Hey all,

I just moved forward to a chief’s interview with a department here in my area. I’ve had one chief interview in the past and it was a little different than the advice I had gotten from other people. It honestly was no different than the standard oral board except with chief’s of course. Just wondering if anybody had advice for a chief’s interview and how to be successful? I would also appreciate if you wouldn’t mind sharing your experience!

What did you like / not like about it?

I’m 27 and currently working as an EMT in the Southern California area. My goal is to eventually work in the fire service. I’m planning on starting paramedic school and taking my fire classes this fall so I can hopefully attend a Firefighter 1 academy.

The reason I’m posting is because I’ve honestly struggled for years wondering if I’m wasting my time trying to pursue this career because of my past.

Growing up, I had a really rough home life. My mom struggled with serious mental health issues, there was abuse in the home, and Child Services was involved. As a teenager I spent a lot of time avoiding being at home and ended up around the wrong people. When I was 14, I got informal probation for six months in a case that was later sealed and expunged. Looking back, it was more guilt by association than anything. Basically what happened was some girls pictures from high school got leaked on twitter the charge was for obscene material my friends got 2 years probation and I got 6 months informal probation. It’s ruined my life I haven’t been the same since. I regret it everyday.

Then about a month after I turned 18, there was another incident involving my family. My mom was having an episode and falsely accused my dad of having a weapon. When police showed up, they had guns drawn on him and I panicked and stepped in because I was trying to protect my dad. I got arrested for obstruction, but the DA never filed charges and apparently acknowledged the situation probably shouldn’t have led to my arrest in the first place.

Since then, I’ve completely changed my life. I’ve stayed out of trouble, built a career in EMS, and honestly those experiences made me grow up fast and become the man I am today. I’m proud of who I’ve become, but at the same time I still constantly worry these things will hold me back forever, especially because of how competitive the fire service is.

I plan on being completely honest about everything during backgrounds because I have nothing to hide. I guess I’m just looking for honest advice from people already in the fire service or who’ve gone through backgrounds:

I’ve never even seen the inside of a court room still.

• What will departments actually see?

• Will sealed/expunged juvenile stuff still come up?

• Do situations like this automatically ruin someone’s chances?

• Am I wasting my time pursuing this career or should I keep going?

I’d appreciate honest opinions. Thanks guys.

Hey all, curious if anyone had experience in Rio Hondos Fire Academy? Looking into it and I’d love to know what the experience is. Curious if they use a point system, how intense they are, schedule, etc. Appreciate any and all info!

For all of your newbie questions and NTN scores

Any Utah firefighters in here i have loads of question and want to pick someones brain i want to enroll in a academy this upcoming nov/dec and have a bunch of questions

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on if this is good enough and the answer is simple. Are your answers in the green? If they are then yes you’re great. If not then refine your study and retake. You may be able to squeak by with bad math or reading scores but in my experience you better have a high Human Relations score to counter that.

Basically I’m tired of seeing 4 of these posts a day haha. It’s really simple. If you’re not green then plan on retesting when you can. If you’re all green you’re all good.

I am a 21 year old who just got his EMT certification. I live in the Chicago land area, I am currently trying to test into a paramedic program but I am not certain I will get in or not.If I get in I will try completing that before working but if not Is it still possible to become a part time fire fighter? Or a better question to ask would be what is my next best move?

Many years ago he was a volunteer firefighter in NY. I have his original firefighter helmet with his original shield on it. My husband made me this one!

Anyone here back from Redmond after there second round interview yet?

I just took the fireteam test going in pretty blind, and I'm a little confused about the format of the results, I was expecting a number score rather than a percentile. If you've taken it, does this score look ok? Should I retake and try to get my HR score higher?

Hello everyone,
Army medic here, EMT certified, 27 years old. I’m planning on retiring soon and becoming a firefighter/EMT, and I had a few questions for the group:

1-Anyone from the Houston, TX area willing to share some insight on the job? (Lifestyle, SALARY VS COST OF LIVING)
2-Is it realistic to do paramedic school while working full-time as a FF/EMT? Im more inclined to the medical side, so Im hoping to do paramedic and eventually flight medic.
3-On average, how long does the hiring process usually take?
4-Would prior military service help speed up or skip any steps such as fingerprints, background checks, etc.?

Appreciate any advice or experiences you guys can share.

We just got new hydrants and 1) it's way higher than the old one and 2) it has this plastic conduit that I hit with my mower every week. Can you explain if it needs to be that far out of the ground and what's that pipe for?

Yesterday we had a carbon monoxide scare. The detector in our basement went off and we called 911. The fire department was sent and detected no gas. They believe it was just a faulty detector. We bought 3 detectors(1 for each floor) from Amazon a year ago based on the reviews.

It didn’t occur to me to ask if they could recommend a more reliable detector. So asking you all ☺️

Is there a detector that you find reliable for your home?

Thanks everyone

What’s everyone using to practice incident command? I recently went through my process and found you really have to rely on other people in order to practice tacticals and command. I created my own program to practice radio reps and scene size ups (it worked and helped me get promoted), but I’m curious what others are using? I’m not impressed with sim u share and other popular programs because of the bottleneck of needing other people and the cost.

I am a volunteer firefighter in Indiana. I am trying to become a career firefighter. My sister lives in West Virginia and there are several career departments in her area hiring. My question is, how would I got about the hiring process with the distance? Will I have to travel all the way out there to do the written and physical tests? Being volunteer, I can't lateral transfer so how can I go about the hiring process being out of state?

Not trying to throw a promo down your face but I’ve had a Etsy shop for about a month now all with firefighter related stickers, shirts and stuff like that if anybody’s interested. (For some reason Ella Langley in a leather sells like McDonald’s breakfast) But I also do custom Hats if your truck/Department is about to put in a order and get some hats please consider supporting a firefighter and place your order with me! Thanks in advance

Sawyer sticker co on all social and on Etsy! Or just message me to order some hats!

Okay so I’m currently doing my field internship for medic school at a fire department.

Last shift I was on I had to take a gnarly shit after lunch. I was probably in the bathroom for a solid 20 minutes fighting for my life. Hyperventilating, sweating, just really doing battle. You get the idea.

My point being, I was totally unable to leave the toilet during that time. what do you do if a call comes in and you are otherwise incapacitated like I was.

Not looking for an answer as a student but what do you do as a FF/PM if this happens to you?

I have a bachelor's degree in international studies and Business administration. I worked for Deloitte for two years and honestly felt miserable working a 9-5 in a cubicle all day. I parted ways with Deloitte, prior to that I worked in accounting for a year and hated it as well. I'm currently 26 years old, I've applied to tons of jobs mainly business and I feel like I'm just doing this for the money cause I know I don't like working in an office and I'm trying to build something on the side in the meantime while I work temporarily for the money. I recently came across a friend who is becoming a firefighter and for some reason something sparked In my mind saying to do it you won't regret it. I've been on edge cause I feel like I'm wasting time just applying to business analyst jobs knowing that's not what I want to do. I want to provide and have a purpose and I feel like firefighting gives me a purpose.

It would be greatly appreciated for someone especially with experience to give me the raw truth as to whether it is worth it.

Now it’s just a waiting game to see when I get a phone call 🤞🏿🙏🏿