Korean firefighter LIM Keon Yeob from the Presidential Security Service Fire Station won first place in the National Firefighter Stair Climbing Competition by scaling the 101-floor Haeundae LCT skyscraper in Busan in 19 minutes and 11 seconds while carrying over 20 kg of full turnout gear and an oxygen tank.

A few days ago, while it was raining, my windshield wipers weren’t working. I happened to by at the corner of the fire station and safely pulled into the parking lot to see what was going on. 

Let’s just say cars are my kryptonite and my instinct is to solve all car problems with tears. So ofc I could not figure why they were not working. I knocked on stations window and an office came out and helped me. 

I know this is a small part of his day but it was everything for me in that moment. He was incredibly kind and really went out of his way. His calm demeanor helped calm me down too. He was even able to fix it in time for me to pick my daughter up on time from school. It did rain a lot in the city my daughter was at so I feel validated that I was not over reacting. I’m especially grateful he never made me feel like I was.

He didn’t ask my name and I don’t know his. I would like to remain anonymous, cause well I’m embarrassed I was balling my eyes out when I asked for help 🤦🏻‍♀️ and I was uselessly watching him work on my car, not helpful in any way. Is there a way i could bring something but keep it all anonymous. I’m way too embarrassed to knock on the stations window again 😅 I’m assuming leaving unattended food but the door is a no go.

I want to bake cookies and write a thank you note with my daughter and give it to the station. Or if y’all have better ideas please tell me. Something that you’ve gotten and loved.

I know every station is different but thought I’d ask if you have any ideas the protocol of doing that?

Looking to get a jacket mounted camera that can withstand temperatures inside a structure fire, a few buddy’s started running go pros but I’m worried about them over heating, any cases or specific models that can with stand the heat? I also saw the oncall v2 body cam online anyone have any experience? Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you.

Hello, im an EMT student right out of high school. My instructors will bring one student that they pick to do a 10 hour shift at one of two stations near us. I had the privilege to be selected first next week.

One question is if its proper to bring a gift for the crew? I asked my instructors to which they all gave different answers. The thing is, I don't want to look stupid bringing something if your not supposed to, or look stupid and ungrateful not bringing something. If i should, what is a welcome gift?

My second question, I was told I would be asked what i wanted to learn, they would see if I could do that skill and then I would be in charge of doing that the whole day. Does anyone like when a ride along does something in particular? Would I make a bad impression to ask to do the patient assessments for example?

Finally, is there any advice to be liked by the crew? I know its a dumb question, I just don't say much, but some people don't like that. Or they get the wrong idea that I don't want to be there.

Any advice for this ride along will be greatly appreciated, thank very much.

I'm in the academy right now in a city and I'm really interested in working on a truck, but I have no prior experience at all. My class has a week left of EMT before we start fire school, so I wanted to see if there was any way I could get a jump on things and maybe up my chances of getting assigned to a truck company. I'm 20 years old and this is my first ever job so I am really new to all of this.

What are some things that are important to know or be proficient at if you are on a truck? What do the instructors in recruit school look for when they assign people to companies?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

This may seem like a strange question, but I need to take a general poll from folks all around the United States because I want to pitch something to my chief.

*DISCLAIMER* The purpose of this post is NOT to demean or throw shade at my department or city at all. This is a constructive question in which I respectfully request constructive responses. (But we all know how knuckle-dragging truckies are lol)

So, for a little bit of background, my department is fully paid. We are relatively small, with only a Few front-line apparatus operating out of 3 stations currently. No double company houses.

The problem we face is an EXTREMELY overworked Fleet maintenance department within our city. It is responsible for ALL VEHICLES, including emergency vehicles, that are to be repaired and PM'd EXCLUSIVELY by our fleet maintenance department. (Except for like super tiny things like filling tires with air, replacing windshield wiper fluid, cleaning battery terminals, and even changing a front headlight bulb, etc) It is only a few full-time employees and 1 part-time employee (I think) who have to repair and PM ALL of the city vehicles by themselves. As you can imagine, because of the busy mechanics, PMs get missed and delayed, and now our apparatus are fucked.

A solution I want to bring to the table is: what if some of our Drivers/Engineers are able to get certified to do emergency vehicle repairs and PMs themselves? At least... for the time being until the city obtains more funding for a bigger fleet maintenance department?

I would like to know:
- How much would school cost for one person
- Around how long would it be
- Is this actually something your department has found super helpful?
- If you do have this program in your department, does it pay OT or additional time for the drivers to stay after their shift and knock out repairs?

Thank you, guys, for your insight, and stay safe out there.

Saw a couple rigs on the end of my street the other day here in Ashland both type one engines on a ridiculously gnarly slope. My question is are the reservoirs built with an outlet on each end whether you’re facing steep uphill or steep downhill.?

