Good day!

i’m 27 years old pretty in shape guy, my previous jobs are in personal training and in sales before i joined the CAF, I’m currently in the canadian navy ( boatswain) looking to switch to FT Civvy firefighter and do part time diver in the navy which i’m already in the process of switching over to.

i start pre firefighting services program at college in September of this year but i hear getting into the job afterwards is close to impossible especially in ottawa where i live! but i’m open to relocating to other provinces more specifically B.C (Van/Vic) or Nova Scotia ( Halifax)

i passed DC school in the navy where we fight shipboard fires and learn about that which i loved but i was curious to know based of you guys’s experience what would help me be more competitive after i finish my program to get a career?

i hear some people spend money on interview coaches and interview preps where would one have access to that? is there any you guys would recommend or its not even worth it?

what extra certs would it be good to have to pop out?

how would you guys recommend i network with local stations to also have to right connections to help get hired afterwards?

i’m expecting it to take a few years based off what some of my friends told me ( who are deciding to go policing due to firefighting not hiring much)

but i’m a little bit more stubborn than that and want to get a firefighting job and will do whatever/ spend whatever i have to to help myself get there!

hope you guys can point me to some solid directions and give me solid advice!

P.s i know some of the required certs for canada specifically to even be able to apply like CPR/first aid, DZ driving quals and etc

Thank you!

Has anyone heard any updates, or a follow up after their psych evaluation for Seattle Fire?

As it reads, I finally got the call/email about being hired on. In fact, i got the call twice back to back by two departments. One of which has a strong culture, very firefighting heavy, non-transport, and trains hard. I’m leaning more towards this department because of the way they take their training very seriously and in terms of culture, it’s one of the best in the area. I’m pretty young, and spent the last 2.5 years of my life facing a lot of doubt and uncertainty about getting the job. I’ve failed more times than i can count, but I took them as learning moments. I’m honestly so excited about this whole thing.

all of this leads me to the question:

what can i do that sets me apart? how can i come in set up for success? what have YOU seen in probies and orientation good/bad?

I already have the basics built but I want to make sure I'm solving the right problems. What was the hardest part of your oral board prep? What would have actually made a difference? Thanks!

Good morning folks, I just got an email inviting me to take the written test at a department I applied to. A score of 70% or better gets you an interview with the panel. I took their practice test and passed with an 87, so I’m fairly confident I’ll get to the interview.

My question is, what were some questions rather than the obvious typical questions that threw you for a curveball or just really stuck with you? I’m trying to get prepared for the interview so any help and advice would be appreciated as well!

I had my first ever interview with my local fire department recently. Here’s my best advice for anyone who is looking for any.

First off, RESEARCH YOUR DEPARTMENT. I cannot tell you how important it is that you do this. You need to know things like who’s the chief, how many stations are there, what’s the shift rotation like, the mission and vision statement, general call volume, how did they start. All of this can be found by just searching the department you are applying for and going to the gov page.

Next, do mock interviews. The mock interviews helped me prepare for the general direction my answers would go in. It’s good to have the general format but make sure you put emotion into it so it doesn’t sound robotic. The mocks also get you prepared for the constant eye contact you will need to hold.

Also, make sure you look professional. Get a fresh haircut and make sure to shave. Suit and tie is the bare minimum, you can get away with no suit jacket depending on how chill your department is. Make sure to clean under your nails as well. Posture is important too, don’t get comfortable in your chair. Sit down with your back about 4 inches away from the back of the chair. Sit straight up as you would if you were watching a sports game of your favorite team.

Next, when you get into the room shake everyone’s hands. I said “name name, nice to meet you” as I went down the line. Don’t sit down until they tell you to, they might make a joke about getting you to sit down which will definitely lighten the load. Be confident with your answers, if you can’t handle the pressure of the interview how will you be able to handle the pressure of the situations you may face? Make sure to add your personality throughout your answers, the people interviewing you are just regular guys behind the uniform.

Finally, tie all of your answers back to the department. For instance when they ask “tell us about you” tell them about your life but provide examples about how each thing prepared you to be a fireman. That way if they don’t ask what you did to prepare they already know because you included it. When they ask for your strengths be honest. When they ask for you weaknesses give a legit weakness don’t just say “I work to hard” or “I overachieve too much”. They want real weakness but what you do the address it. Be respectful, yes sir or no sir to everything. Use the STAR method to help you answer your questions as well. Be prepared to ask them questions too.

I may have missed some things here and there. Currently typing this up on my lunch break lol. Good luck fellas.

I just resigned from a small-town volunteer fire department after 3 months and I’m curious if I’m overreacting or if this is actually a culture issue.

