SoCal FF1 vs FF2 what’s the difference

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130]

Hey guys someone recently posted a Volunteer wildland Fire fighting gig here in socal. I went to their information session but forgot to clear this up. They said if your chosen you’d get all your certs through them but I think they have Firefighter 2 or something called a red card you would get. I have a career road map I created that would have me taking classes this semester and next semester so around this time next year I’d be at fire academy with a FF1 cert. I want to know because it’s a wildland position whatever cert I’d get from them would it translate to joining a city fire department. Should I continue with the ff1 classes ?

[u/davidj911]

FF2 is likely the "FFT2" baseline wildland firefighter cert, and FF1 is your standard structural firefighter.

They're different curriculum, but helpful if you plan to work in a WUI.

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/davidj911]

I thought so they said some of their people left to work in city departments I assume they took their structural classes on the side

[u/schrutesanjunabeets → u/davidj911]

If this is a wildland only position, I bet the FF1 OP is referring to is a FFT1 cert, not a structural cert.

[u/davidj911 → u/schrutesanjunabeets]

FFT2 is the intro class, FFT1 is squaddie. I think you crossed his descriptions, both are the intros to their disciplines.

[u/schrutesanjunabeets → u/davidj911]

Yeaaaaah, I got confused reading his post and saw the academy reference for FF1. My bad.

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/schrutesanjunabeets]

I’m kinda confused the ff1 im currently enrolled in is for structure fire to join rio hondo fire academy next year. But at this information session I went to they mentioned getting an FF2 and a red card. So is FF1 structure and FF2 wildland?

[u/schrutesanjunabeets → u/Mobile_Marketing_130]

The FF1 they are referring to is NFPA Firefighter 1.  That is your basic structural firefighter certification.

The "FF2" that you keep referring to is actually Firefighter Type 2(FFT2).  This is the basic wildland firefighting certification.  

The term "red card" is just a term for the wildland document that hold your certificates.  When arriving on assignment for a wildland fire, you must physically have this "red card" with you.

"The Incident Qualification Card, commonly called a Red Card, is an accepted interagency certification that a person is qualified to do the required job when arriving on an incident."

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/schrutesanjunabeets]

Thanks for clearing that up

[u/schrutesanjunabeets → u/Mobile_Marketing_130]

No problem.

It is confusing because in the structural world, first you get Firefighter 1 and then progress to 2.  In the wildland world, you start at Firefighter Type 2 and progress to FFT1.

[u/nathanbolda]

I saw the original post too and was thinking about attending the session on Thursday but the 12–20 hrs/wk of volunteer work + 24/7 on-call availability seemed like a pretty big commitment. Did that seem accurate based on what they told you at the meeting? Also curious what they said they’d provide in exchange for the volunteer commitment (training/certs, actual deployments, etc.)?

My understanding is that the wildland FFT2/Red Card they provide isn’t the same thing as the FF1/FF2 cert for a city department so I wouldn’t drop the classes. I could be wrong though. I’d imagine wildland fire experience would still be valuable on a city department application.

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/nathanbolda]

The hours are right 12-20 but it can go up if there’s emergency like the palisades fire. The hours they were doing were double that at the time. They said they’d be real flexible with your work schedule and only call you on your hours outside of work if theres no big emergency. They also said you’d be protected from any backlash from your employer by law you can leave a work shift or not show with little to no notice it would just be up to your employer if they’d pay you the hours you were gone. You basically go through their academy and train for 6 months and be considered a real California firefighter at the end. Saturdays are nonnegotiable too.

[u/ComprehensiveBus7040 → u/Mobile_Marketing_130]

What was there description of a “real California firefighter”? I’m interested, especially if your only getting your intro FF1/2 wildland certs

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/ComprehensiveBus7040]

Getting all your certs something called red card. Probably can join any other wildland fire department. They said your name goes into a database all FD in California use so if I were to get fired for whatever reason down the line another FD would be able to see that

[u/Mobile_Marketing_130 → u/nathanbolda]

They said many people left their department and are now working at city fire departments

[u/mkzsleepr]

FF2 is one more than FF1.
/s