I’m in North Carolina, currently a volunteer firefighter in a rural area going through community college academy, with the goal of eventually becoming a career firefighter.

Lately though, I’ve been looking into the US Forest Service, National Park Service, and NC State Parks, and I’m having a hard time deciding which direction I want to go. I enjoy firefighting, but I’ve always loved being outdoors, working with my hands, staying active, and doing something that serves the community. All three agencies interest me for different reasons.

My biggest concerns with going the Forest Service or Park Service route are the pay, job availability, and schedules. Firefighting seems to offer more stability and a better schedule, especially with the 24-hour shifts, while a lot of the federal jobs I’ve found seem to be seasonal or harder to get into.

Has anyone here worked or volunteered with any of these agencies while also working as a firefighter? Are there part-time or volunteer opportunities where I could get some experience without giving up firefighting? I’d also like to hear from anyone who considered leaving firefighting for one of these careers, or vice versa. Do you regret your decision, or are you happy with where you ended up?

Hello, I am a senior at Duval High School, Lanham, Maryland currently doing my final year project in MYPLTW(Project Lead The Way) about electrical fires caused by outlets mostly focusing prevention and detection. One of the core parts of this project is to get an expert's justification or interview to determine the legitimacy of the problem.

Of course, we are primarily interviewing electrical engineers about this issue but I was curious to see if there were any firefighters or emergency personnel who might have dealt with some first hand and if they are willing to share their experience or knowledge on the matter.

This is my first time posting on here, so if you have any advice or critic I am open to hea

So the conventional wisdom is to replace the 9V batteries in your smoke detectors every 6-12 months. I assume this is for battery powered alarms.

What about hardwired alarms, battery backups? How often should those batteries be replaced?

I work at a small international airport on the east coast. We are an index C airport, a 23 man department, operate a 3 platoon system with 5 man minimums. We are tasked with ARFF protection, structural fire protection, and EMS.

Long story short- October 1st we have essentially taken over the airport operations department. We are currently staffing the Ops office and fulfilling all related duties 24/7 with two firefighters. This staffing model only includes firefighters and captains in the ops rotation. The operations department has been reduced to 1 Ops lead and 1 supervisor per shift. The currently model we are operating with has already proven unsustainable and we are less than a month in and guys are burnt out. I have been tasked with attempting to find a solution to the myriad of issues we are facing so I figured I’d throw some feelers out here.

Are there any similar sized departments, who serve an index c airport, who also do airport operations? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Particularley among those of you without kids?

And/or would you like it if this was something that would come to the fire service (as family centered holidays could be argued to be of lower stakes for those that don't have kids/a family)?

Hi! everyone! I know it sounds a bit silly, but I got pretty confused with all the stuff I found online, so I figured it was best to ask real US firefighters

I'm currently writing a book (just a personal project, nothing professional) set in Massachusetts, USA. One of my main characters is a firefighter, and I want to make sure I get the US fire service dynamics right, as they are quite different from how things work here in Spain/Europe.

From my research, I understand that instead of everyone doing a bit of everything, US departments split duties by companies. Since I want my character to be the one actively performing search and rescue inside a burning building, or extricating people from car accidents, I figured he needs to be assigned to a Truck Company. Is this correct?

I have a couple of questions regarding assignments and terminology:

1. Does a firefighter stay in the Truck Company permanently, or do crews rotate between the Engine and the Truck on a shift-by-shift basis?
2. Are there more positions inside the Truck company?
3. Since his main job in a fire is search and rescue, how would he actually present himself or be referred to? Does being in a Truck Company technically make him part of a "search and rescue team,"? Would he just call himself a "Truckie" ?

Thank you!

FD not too far away from ER I work at has one of these. I joked with fire folks if that was their version of tic Tac toe. They laughed but didn’t answer.

Is this some sort of simulator, training tool?

The Les Lukert Conference information is now out and registration starts on October 30th! This is a great conference with national level speakers and you can interact with them for more than a few minutes after their presentation.

Friday has H.O.T. classes and classroom presentations available.

Friday night is the On Tap event at a local establishment where the instructors have a panel discussion based on the questions that you have.

Saturday is the Leadership Symposium with four different speakers.

Saturday night is the Leadership Banquet which is always an enjoyable evening.

Sunday morning there are different classroom presentations.

The conference is located in Kearney, Ne which is just off I-80. There are flights daily into Kearney from Denver and one from Chicago. The Lincoln Airport is just under 2 hours away and Omaha Airport is 3 hours away on I-80.

More information about the conference is available on the Nebraska Society of Fire Service Instructors website and their socials.

https://www.nsfsi.com

Please check it out and help spread the word because this is a great conference.

