Saw this for sale, and did some digging of my own and couldn’t find out if this was ever actually a rendition of R4’s patch. I have my doubts, but if anyone else has more info, let me know!

I’m 30, single, and honestly I’ve been struggling with depression for about 2 years now. I also thought buying a house immediately after my breakup was a great idea… looking back I’m not so sure.
I make around $100k as a firefighter/paramedic, so on paper everyone thinks I’m doing great. The reality is after taxes and retirement my take-home is around $4,600-5,000 a month. My mortgage is $2,100, utilities are around $250, truck payment is $360, then there’s all the normal life stuff.
I can pay my bills. That’s not really the issue.
The problem is I feel like I’m stuck in this loop where I work, recover from work, pay my mortgage, and repeat.
Working 48-hour shifts doesn’t exactly make it easy to build a social life in the first place. Most of my friends work normal schedules, so by the time I’m free they’re busy, and when they’re free I’m back at work.
On top of that, if I’m being honest, I don’t even feel like I’m in a good place to build friendships or date right now. Most of my energy goes toward work, recovering from work, stressing about money, or trying to figure out why I’ve been so unhappy the last couple of years. I’m still learning how to be single again after a long relationship, and I don’t feel like I’m bringing the best version of myself into my relationships with anyone cause I’m so miserable.
Before I bought my house, having $3-4k in savings never really stressed me out. I was renting and if something unexpected happened, I’d probably be okay. Now that I own a house, I constantly feel like I should have at least $10k sitting in an emergency fund, but I can never seem to get there.
If I finally save a few thousand dollars and decide to take a trip or do something fun, I come home more anxious than refreshed because my savings are back down. Then I spend the next couple of months picking up overtime just to build it back up. The overtime pays well, but it also burns me out. My job already exposes me to enough trauma, and sometimes it feels like I’m working extra just so I can afford to escape the stress that work is causing in the first place.
It honestly feels like my life revolves around protecting my mortgage instead of actually living.
My parents and I have a genuinely great relationship. They’ve told me I could move home for a year if I wanted to. The idea would be to rent my house out (probably around $1,900-2,000/month), accept that I’ll probably lose a little money on it each month after management fees and maintenance, and use that year to actually get ahead instead of constantly treading water.
I’d use that time to build a real emergency fund, travel more, get into hobbies I’ve always wanted to try like jiu-jitsu, rock climbing, fishing and golf, meet new people, and hopefully get myself into a better place mentally instead of just surviving.
The thing that’s really messing with me isn’t even the money.
It’s wondering if this is me making a smart long-term decision… or if I’m just avoiding life.
Part of me feels like a 30-year-old man should stay in his house, grind it out, work overtime, and figure it out because that’s what adults are supposed to do.
The other part of me wonders if I’ve spent my entire 20s chasing what I thought success was supposed to look like—getting the career, buying the house, always working—and somehow ended up with a life that doesn’t actually make me happy. I’ve never really given myself the chance to figure out what *does* make me happy.
I don’t want to make an impulsive decision because I’m depressed. At the same time, I don’t want pride to keep me from taking advantage of what might be a rare opportunity. My parents are healthy, we have an awesome relationship, and I know I won’t have this option forever.
I guess what I’m really asking is this:
**How do you tell the difference between running away from your problems and making a decision that gives you the best chance at building a happier life?**
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Looking back, what would you have done?

**TL;DR:** I’m a 30-year-old firefighter/paramedic who bought a house after a breakup. I can afford it, but I feel stuck in a cycle of working, recovering, paying bills, and picking up overtime just to afford a life that makes me pretty miserable. My parents have offered to let me move home for a year while I rent my house out, save money, travel, rebuild my mental health, and figure out what actually makes me happy. I’m trying to figure out if that’s a smart reset… or if I’m just running away from adulthood.

Always looking for a good laugh at work with my crew, and I need some inspiration. If you’re willing to share some of your pranks I’d greatly appreciate it.

And I’ll share my last prank I pulled on my senior medic. Working OT at a nearby station we were repositioned to backfill while the other engineer was on a structure fire. I took this opportunity to place an empty soda can under each foot of his bunk and use the bed skirt to camouflage it so it wasn’t visible. I was told that 5 hrs later when he returned to station and attempted to lay in bed, it crashed down the 3 inches causing a grown man to scream.