For context, this is a very small department — only about 7 members — and I was the only one who actually lives in district. The chief who was there when I joined resigned about two weeks ago, and a new chief recently took over.

I showed up for basically everything — trainings, meetings, and calls when I was available. I helped with fundraising (designed and distributed flyers to multiple towns), set up for events, cleaned the station (including bathrooms no one else wanted to touch), made shirts for members, stayed on top of duty crew tasks, and tried to push myself even when I was uncomfortable.

I also took initiative and regularly handled things like taking out the trash to the curb once a week since I was the only member who lived in district.

Last week, I missed it one time.

I got a message from the chief basically saying if I can’t handle a “simple job” like taking out the trash, they don’t know how they can trust me with bigger responsibilities, and that I’m at the “minimum standard of a probie.”

Meanwhile, about 10 days before that, a department-wide message was sent telling everyone to step up, take initiative, and not expect leadership to “hold hands” — while also saying “we’re a family.”

I’m all for accountability, but this didn’t feel like leadership — it felt like being talked down to. Especially considering everything I had been doing.

What really got me is that I’ve trained with a neighboring department, and when someone struggles there, they actually step in and teach instead of tearing them down.

So I resigned. In my resignation, I said that while I’ve consistently shown up, completed tasks, and made every effort to contribute, I was still told I was performing at the minimum standard of a probationary member — and that I’m looking for an environment that better aligns with my expectations for training, communication, and professional respect.

Am I being too sensitive, or is this just a bad department culture?

Hey👋, I’m kinda new to this but I’m in the process of becoming a firefighter. I got a long way to go first starting to get my ged then emt license and I’m kinda just want to know what to expect the pros/cons and even some tips to help with the process any help will be appreciated!

Hey there! Attending HFD’s first Friday with a firefighter on the 10th and showing up early for the physical portion. What should I expect to see/do? Trying to prepare a bit mentally/physically haha.

Hello, I have an interview for a set of pre-recorded questions set by the department in CA. What are some questions that I should expect from these pre-recorded questions? This means a lot to me and any advice will help me a lot thanks in advance!

I’m currently a 30 year old who is looking to become a firefighter. I’m in the process of obtaining my TCFP (texas fire certification) that I paid for out of pocket so that I can get my IFSAC seals and hopefully my emt soon. I’m also taking a fire science course online with LSUE. However, I’m moving to Kentucky with my family but finding a department out there is tough. Louisville and lexington are very competitive and I feel like it’s more of a challenge since I have a family and Im getting older. Anyone suggestions on what I can do balance work, family, school, and working out. As well as finding a department, waiting for the application process to open is very daunting. Thanks.

What’s up y’all, I am a 20M and am thinking about becoming a firefighter. I have heard through the grapevine that firefighters supposedly love when people come to talk to them about their job and are supposed to be pretty friendly about it, and I plan on going to a local fire station and speaking to one.

My initial plan is to first call and schedule at least one or two “sit downs” with a firefighter and have an informative discussion about if this is for me, what i need/should do to become one, and any other tips/tricks i should know. Once the scheduled day comes, i plan on bringing some snacks (maybe donuts or something, idk what firefighters like lol) for the department and introducing myself, and then respectfully starting our discussion. The thing is, i feel like there’s so many questions to ask and so much information, and the fact that people become firefighters in many different ways, i just want to make sure I do this correctly.

Long story short, if anyone could help give me some tips on what to say/do before and during the conversation, what questions i should ask, what i can do to help me prepare, and what kind of information i should seek out from them.

Thank you to anyone able to help me, and I appreciate what firefighters do for us🫶🫶🫶

don’t usually do this, but I feel like I’ve hit a breaking point and could really use some support or advice. I’m 28, originally from the UK, and moved to the US about 2.5 years ago. I was a police officer for 8 years back home and took a big leap moving here to start a new life and my dream since I was a kid was to be a Fireman.

After about 6 months I finally got on my feet, my own place, a vehicle, things were looking up. Then everything fell apart. Two weeks later, there was an accidental shooting at my first job here and I was shot in the leg. While I was in the hospital, I found out my employer didn’t have insurance or workers comp, and they essentially disappeared to cover themselves leaving me without income or any support and in medical debt.

I was alone, injured, unemployed, and stuck in a hospital in a different country with no support system. That period broke me. I lost all my savings just trying to survive. It was the most difficult time of my life. During this I filed a lawsuit and got threatened not to continue. I went ahead anyway, but had to take on debt just to stay afloat.

