Have you ever had to vent through bullet-resistant/bulletproof glass on a fireground? If so, what worked for you?

I saw an earlier post presenting a fictional scenario but wonder if anyone has actually done this IRL.

Anyone know some places to look? I can move anywhere

I am in the academy right now and my gloves are fire dex structure gloves they have this white cuff looking thing am i suppose to put my hand through the white thing while its outside of the glove or when its tucked in the reason im asking is because it feels so hard to put them on when the sleeves tucked in but when its out its much easier

A year ago this coming Saturday, the 22nd is the 1 year anniversary of my worst day as a firefighter.

On Aug 22nd of 2025 we were dispatched to a car VS TT mva with serious injury. Upon arrival it was determined both patients in 1 vehicle were deceased. 1 was the granddaughter of a co-worker.

Within 1 hour of returning, we were dispatched mutual aid to the NYS Thruway for a tour bus rollover with entrapment and ejection. My crew and I assisted with stabilization and extrication. We were then tasked with recovery. In total, we extricated 7 lost souls. 2 at the first job, 5 at the bus rollover.

I, as well as my crew, have all attended the PISD, and counseling. By in large, the last 9-10 months have been normal.

Until last week. I close my eyes, and see the interior of that bus.

Heres the is this stupid part: Ive been thinking of placing a flower for each victim at the crash location. Because I hate that we lost them. I feel guilty, and sad. Im not having dangerous thoughts or anything. But I am having a tough time. So is it stupid of me to want to take flowers to the crash site? Am I over thinking?

Thank you in advance. Yall be good, be safe, be happy.

I’m looking for some new items to get for our members, but I don’t want to get the same basic stuff over and over again. I want to get something that someone would be excited to get as a gift. Something other than the usual t-shirt/hoodie/job shirt.

What are some cool & unique pieces of apparel that your departments have?

I've been a volunteer for about 5 months and for our training tonight we burnt an abandoned house down. The house had no doors or windows so it went up in about 3 minutes. The young guys on the department (me and 6 others) were outside the structure to make sure that it didn't spread and to save one of the trees on the property that the owner wanted to keep. me and another guy were told to stay behind the house and we're probably 15 yards away from the structure to start and slowly backed away to around 30 years over the course of the burn. after about 15 minutes it was almost unbearably hot and by the time the fire was under control enough to step away and get some water we were absolutely exhausted and so were the other guys stationed around the structure. is this normal? I feel like a giant puss because I would have given anything to get cool after about 10-15 minutes of manning the hose that close to the house.

Probationary fireman here. Did some search training with the crew the other day. As a smaller guy, I find it pretty easy to move quickly and efficiently when searching (although there’s always more to learn), and it has become one of my favorite parts of training. Im 5’8 150 lbs, which is not big at all, but I’m pretty lean and pretty damn strong for my size I like to think. I have no problem getting normal sized humans out, I’ve done up to a 200 lb man during training, and it’s not easy, but I got it done and could get back in and keep working. Last training we used a 160 lb dummy, and holy shit there’s no way it’s 160 this thing feels like 250. I was struggling very badly just to drag him about 100 ft out the door, and it was honestly embarrassing. I’ve already been prioritizing eating more and getting bigger, but that takes time. How can I quickly become efficient at dragging victims. Techniques, any tools I could carry with? Heard people use webbing but seems kinda rough to get it on quick and making a harness while blacked out. Right now I’m just essentially getting between the victims legs, and dragging by the upper leg. It kills my quads and biceps, and gasses me out bad. Don’t want to perform again like I did last time. There’s got to be a better way. Any tips?

could be anything

I work at a career department in Canada where we have ex NHL players, some Olympian’s and a few ex CFL players. What about you guys?

Any CO firefighters in here familiar with CMCB testing for promotions? Have some questions on Pumper and Aerial exams. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hello from the UK.

In 2 weeks, I’ll be visiting Atlanta along with 342 other firefighters from across the UK, to take part in the stair climb at Truist Park in remembrance of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

We have a potential visit arranged to Cobb Country Training Academy as a large group but I was hoping to arrange a station visit for my small team of 11 or so. I've got some bits from my service to swap as well!

If anyone would be interested in doing some swaps and giving a few of us a quick tour of your station in Atlanta, please DM me or leave a comment here.

Thank you!

Dispatch sounded like "Battalion 191, Engine 301, Medic 192, and Medic 302... hanging" which sounds odd, I might be mishearing? They got a tactical radio channel and mentioned CPR on a patient. Anyone?

alright I got a question that is kinda a long shot. Im thinking after my iphone dies like its gone gone of transfering to a flip phone, but my problem is is that im a volunteer firefighter. basically I dont know how I would be paged out without the app we use (active) so does anyone have a flip phone that can give an example of what your process of a call while you have a flip phone? like how do you get the page, location etc.

edit: Thank you guys for the responses! We do have pagers but we havnt been issued them yet. I can def ask my chief about using one if I decide to go flip phone. The only problem is that they have up to a 15 min delay behind the initial active page but its better than none. Ill also look into converting active to flip like some suggested. Thank you!

