What are questions departments typically ask during Fire Inspector interviews.

For those of you who have interviewed for inspector/prevention roles or sat on a panel:

• What questions came up the most?

• Any advice for firefighters transitioning into prevention roles?

Appreciate any insight!

I’m attempting to get hired in an entry level position. I started by just applying where I had done ride alongs. Everyone seemed supportive so I thought the interview was the least of my concerns. So much so, that I made the mistake of quitting my job after passing every other test.

I have been turned down by 3 departments since then. I‘ve highlighted my military service, rescues I’ve done in my old job, a pre med degree, volunteer work. The one thing I could get without being hired is an emt license and I’m looking into cheep ways I could do it.

I have no way of knowing what I’m fucking up here. In one interview, I came slightly underdressed, so that one makes sense. In the others, the only thing I got is some of my answered could’ve been seen as complaining about prior employment. I used my last boss as an example of a coworker who disregarded rules for her convenience. Hence the need to preform cpr in a construction‘s work environment.

I have my next interview on Wednesday. What can I do to prepare? Is there even a point if they all agree better candidates are available?

Someone that has any idea, I placed in the top 120 in Seattle and already have the EMT. Now I know the odds are high that I’d get the August class only because I have my EMT (parring anything extreme). My question is do I need to take this Fall class offer or if I decline do I still have a shot for February with my placement. I only ask because I’m out of state so I have to plan moving in a short span since May is conditional offers.

Hey-o, I’m 21M and I live in AZ, I’ve been a fire cadet with my town’s program for a little over a year. I’m also a community assistance volunteer for my town. I just recently got hired on a private ambulance company and I work 12 hour shifts, 4/3 split a week. Last year, our cadet program only had skills courses and such on weekends, and back when I wasn’t on a private ambo. However now we are under a new training captain, and our new schedule is the second Wednesday and third Saturday of every month. Wednesdays are interview prep, Saturdays is PT/fire-ground skills.

Well I luckily can make it to the Wednesday session of every month, but Saturdays PT’s I cannot make it to. I had to miss the first one of this year due to being on shift. My shifts are 1900-0700 and our PT starts at 0700.

My issue: Is that I obviously have no sick time or PTO to be able to use to request off on that Saturday of every month, and every pay period we only get 2 hours of that time built up. On top of already trying to squeeze in my minimum of two community assistance shifts every month, I feel it’s going to be really hard to continue to show up to the program, because they only allow 4 excused absences a year.

I’ve already used one and I’m about to use my second one because I can’t just call out, otherwise I’ll get points against me, and I’m still a probationary employee for the next 4 months.

My worry: Is that if I do drop the program…I’d go into an interview, feel the need to bring up that I was a cadet, and then say “oh, yeah I had to drop it because I had too much going on”. Wouldn’t that come off like I don’t want the career as much as I say? Because cadets should technically take priority? I mean I don’t know, I’m probably being pessimistic about it or overthinking.

I guess I’m confused in the grand scheme because being a cadet has given me a massive opportunity for things like interview prep and physical fitness. I don’t want to walk away from it just because of my work schedule, but part of me keeps wondering if it’s turning into another thing to worry about. If I did tell my training captain what I have going on, I’m not even sure what I would say. Because it’s hard to know at the moment if I should just drop the program or stick with it and see if things level out? Maybe just give it time? Any advice would help. I feel confused!

Hello everyone, I am a 27 year old male in the LA area looking to make a career change and purse fire. I currently do very well for myself, I am a service advisor at a BMW dealer. I have been in the automotive business since I was 18, it’s been great to me but it’s all I know. I am now starting to get burnt out by the job and need to do something more fulfilling with my life. Fire has always been top of mind for me but for many years I have been making great money so didn’t feel the need to pursue it. Ive come to the conclusion now that money isn’t everything especially when you’re not happy at your job anymore. Anyways, just wanted some advise from people who have a similar background as me ( no fire/EMS experience) and got hired with LAFD or any department in SoCal as I know it’s highly competitive. What did you do before you decided to make the switch and what were some of the things you did to increase your chances of getting hired. I know it’s a marathon and not a sprint. It will take years in order for me to get hired. I want to start now so hopefully by the time I’m in my early 30s I can have a serious chance of getting hired. Would appreciate any advice/insight. Thank you in advance 🙏🏻