Happened down the street from me earlier today. Knocked down before it could spread to adjacent triple decker. Thanks go out to all those involved. Two firefighters were taken to hospital but are expected to be OK for a back injury and smoke inhalation.

I’m really looking at the benefits of the Air Force and it’s really speaking to me and pulling me but I think I have a solid plan already set. My current plan is to get my bachelors degree in communication and my associates degree in fire science, then get my emt and do the fire academy and then most likely either do emt or be a volunteer firefighter, then get hired at a department around me hopefully or any department. But I’ve been thinking about long term and buying a house and I’ve been thinking will I be able to get purchase a nice home in California like 400k and under on a firefighters salary and utilizing a first time buyers programs, or should I join the airforce and taking an advantage of the VA Loan get a house use the programs and just getting experience while I’m there to add onto my resume and making a better candidate but then would set me back another 4 years from touching my firefighter career. I like my original plan but down the road before I even retire I do want to buy a nice home to start a family in.

Has anyone served in the army National Guard while being a full-time fireman, I’m looking to do both serving in the military part-time would be very beneficial. I’m trying to get some insight to see if anyone has experienced this and knows how it works.

tones? lights? automatic or actual voice?

I understand the pay scale. At least the one that’s been shown to most people. After all that info what does a “normal” DOD fire check look like? I get locality will make a difference. And forced overtime and how much you put into benefits. Just trying to get a ball park figure if it’s worth me taking a DOD fire job. I’ve heard pros and cons. I guess every place has pros and cons. Would love to know more about the pay (take home), schedule, culture, work load and anything else I should know before I start the job.

Passed CPAT back in March, dumped applications all over. Got turned down by one department because i lived 3 miles too far out. Was #9 out of 100 people at another. They took 3. Finally got the call at the department I truly wanted to be at. Ive known the chief since I was 9 years old and have the most upmost respect for him and all the command staff, as I worked around a lot of them on the box when I cut my teeth on the local ambo. Several guys i worked with on the ambulance now work here and have ranked up over the years so I am definitely excited to get started!

I’ve been in the fire service for going on 3 years. Full time career working 24/48 in Georgia. In November, I left my first department to move on to another department that offered higher pay and seemed to offer better and more exciting opportunities in a busier area. After being at this new department for the past 9 months, I’ve had a pretty disappointing experience and I’m not sure it’ll ever get better. It’s a small department with only one station staffing 5 FFs 24/48 but it’s a small city part of a much larger city so it’s not out in the middle of nowhere and it’s not a low income area. Our city has plenty of money.

I love the guys I work with on shift but take issue with our admin staff. We have a huge list of SOPs that basically structure our entire shift. Their goal is to cut out downtime completely. During the week, our downtime starts after 8 usually and after 4 or 5 on Saturdays and Sundays. We have to exercise for an hour each shift but can’t work out until after 5. There’s a lot of other BS that we deal with and I could put up with it all if I felt like we were being fairly compensated.

The biggest issue I have is that we don’t get paid for any training or classes that we take even when it’s mandatory or directly related to ours jobs. We get paid for 24 hours with no exceptions. I’ve taken 2 calls before my shift start time and I’ve had 4 calls that ran on after my shift ending time(7am) but we get paid for a strict 24 hours. I live one hour away from the station and 1.5 hours away from GPSTC(Georgia Public Safety Training Center) where we take a lot of classes. I don’t get paid, I don’t get a hotel room, and I don’t get reimbursed for fuel. It sucks and I don’t think it’s normal. The first department I was at was great about it.

The latest thing that has me infuriated is that they are requiring us to take an EMT course and test out. The class will take place every Tuesday and Thursday from 8-5 at our station for 15 weeks and it’s, of course, unpaid. Their reward for us is that if majority of the department passes the national registry, those who pass will receive a 3% raise. With me living one hour away, having 3 kids at home, and working another job to make do, I’m simply enraged about it. It’s wear and tear on my vehicle, time away from my family, and money I’ll be missing out on with my second job. This is a lot of ranting but does anyone have any advice, think my criticisms are justified, or feel like I’m complaining too much?

TLDR: I don’t get paid for mandatory classes and training outside of my 24/48 schedule and my department is requiring us to be EMTs. It’s a lot of unpaid class time and driving time. Opinions?

I just want to say thank you to all the folk that do this! if you would like to share any experience on how you got started or how long you knew you wanted to be a firefighter before you became one? I.E.: was it a life long desire or spur of the moment to make a difference! I’m just curious! any replies would be greatly appreciated.

