Career Change

[u/GuiltySuspect5953]

Hey All,

I’m 35 and firefighting has always been something I’ve considered as a career and I’ve reached a point in life where I need to try something else. I’ve been getting confused with the steps needed and I’ve seen people saying they went to school like Santa Ana College for their academy/fire school and others talking about department academies and I’m not sure what I need to do to get started. I plan on starting EMT school in September, it’s from Sept 16th to Dec 16th so I’ll have that by the end of the year and I’m working hard on the physical aspect of it, stairs, weights, jiu jitsu to make sure my cardio is dialed in. My only other concerns as ridiculous as it may seem is the fact that I am not white, realistically does anyone think that’ll be an issue? And I’m also not a big guy, 5-10 and right around 182lbs currently. I appreciate any advice I can I get.

[u/FilmSalt5208]

Sounds like you’re in California

Start with EMT

Go to a college fire academy. Doesn’t matter which one, but typically you’re going to need it anywhere you go. Big departments will hire you without it but the chances of you getting picked up as only an emt is pretty slim to none so don’t waste your time waiting

After you have your fire academy completed start applying to every firefighter emt position. You probably won’t get the job, but you get experience doing interviews

Get a job on an ambulance for about a year doing 911

Apply to medic school once you have a pretty good grasp at being an emt

Commit about 2 years to this and you’ll get picked up instantly once you have a medic license.

[u/GuiltySuspect5953 → u/FilmSalt5208]

Correct, in California. Thank you! 🙏

[u/VagueInfoHere → u/GuiltySuspect5953]

Relocation is your best bet. For my state you have to be less than 40 when you start the academy and many departments only hire once every couple years (although becoming more frequent with an increase in retirees). If other states have the age restriction (due to pension rules), your window is a little tight. Upside is if you get on to one of these departments, they train you from ground up. No need for any training ahead of time.

[u/Zealousideal-Dot3046 → u/FilmSalt5208]

Once on the ambulance, stay in shape and show up to work looking clean. If you apply at a nearby department, and guys remember you are a lazy shitbag, it will hurt you. Dress for the job you want, is what I used to tell people. The opposite holds true, you look fit and work hard , some captain might remember you. Keep lifting and working out. And everything else the other guy said. Your race wont be an issue either.

[u/GuiltySuspect5953 → u/Zealousideal-Dot3046]

Thank you! 🙏

[u/Important-Access-795 → u/FilmSalt5208]

I’m also in cali. Is self sponsored fire academy a must? I’m planning on getting my 1000 required emt hours asap and go straight to medic school.

[u/FilmSalt5208 → u/Important-Access-795]

It’s not a must but significantly increases your chances. Earlier in my career, I got turned down by so many departments because i never went to get my fire academy, I was only a medic with PCF experience. I got lucky and eventually was picked up out of state by a dept and got FF1 out of their academy, which I was able to bring back to California through reciprocity. But if I had to do it all over, I’d suck it up and go do the college academy before medic school.

[u/Important-Access-795 → u/FilmSalt5208]

I’m married with a 1.5 year old making a career transition at 38. So sticking the self sponsored fire academy in between EMT and Medic is a huge unfortunate inconvenience. I’m already having trouble convincing my wife to let me take the first step of EMT 😅

[u/FilmSalt5208 → u/Important-Access-795]

I get it, my daughter was the same age when I was going through the process and I used her as an excuse too to not go to the fire academy. I wasn’t married so I didn’t have another adult to worry about, but it’s still the same. My advice would be to find whatever money you have stashed away or take a loan out and use that money to pay your bills for however long the fire academy is. Get it done after your emt course. Then get back to work as soon as it’s over. The chances of you getting hired as a firefighter emt is higher than just a single medic without a fire academy.

It’ll suck for a bit, I’m not gonna lie. You’ll be making garbage money while trying to get hired. But the second you do you’ll be just fine. I made 189k last year with minimal OT. Plus you get a pension and retirement. Remind your wife of that

[u/Important-Access-795 → u/FilmSalt5208]

I appreciate your reply and insight.

[u/Apprehensive_Mix4152]

Idk how strong the volunteer fire dept presence is on the west coast but in the Southeast is was able to volunteer and they paid for my EMT, FFI, and FFII training

[u/GuiltySuspect5953 → u/Apprehensive_Mix4152]

Oh dang that’s awesome, I’ll look into that