[bryanpearl]

I appreciate that very much, most likely I will be going to Anaheim. I am going to visit in a couple of months to hopefully land something or make a good impression..

 

[ghost02]

Ok, Orange county was a good call because there are a ton more options for you. Here are a few, these are 911/ift privates.

Care
McCormick (Lots of action in Inglewood)
Gerber
Shaefer

From what I hear, those are the best in the area, so I would look at those first. Yes, the commute is going to be miserable. There are countless shady IFT only companies, but before you look to seriously at one, come here and search/ask for info about them.

Here is a thread you should check out:

http://emtlife.com/threads/southern-california-ems.28652/

Look at each company carefully in LA County and OC, and use the search function liberally.

Also, if you are looking for even more input that just those here, go to (I don't mean to advertise another website like this, I apologize, I can remove it if you want.)

http://www.reddit.com/r/ems/

They can provide some more info as well.

 

[bryanpearl]

That is appreciated... I have experience along with letters of recognition for patient care/bedside manner, and I will also be leaving my company I'm currently working for with a letter of recommendation, so I'm hoping that helps me out.

 

[luke_31]

Honestly a letter of recommendation will not make a difference with these companies. They have a ton of applicants so what you have going for you is your experience. I would strongly suggest that you highlight your experience and how it helps with your customer service abilities. While I have moved on from SoCal EMS for a little while now all the people that I know still say that the customer service and willingness to show up for your assigned shifts is still the most important thing.

 

[Jim37F]

Look into working directly for a fire department as an Ambulance Operator (AO). According to Firecareers.com the following agencies in LA/OC are hiring AO's: Hermosa Beach and Downey. There's a couple others around too. More than likely my department (Glendale) will be hiring AO's again (the current new class is just starting backgrounds so more than likely after a few months once they've made it through those and gotten into our AO Academy we'll be testing the next class). Shameless plug for Glendale: Unlike some other FD AO's, all our ambulances are BLS ambulances staffed by AO's. The medics are on the engines and will hop on over to our rig and we'll transport ALS that way, some other departments that have a mix of Paramedic RA's and BLS AO ambulances will only dispatch/let their AO's transport BLS calls so you won't necessarily get much in the way of ALS assist experience, but despite that, I'd still take any of those over a private company in LA/OC nowadays, the experience of living in house will be invaluable when it comes time to interview for the coveted firefighter job in LA/OC.

In addition to that, I would advise not only getting your medic license ASAP, but completing a State Fire Marshal approved Basic Fire Academy. Most smaller and many of the mid sized departments won't even accept an application if you don't have your FF1 cert from one of the academy's. For example, Riverside FD is accepting applications in October, and will require an academy (and they're not a small, two engine department either). Plus, with your FF1 you can do volunteer/auxiliary/reserve firefighter (yes there are at least two volunteer fire departments in Los Angeles County, La Habra Heights and Sierra Madre), I personally also want to look into volunteering with Sierra Madre Search and Rescue....Those certs and experiences will immediately separate you (and hopefully me lol) from every other EMT who thinks their Care/Gerber/GCTI/TransAid/etc transport time and year old CPAT/fire academy they've done nothing with in the meantime

 

[bryanpearl]

Wow thank you for the excellent information. I wasn't even aware that I could become an AO. My plan is to enroll in a local college that has some fire tech classes, and then sends me to get my fire 1. I really want to get my medic as well. I'm all in I just am trying to find a job where I can pay my bills and use my experience and learn more while I'm working towards my real goal which is the FD.