Florida Firefighter Schools

[Masterson]

I know the Florida State Fire College is ranked high, but does anyone know any other good fire schools in Florida? ( I heard St. Augustine was also a good one)

[FFRRobertson]

Lake Tech is a very good school too.

[LeatherHed4Life]

I say the fire college is the way to go, if your looking in NE Fl the one at FCCJ jacksonville minimum std's is pretty good. then st aug is a distant 3rd.

[rpferry]

Central Florida Fire academy and Seminole Community college academy are both good as well.

[LeatherHed4Life]

Central Florida Fire academy and Seminole Community college academy are both good as well.

oh yeah, i forgot about CFFA. they look pretty jam up too!

[RangerJake72]

Citrus County Fire Academy was very good, attended there last fall for my Fire One.. Also I believe there is Public Safety Academy in Fort Myers that teaches most of the fire/rescue classes

[Firemedic 61]

Broward Fire Academy is top notch. Stay away from Coral Springs' academy if you are coming down south.

[layinonair]

Take Seminole Community Colleges Day Class if you want to get whipped into shape and get some good knowledge at the same time.. they will mold you into a firefighter that anyone would want to hire! just my 2 cents haha.

[ctrlaltdelete]

I was going to be checking out the Florida fire college and the academy in Orlando, I hear Broward Fire Academy is really good, but I thought they have a long waiting list you have to have your emt certs, I could be wrong and hope others will correct me if wrong.

I was told by Florida fire college that they will be adding emt classes soon.

[GreenJT]

Indian River Community College (IRCC).

[Firemedic 61]

I hear Broward Fire Academy is really good, but I thought they have a long waiting list you have to have your emt certs, I could be wrong and hope others will correct me if wrong.

Yeah, forgot about that. The list was 2 years in '98 when I went. Here is a link for BFA.

http://www.bfa.edu/classes.php?id=54


Jeff, I'm glad to see you didn't mention PBCC.

[GreenJT]

You know the saying. If you dont have anything nice to say dont say anything at all. Thats all I will say about PBCC.

[rpferry]

You know the saying. If you dont have anything nice to say dont say anything at all. Thats all I will say about PBCC.

Is it really that bad? I'm honestly asking as I've never heard anything either way about the school.

[Dave1983]

St. Pete College has a good program as well. The training center is only a couple of years old and top notch. One of our former Chiefs (Jim Terry) runs the program.

Chief Terry is old school, and teaches more about the fire service then just what the state requires, if you know what I mean.

[Firemedic 61]

Is it really that bad? I'm honestly asking as I've never heard anything either way about the school.

In a word.........YES!!Not the fault of the instructors but, the Fire/EMS program is run pretty poorly as a whole. One of our volunteers who just finished told us the other shift that they don't even do PT every day any more. The quality of students has dropped off since PBCC took over the academy from the Vo-tec. Like their EMS program, the fire academy is looked at more as a money maker than anything else.

[GreenJT]

RPFerry- FireMedic61 phrased your answer in a more professional way than I think I could/would have. I will ditto his answer.

[rpferry]

Thats unfortunate to hear.

[brk2733]

If you don't mind me asking, just what is so wrong about PBCC? You both seem to feel pretty strongly against it so I'm just curious as to why? I saw the no more doing PT every day, but there has to be more then just that. Would you say the quality of students dropped because they aren't physically able or just not as practiced as from other academies or just don't know as much?

[Firemedic 61]

Like their EMS program, the PBCC fire academy has lowered and "dumbed down" their standards to get people through and collect their money. The instructors can't do anything about it apparently, and the state isn't helping. I have heard the hose drag portion of the "triple" has changed to dragging an uncharged line. Anyone else hear that? The fire academy has been made easier for certain reasons we all know already, but aren't allowed to talk about. The people I've tested during our pre-hire process from PBCC and Coral Springs(which is even worse) are cluless in the basics, let alone anything advanced. They are the fire academy equivelent to the "fast track medic mills" like FMTI. I'm afraid of what the future holds for us.

[ctrlaltdelete]

Firemedic 61,

Has this trend "The fire academy has been made easier for certain reasons" to places like FSFC and the academy in Orlando?