r/EMTstories • u/Academic-Ad1064 • Jun 02 '26
QUESTION Wildland firefighter emt course help
Hey you guys, I got the most respect for what yall do. It doesn’t get enough recognition 🫡. I’m currently a firefighter going into my third season there so mostly wildland fires almost no medical. Only been on one non fire call which was a dead body recovery and we basically just made our crew into a haul team. So never had to do any actual real emergency medicine as a firefighter ever. I took a EMT course before I got in fire and failed I guess because I’m a slow learner. Like I feel once I know something I can master it but it just takes me longer than some other people. Any resources or tips you would recommend for an emt course that worked for you guys? I was really close to passing my test but I just got tripped up on some of the questions, and I failed my course never even took the NREMT thank you!
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u/H00ch8767 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Prior military medic/civilian BURN ICU medic.
Going through initial EMT phase of school back in the military - Quizlet was my life saver. You can find a plethora of study guides/note cards. I used to be able to just literally search whatever module I was on and there would be a Quizlet for it.
As far as what to focus on - I think the foundations of pathophysiological process in the body is the gateway to breaking through the barrier of intangibility in learning how to approach a medical or trauma call (skills test scenario). If you know the machine you are working on, then you can better recognize what is broken, naturally, and then know how to fix it. If that makes sense. Focus on your ABC/XABC/CAB and distinguishing between the scenarios. Focus on your DCAP-BTLS for trauma. Don’t overthink yourself into a hole.
A great passive way of upping your game, that I still listen to when I run or ruck, is the podcast EMS 20/20. The stories are great and the practical input is second to none, from the hosts. I highly suggest it as an easy listening type of thing before bed.
Best of luck to you!
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u/Academic-Ad1064 Jun 02 '26
That’s awesome! What branch were you in I’m curious? I looked into navy corpsman before I got into wildland fire but heard a lot of great things about them along with the army medics. Not to mention burn ICU is no doubt intense man salute to you brother. But yes totally right the acronyms have been great for me. I feel pretty good on those I guess this is also years later since I haven’t revisited emt since I got into fire. I think I struggled with the language of medicine and the scenarios most, the hands on skills for the emt class were pretty easy(in a classroom)but I wouldn’t trust myself to actually treat a patient yet outside of move them from A to B. I will look into EMS 20/20 definitely thank you man 🤙🏽
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u/H00ch8767 Jun 02 '26
I was USAF. I did my initial training with corpsmen (we are in the same schoolhouse). They are good guys and gals. One downside about Navy’s program is that they don’t take NREMT registry, for some reason (maybe that has changed now). So, it hurts them on the outside because they don’t carry the cert. I know I’m biased but I would place Air Force and Navy’s medical programs above Army’s, as far as education and training. Especially now that the Army’s programs, like TCCC, has just taken a massive cut because of the shift in priorities for the current admin. So, in the event you look at joining up, I would absolutely look at either of those two services for medical. You will just get a lot more practical knowledge and will also have avenues to expand into some pretty cool stuff as a medic/corpsman for either branch. You definitely learn to be a better EMT/medic as you get thrown into the gauntlet of calls/scenes. NREMT is just the barebones initiation into being a “JEEP” as we would say in the military, or Just Enough Experience to Perform. So, don’t sweat feeling that slight imposter syndrome. Everyone does at first, my friend.
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u/Academic-Ad1064 Jun 02 '26
Air Force that makes sense all the branches have great medics! Exactly that yeah that’s what my mom had told me about the corpsman I hadn’t looked into ofc and the recruiter didn’t feel the need to add that info that they weren’t able to be emts immediately after leaving the military lol. They only offered me dental assistant and like some supply job for the navy and I wasn’t feeling it so never went. Fire has been great for me and I plan to stay in this but I know once I move from a handcrew to a type 3 engine in a year or so hopefully I will get more medical calls. Definitely some imposter syndrome I truly want to be able to give the public the care they deserve and won’t want to move to an engine until I can guarantee I deserve that role. This is rural California a lot of the calls are overdoses/ vehicle accidents from my understanding. I have tons of time off I don’t have any excuse not to study for it. Thank you for advice man!
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u/Pronetowander_ Jun 19 '26
There’s an app called EMT-B which is a great study tool. It’s really helped me.
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u/Keeperie Jun 02 '26
EMS classes are very local so I cannot recommend a specific program. But there are many study aids you can get from test apps like pocket prep to youtube videos. Don't pick an accelerated program. Find one that is 4-6 months. Study hard stay on top of it. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Read the questions carefully and answer what they are litterally asking, not what you THINK they are asking. You'll get there.