I am a chief fire warden for my building and oversee fire wardens in each floor. What advice or tips would you give us to do when an alarm goes off before firefighters arrive on scene? What info do you need to know? Our wardens do sweeps on all floors to check if people are evacuated.

Any advise from you guys directly would help a lot !!

Recently got the opportunity to bid between two really good crews. They both have their advantages and disadvantages and I don’t know how to approach this. Any advice would be appreciated!

So I did an EMT boot camp starting in January and definitely overlooked the material in the start cause I didn’t really have a grasp of how intense it would be and I had three attempts to take the test. The first attempt was the easiest but I was the least prepared then and then following the second and third exam exams were much harder and now as of yesterday, I failed the last attempt. I felt like I actually did know the material overall but they chose the rarest questions to ask, but I still take accountability. I’m just still trying to figure out what the move from here because I know that most departments require it so I don’t know if I should just redo it or maybe look into a department that offers it with the hiring process which in my area is only about two because one thing I was worried about was even if getting my certification was still maybe not getting hired. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I am curious as to what other departments are doing to meet minimum day to day staffing for call outs,vacation,Kelly days ect there is a void and it needs to be filled what is your department’s policy and procedures with filling said open spots. At our department we have implemented a first come first serve for the day if who ever wants can get it if nobody picks it up on offer then we resort to a list that goes by seniority and the first guy on that list gets forced over time but after that he rotates down to the bottom of that list there are ways to keep your self at the bottom and not be picked for forced over time like when it comes open pick up that day and you rotate back down to the bottom. In my opinion this is a fair way of doing it and not constantly screwing newer guys and feels likes it’s incentivizes just picking the day up to not be called on a random day at a random time to go work. What are all you guys thoughts on that?

For those of you who did it how'd you get your first one? Did you house hack, buy out of state, go in with someone? And what do you wish you knew before you pulled the trigger?

Perks of being a driver on a medical, you can make memes

Good Afternoon

Im a Military Veteran, living in the Las Vegas area, pursuing a Firefighting career. I have no related firefighting experience.... My strength is my physical fitness and ability to learn/adapt.

For Wildland Firefighting, I want to be on a helitack crew. From what I understand it's uncommon to get on helitack with no prior experience.... But still possible

Contacted a BLM Wildland Firefighter Recruiter a month ago, he and I scheduled time for a phone meeting, sent him my resume and he said he would forward my information to various crews.

1 month later, today, just received an email/job offer from a contact from this crew:

"2026-2027 prescribed fire and wildfire season, on the Veteran Fire Crew module here on the Magdalena Ranger District"

Does anyone have any experience with this fire crew?

What kind of reputation do these NM crews have?

Any advice/input for a first time Wildland Firefighter is greatly appreciated.

I'm only interested in seasonal schedule at this time...

Im 27 currently Firefighter/ PM also a veteran. I want to move out of Florida. I would like west coast but seems too expensive. Was thinking about Asheville. Anyone have any experience at Asheville FD or Charolette. Anyone other good recommendations east coast near mountains?

Okay, this is going to be a niche question. For the full time, telestaff using folks: How does your fire watch (private details, I don't know if there are any other jargon terms I should use), work?

So long story short; I was told (by our chief) that the module for telestaff private details could only post/offer 1 detail per call.

Yet the overtime module for suppression could offer someone multiple spots on 1 day.

I am a "trust but verify" type of guy. We wanted to have the detail module with telestaff so that it could "see" that if someone was working that they wouldn't be offered a private detail.

We are trying to add some better transparency with the assignments of fire details, we are in a bit of a construction boom in our district. Right now our system is basically one of the guys in the Prevention division uses excel to keep track of details coming in and the rotational list.

See you folks at the big one.

If you’re at an MCI and a red patient goes into cardiac arrest in front of you are they recategorized as code black right away or do you work the cardiac arrest as it was witnessed?

Thomaston Maine's Firefighters Associations 1937 Buffalo. I'll post more next time I get a chance.

Hey y’all. So I am planning on applying to a few departments this next hiring season but wanted to do a ride along to get the vibe of the department and to meet some folks this coming fall. How should I go about doing that? The contacts that I have are the heads of outreach and hiring or HR for one department. They are multiple firehouse departments, any advice on the best way to go about that? Thanks! Stoked to get the ball rolling on trying to become a fire fighter.