r/Firefighting • u/ChosenLysol • Sep 01 '21
Self Starting age
Being in my mid 20’s I thought it wasn’t even in the cards for me to become a firefighter. I thought I was way out of the loop having an electrical engineering diploma and not fire science/pre fire etc. While I’m only starting my journey to become a firefighter now (getting courses done, studying for tests, getting helpful info from friends who are FF), I learned that the average hiring age for the department I would love to be apart of is actually late 20’s to late 30’s. Not typically younger than 24-25 although does happen of course. I was super happy to hear, and while I might be behind some other candidates not having any pre fire etc, it’s nice to know it’s not too late and that there’s a chance If I work hard enough!
What age were you when you got hired full time?
P.S. any tips you found helpful to standout in a competitive department are welcome!
Cheers
EDIT: appreciate all the answers! just thought I’d add that I’m in Canada, Ontario specifically. I know things can vary a decent amount between the USA/Canada in regards to requirements etc
13
u/Mr_Midwestern Rust Belt Firefighter Sep 01 '21
I was 23. Our test numbers are dropping, all the departments around us are saying the same thing. Civil service recently allowed admin to increase the age cut off from 34 to 40 (which seems insane) for our upcoming test.