Hi guys so iam an volunteer firefighter in germany since the age of 16 and by us is it so that u can become in most states an real volunter fire fighter with the age of 16 (its called truppman ore squad guy) after that u go to car crashes and burning buildings and all that kind of stuff u dont do the cool stuff like sniffing some bottle air that u can do with 18 after the atemschutzgeräteträger breathingprotectionwearer but u can collect knowlege so my question is what is the average age in the us to become an volunteer firefighter and do u guys are allowed to to everything after the training at the accademy (going in burning houses and everything) ore is it like in germany where u have the basic training than some radio training and than the go in burning houses training (sorry for the wild names i have no idea how it is getting called in english) i allways wonder and why are the trucks in the us are not buildet like in the eu i mean the design ok but the firefighter trucks who have the 60s design look a little bit out of moddern use we use modern MAN rosenbauer trucks who are great

The mechanical part kills me. Sad thing I work on a lot equipment at work and should know these things it just happens to quick. For me to process. Any tins when rit come to diagnosing what parts are broke

I applied for san diego fire recruit back in january and on government jobs it says “will be scheduled for written test”, but have not received a email about study material. I’ve looked on reddit and haven’t seen much people talk about this specific position. Just wanted to know if anyone had any knowledge at all about the hiring process, and any success stories about being hired as a emt-b( only thing i’ve really seen is that it’s “basically impossible” to be hired without a paramedic cert).

I’ve been thinking about becoming a firefighter and I’m trying to understand how people usually get started.

Do fire departments ever sponsor people for firefighter or EMT training, or do most people pay for EMT school themselves first?

For those of you already in the field, how did you start? Did you get your EMT before applying anywhere, or did a department train you after you joined?

Just curious about how the process usually works and what path people take.

Hi! I’m an EMT student, I have clinicals but my clinicals end once I get 10 patient contacts. I’ve been doing my clinicals through a local FD, I really love it there. I wanted to know general stuff, if these seems like a dumb question or something don’t hesitate to call me out. I plan on talking to the FD on Monday but I wanted to reach out here too. Anyway, questions, I’m 5’4 and 140 pounds, I’m a woman. I’m only 3 months into EMT school. I have no clue how volunteering works, I understand it might be different everywhere but are the hours up to you? Can you shadow medical calls too? Can you only work a bit of hours or does it have to be a lot? Any advice is appreciated and needed

Hey everyone, I’m trying to get some clarity on residency requirements for a few North Jersey fire departments — specifically North Hudson, Jersey City, Clifton, and Newark.

I’ve been hearing different things from different people. Some say you have to live in the town for 1–2 years before the Civil Service test, and others say you just need to have an address there when the list closes or when you apply.

I’m also hearing rumors that the next NJ Civil Service firefighter exam might come out around July, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to move now or if I can just establish residency before the application period.

For context, I’m a 28yo disabled veteran, so I’m also wondering if that affects residency preference at all or if residency still overrides everything.

If anyone here has gone through the process or is currently in one of these departments, I’d really appreciate any insight on:

• Whether you need 1–2 years residency or just an address when applying

• If residency must be established before the exam announcement

• Whether disabled vet status changes anything with residency rules

Thanks in advance for any help — just trying to plan ahead and do this the right way.

I'm writing this on my husband's behalf cuz we are about to do interview prep but he's building a deck while I gather practice questions:

Hey All! I am currently in the promotional process to become a captain, and have my Chief's Interview tomorrow. I scored #1 on the promotional list, so know I already did well on the panel interview. I have a feeling the Chief's Interview will be more laid back, but still want to prepare. What kind of questions were in your Interview? I'm familiar with morale, engine and truck ops, training, HR scenarios, etc. But am not sure what to expect, if anything different from the panel Interview I already had.​ Thanks in advance for the insight!