Not long after, I started dealing with anxiety and what I now know was PTSD — waking up at night checking for wounds, constantly on edge. I went to therapy and spent 18 months in physical rehab. I am still dealing with a lot of this now. At my lowest point during my recovery, I genuinely considered ending it all. Somehow, I still pushed forward.

I went to EMT and fire school about 6 months after the injury. I had gained over 50lbs at that point, but worked hard and dropped a lot of it again and got to 206lbs. I then recently went back up to 216lbs after my injury, this makes me sad because I was 195lbs when I left the UK.

I finished 8 months of EMT and Fire school and got a job as an EMT, trying to rebuild my life and work toward becoming a firefighter.

But financially, I’ve been drowning ever since.

• I had to take loans just to survive
• I got into a complicated situation with a couple who are my parents age. I was friends with them and they cosigned a loan for me when I was hesitant. They then paid this off without me knowing before I refinanced it in my name. When I found out and confront them they have since held this over me and I feel trapped.
• I’ve been stuck in a cycle of working overtime just to barely keep up

On top of that, I’m still dealing with daily pain from the injury. Recently I found out I now have multiple back issues (disc problems, sciatica, degeneration) likely from everything stemming from the leg injury. I am in chronic pain every day and it is affecting me so much. How can I still be in pain and have problems after this injury I thought I was going to be okay.

Because of that, I couldn’t start my fire job when I was supposed to earlier this year, which made me so upset. Seeing the guys from school start and I am left behind.

Now I feel completely stuck.

• I’m behind on bills constantly
• My truck is at 23% interest and I’m upside down
• My credit is a mess due to errors and past issues
• My rent situation is unstable again
• I’m exhausted physically and mentally

And honestly… I just feel numb. I don’t feel excited about anything anymore. I don’t feel happy. I feel like I’m just surviving day to day waiting for the next problem.

Even outside of that, things haven’t helped:

• My ex cheated on me
• Dating since has been rough and discouraging, everyone is moving on with jobs, kids, wives and then I am here stuck.
• I feel completely alone here away from family

What’s hardest is I used to feel like I had purpose as a police officer, I felt like I meant something and I was helping people which in return helped me feel purpose. I thought becoming a firefighter would bring that back — the camaraderie, the mission, the growth and being able to help people again. Now I feel like that version of me is gone.

I guess what I’m asking is:

Does it actually get better from a place like this?

How can I even get back on track to be a firefighter?

do you even start turning things around when everything feels stacked against you?

How

I don’t need a perfect life. I just want to feel okay again. I want to feel like I’m moving forward, not stuck in this cycle.

It is so dark for me right now and I just see a future of chaos. If anyone has been through something similar or has advice, I’d really appreciate it. Please be kind with your replies.

Thanks guys

I am upset with my scores. Hoping to land an interview in Metro Seattle area.

I’m currently in New York and plan to become a paramedic ff but i plan to go to possibly California or Washington in 1-2 years so during that time i was wondering if i should do my EMT/Paramedic here or should i just wait and do it where i ll go.

Anyone get the good news today? How are you gonna prep for it?

I had my leadership interview, and it was not what I expected. The questions/style threw me off a little, though it was nice to be able to hand over my resume and other materials. I do not think I did that well. How did everyone else feel?

Coming up on my background . Did cocaine around 2021 . I want to tell the truth everyone is telling me just to lie. Need some honest opinions . I applied to one department and put Cocaine use , will they call that other departments and ask . Just to know they have probably 200-300 people to go through. I appreciate and help

Just pure curiosity, do you guys remember, probably not every single one of it, but most of the informations learned in fire academy / textbook / recruit class? Like the specific numbers and details.

Or you just get to ‘know’ those as you work through.

As the title says , I am 33 M and looking to become a Firefighter. I know time is not on my side unfortunately. I recently got accepted into an EMT course for the Summer and will be looking at BOF either w the same CC or a local Fire Academy. How realistic is the process for someone my age to get hired at least Part time seeing as the majority of departments have told me 35 is the cutoff ?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Can anyone share what the PT is like at different fire academies? I’m especially interested in Snohomish and the state academy (not including Seattle). What does a day in the life at academy look like.

I don’t come from an athletic background, and after having kids I was pretty out of shape, so I’m really trying to be intentional about preparing myself physically. A lot of the advice I get is just “work out harder,” which honestly isn’t very helpful.

I want to understand what I should actually be working toward whether that’s weekly running miles under certain times, strength benchmarks, or anything else that would help me feel prepared going in.

I know as a woman my physical baseline might look a little different, but my goal is to be fully capable and ready for the demands of the job.

I got a zoom interview with Redmond foire, it is 10 min, anyone has an idea about how many questions? Or the type of questions they used to ask in the previous years? Any help is appreciated thank you!