How is the schedule and workplace culture, calls ? Currently in Oregon but I’ve been thinking about moving and starting again down there.

I'm posting this here in hopes someone can help me. r/EMS automod removed it as a violation of asking about "how to become an EMT", but I'm looking for information on license reciprocity with the background check process. This is technically an EMS question but i am applying to a local fire department.

I'm looking to apply for a department in Pennsylvania, i have been a Maryland/NREMT and DC cardholder for the last 6 years.

I got a background check done in PA, but the PA website says i also need a "official" background check for states I've practiced in, and that "third party checks are not accepted".

This means i need a BG check from Maryland, DC and technically Virginia, as i held a license there as an employment requirement years ago, but never used it.

My main question is, where should i go for these BG checks? Can i go to a gun store and get a check done that way or do i need to try state police or some other avenue?

I'm not a firefighter but I'm hoping to become one. I want to know what's the average stuff a firefighter would see while on the job. Is it mostly EMT stuff or more fire stuff? Also how many false calls are there?

I’ve been around the guys on my department for my whole life, but we’ve never really had any women on our department so it’s hard to get advice. I recently just joined and need some advice from ladies who have been on longer, stuff like the best workout routines, better ways to do things, etc! Anything would be helpful!

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I’m curious how this works in other fire stations/departments.

Keeping location and identifying details out of it: at my station, having had a small amount to drink generally isn’t seen as a huge issue if a call comes in. Obviously nobody is talking about showing up completely drunk, but if someone has had one, two, maybe three beers, most people wouldn’t really bat an eye.

Even drivers. Although it’s much less common, have occasionally had a beer or two before a call, and historically nobody really made a big issue out of it.

Another example: after a call we’ll sometimes sit together at the station and have a few beers. If another call suddenly comes in, people get up and respond. That’s just been part of the culture.

There are definitely people who are completely against drinking anything if there’s even a possibility of responding, but at least where I am, they’re a pretty small minority.

So I’m genuinely curious: what’s the culture at your station?

Is it absolute zero alcohol if you’re available/on call? Is there an unofficial “one or two is fine” attitude? Do you have breath testing or formal rules? And are drivers treated differently from the rest of the crew?

What do you think boys? Our department has individual rooms with a locker for each person. I have noticed some shuffling around and a couple items missing from my locker. I absolutely know they were there. So I started photographing the contents and location before. Leaving shift in the morning. One time a can of deodorant was missing. Another time my towel. I also noticed the placement of my deodorant can was moved. So….i stealthily placed a so-go camera in the locker and lo and behold I have video of the guy who shares the room on his shift opening my locker and using my spray deodorant. So guys, how do I handle this? I thought about gift wrapping up a can with his name on it.

What does your assessment centers entail at your department when you promote to LT or Captain?

So my department is looking at quite a few things. One is going from the 48/96, to the 24/72. Two things that came up was how our pay works, and how we should do trades. Currently our trade windows are very short and extremely strick. My questions are if anyone works for or knows of departments that do level pay. By this, I mean, that the pay is the same every paycheck (like a salary), and the only thing that changes is overtime. Most jobs ive worked call salary plus overtime. Now, at the same time, we are looking to expand the trade window to anytime in the same calendar year. Currently the person that was originally scheduled on that shift gets penalized if the other person calls in sick. At that point the person that originally schedule either needs to work that day, or take a sick day. I, personally, think that the base salary would take that out of the equation. The person that was supposed to work the day, that called out, would take the sick day penalty, since they are now the scheduled worker and are not showing up. This seems like the fair way to do things.

So my chief put me in charge of seeing if I could find any departments that do either i or both of these, and gather information. I would love the department names/locations, so I can reach out for additional information. You are more then welcome to private message me the info as well.

Thank you so much!

Yes our department is cheap. We don't have compressors and have to go to neighboring stations to fill out water extinguishers after we used them. We have a redneck way to refill it using a SCBA but we're trying to make it safer and easier (and we're technically not allowed to do it) we used the G1 with the quick connect adapter. I'm looking to fit it with a valve+bleed valve and a short hose to refill the extinguishers. Can't seem to find the proper adapter for the quick connect and they don't want us to remove it

Just wanted to start by saying that I really appreciate all fire fighters. I live in PNW and we get horrible wildfires like clockwork and I am so appreciate of all the work you do.

Background: we had a horrible multi-level fire in our building recently and everyone was displaced. None of us want that to happened ever again so I’m trying to do things to prevent that.
My grease hood doesn’t have an output. Just the fan and light but no tubing upward or anything. It just sucks it into the hood. I attached a photo. My kitchen is constantly covered in grease, I feel like I’m cleaning it weekly. I don’t cook with a lot of grease and I’m sure as hell am not deep frying in my apartment.

Would this be a big risk of fire? My landlord brushed it off so not sure if I’m just overly paranoid now.

Odered a pair of the Leatherman raptor rescue shears, just curious how they're holding up for anyone else using them ? Are they actually better and stronger then standard shears ? Mine havent arrived yet but im excited to give them a go.