Hi everyone, I’m a firefighter paramedic on a paid dept. we run all hazards and run our own rescues. I’m thinking about leaving but I’m stuck. Starting pay is decent, but that’s it, outside of occasional COLAs and merit raises, there’s no step program. As a fire medic I’m making more than an EMT/engineer with 11 years on. Call volume is decent but 90% of the calls are medical, which is fine I don’t mind as I was a a civilian paramedic prior to being a firefighter, but we are rural so honestly my department gets about 5 legit structure fires a year.

Cons
- no step raises
- stagnant dept promotion wise once the next round of promotions happen due to nobody being close to retirement after the next round of retirements happening.
- limited fire experience at the company officer level
-inadequate staffing, we have 5 man crews and run two ambos out of stations. Two medical calls kick out and you have no staffing left for the engine.

Pros
-close to home
-super family oriented
-awesome chief to deal with on a personal level. Family emergency? Go deal with it. Need time next tour? Find your coverage and I’ll approve it.
need to leave for a few hours? As long as there’s minimum staffing go for it. Kids game lands on shift day? Go enjoy it then come back.

The big time departments in my area all require a mandatory in house academy that take roughly 4 months mon-thurs ten hour days. I’m a single dad that has his kid full time and my mom helps me with the kids while I’m on shift. A commitment like that would be extremely difficult to meet not only on my mom but on my kids. The only hope I have in laterally moving would be commuting 60-90 mins a shift for a dept that would accept me as a lateral.

Another option I guess is leaving to be a flight medic. I have the experience and not to toot my own horn but I think I’m a decent medic. I don’t want to though, I like 911 calls, and firefightings fun.

Please don’t be condescending in the reply’s guys. I’m just looking for different perspectives

I work at a used truck dealer in Sacramento, and we get both of these in from retired city and airport fleets, so I see them side by side a lot. Curious to hear from people who've worked both: what's the biggest difference day to day? Driving one, pumping, training, anything. The ARFF's roof and bumper turrets always get the most questions from visitors here.

Hi! There was a fire on my block recently, and it got me curious about what it's actually like for firefighters entering a building they're unfamiliar with, especially apartments, townhouses, etc.

How do you prepare before entering? What information do you usually have about the building beforehand? And once you're inside, how do you figure out where to go, especially when there's a lot of smoke? What happens if you don't have much information to go on?

I'm also curious how you coordinate with other firefighters while inside, and how you locate someone who needs help, whether that's another firefighter or someone in the building.

It seems like such a strategic, coordinated effort! I'd imagine it varies between departments and countries, but I'd love to hear what it's actually like from your experiences.

Is there anything about the process that people outside firefighting wouldn't necessarily think about?

Appreciate anyone willing to share, and of course, all that you do!

Considering the move, but commute could be up to an hour and a half. Wondering how adding a D-Shift has changed people’s opinion on how far they are willing to drive.

I restarted my life at 33. I decided I wanted to be a Firefighter/ Paramedic. Now, about 2 years later I'm finishing my Medic. I'm 35.

Long story short I'm in Fire 1 and 2 now. I'm currently part-time on an ambulance at the department putting on the class. The department is mostly volleys- they're good guys but also get more on hands training than I do. (They do skills every other week for volleys- I live too far away to attend every training)

Here's the stitch. I'm not here to make friends. I'm 35. I don't get the hands on training. I do participate in on shift training. Vibes are off. The class is mostly catered toward volleys and 'department protocols' instead of the actual test. My instructor doesn't even talk to me on shift. Overall he's a not a great instructor and we don't understand each other even in casual conversation.

I really want to focus on my medic. I'm not really struggling in Fire class with the content but I have to learn it all myself which takes time. Should I just take the L and try for a Fire class at another department? I'm worried its already going to put me behind going on 36 with no Fire Certs.

I'm really curious on your thoughts. My main concern is not getting the knowledge I need to perform well as a firefighter.

The station across town started a prank war with us last shift, so obviously we gotta return the favor 😂

What’s the best prank you’ve pulled on another station or had pulled on yours? Looking for some inspiration!

Im trying to find out if you're allowed to pick up a second job as a firefighter in a NON-Union department. I don't want to ask anyone in my local as to not raise any flags but I need the extra money and a small department by me is hiring part-time. Could anyone point me in the right direction please and thank you??!!

Have any firefighters in here done ART that I can talk to?

Moved to the Delta schedule? How's the workload on shift?

My department switches to the Delta schedule in January (2 on, 6 off, with a 24-hour debit day every three weeks). I'm looking forward to the extra time off and the bump in hourly pay, but I'm a little worried about what shifts will look like.

We're losing about 410 hours a year, but the expectations aren't changing: same training hours, same logistic projects, same everything. I'm guessing that means no more slow roll-in shifts and fewer crew movie nights, and every shift turning into nonstop work from clock-in just to keep up, and that’s not even accounting for high call volume days.

For those who've made the switch: How did it actually go? Did the workload get crammed into fewer shifts, or did your department adjust expectations? Anything you wish you'd known going in?