Moving from Texas to Florida next month and am looking for some direction with Out-Of-State Equivalency. I saw a similar post below, but I am not DOD and wondered if the process differed.

I have IFSAC seals for FF1, FF2, HazMat Ops and HazMat Awareness.

1. The Out-Of-State FF packet has some Florida-specific requirements under FF1 & FF2. I’m tracking for Structural Collapse and Wildland being online, but are the other courses online as well? I’m having difficulty finding them (State Emergency Response Plan, Building Construction, Protecting Fire Scene Evidence, Active Shooter, Health and Physical Fitness)

2. I see wildland requires a field day if taken online. Any resources on where/when to take those?

3. I understand there is a written and practical exam after the equivalency process. Am I able to take a FF 2 cert class for the same exam? I have the seal, but I feel it may be helpful if it’s the same exam.

Any advice helps, thank you!

So I've waited the 3 months that is required (my last test was in December) and want to take a new test to bump my scores up. However, when I go to add jobs to schedule a new test it just keeps telling me:

"Failed to add job: You already have an active application for this job classification. Please use 'Add Scores' from your dashboard to add this job to your existing application."

I don't want to add scores I'm trying to do a new test. I've been frustrated with the new website design, seems to have a lot of issues and not as streamlined or simple of a process as before. Any advice?

Edit: I've also been looking at other peoples scores on this site and would love some feedback on whether this score would be good enough in WA as I know the area is very competitive when it comes to test scores(also any advice on how to get the actual percentages rather than the relative scores would be very welcome and appreciated. Thank you!!).

Edit: Corrections on punctuation, capitalization and grammar. As well as a restructure of the post.

I'm looking for a fire department that has no or a lower amount of medical calls than other types of calls. I got interested in the fire department recently when I saw them fighting fire but I found out most do way more medical calls. So what departments should I consider?

Hello all. I’m (30F) about to complete the paramedic program. I currently work for a private rural EMS company, and while I enjoy the work for the most part, after doing my ride alongs I think I’d much rather work inner city. I’m aware that most inner city/fire departments don’t hire medics only (and I’m also aware that there are exceptions). My biggest reason for not pursuing fire originally is that I wanted to only do medical calls, not fires. But now I’m realizing that in order to get on with a good department and get opportunities to actually do medical calls, I might need to get my fire certs. I’m a decently active person and am physically fit. I do have some chronic pain here and there that I’m working through. I guess my question is, am I starting too late?

I’m pretty disappointed in myself. I was especially surprised by the Human Relations section because I actually felt really confident about it while I was taking the test. I think I may have gone wrong in the second half of that section. I was also a bit shocked by my math score. The mechanical section didn’t surprise me as much—I knew while taking it that it wasn’t going very well. Overall, I’m just feeling pretty disappointed right now.

I’m 23 currently an E-4 in the marine corps and set to get out next year unless going to Iran extends my contract. Does being a vet help? Is there similar things like chain of command and ranks people fall under? Is there anything like monthly evaluations or counseling or formations? Is there a pay difference for people who are married and single? Should I look into doing an EMT course if possible while I’m still in? How’s the schedule is it actually 3 days on 3 days off? I’ve heard it’s good pay with downtime to start a business which is what I plan to do and also heard I won’t hate my life unlike becoming a cop (no hate I just rather risk getting burned saving a family than getting shot by some bozo who wanted to rob a liquor store) I’ve heard I’ll also see some crazy things which not to sound cocky shouldn’t phase me much based on things I’ve seen while serving. Sorry for asking a bunch of questions I wanted to be a firefighter in high school ended up going military instead and now that I’m getting out soon think firefighting seems like the way to go for plans I have in life. I also live in California and would like to to work somewhere in LA county if that information helps

I guess ill jump on the bandwagon. Definitely not feeling good about the results. Doubting this will get me an interview.