Question about Prince Georges County Fire Dept.

[NFD1957]

I have a few questions about pg county fire. 1 do guys have losap, in which guys get paid a small stipend for their service? 2. are there any fire companies that are paid in the county and not volunteer? what are the circumstances regarding "live in's"? Would training certifications from NJ be transferable to MD or would i have to go and retake classes in the pg fire academy. I am looking into the future for a job as a career firefighter but first i am going to college in 2 years and then i am going to search around after college. Here in NJ i am limited to a few major cities such as Newark, jersey city, North Hudson, Trenton, Camden and New Brunswick. all the smaller cities that i know of require residency in their town. A few guys on my dept. have told me to take a look into pg county since they have served there during their college years and said it was awesome.

[hwoods]

I have a few questions about pg county fire. 1 do guys have losap, in which guys get paid a small stipend for their service? 2. are there any fire companies that are paid in the county and not volunteer? what are the circumstances regarding "live in's"? Would training certifications from NJ be transferable to MD or would i have to go and retake classes in the pg fire academy. I am looking into the future for a job as a career firefighter but first i am going to college in 2 years and then i am going to search around after college. Here in NJ i am limited to a few major cities such as Newark, jersey city, North Hudson, Trenton, Camden and New Brunswick. all the smaller cities that i know of require residency in their town. A few guys on my dept. have told me to take a look into pg county since they have served there during their college years and said it was awesome.

1. Yes. After Twenty Five Years of Active Service, And reaching Fifty Five years old, you are elegible for a payment of $250.00 per month, for life. Each additional year over 25 gets you another $4.00/month

2. There are Three Totally Volunteer Stations, Two Totally Paid Stations, and the rest (40) are staffed by both Volunteer and Career. Some stations have Career Around the clock, others have Career coverage only on "Day Work" (Weekdays, 0700-1500)

3. Live in policies vary from station to station. You should look around the area, ask questions, etc. You can't dio this by mail, you need to physically vist the County, In Person, to find the answers to most of your questions.

4. Requests for Training Equivalency are made to the Fire Commission, who determines whether your training AS DOCUMENTED meets our standards. TIP: Get National Pro Board Certs for whatever Training you have. EMT-B will be the hardest to match up.

5. Becoming a Volunteer in our system is time consuming. DO NOT plan on showing up at a Station here, and riding the Apparatus in the following week. You will be about a month to Six Weeks AT BEST, getting to where you can ride.

Now, a bit of Advice: IF you are not serious about this, don't bother. We get a lot of inquiries from people who think we're the greatest thing since sliced bread, but few of them actually make it here. Another Point - EMT Training. If you want to be a "Fireman" and not do EMS, Stay Home. We REQUIRE EMT-B Training of Every Member, and as an EMT as well as being a new guy, you WILL be on the Ambulance a lot for the first year or so.

Almost missed this one: Residency - We DO NOT have any Residency Requirements and never will. In our opinion down this way, Residency requirements should be declared Unconstitutional. They are useless and downright STUPID.

[MikeWard]

NFD1957:

Division Chief Woods has provided the straight scoop on PG.

As a former PG live-in/University of Maryland student, let me make a different suggestion.

If your parents want you to go to college, why don't you plan to attend a university while participating as a volunteer firefighter?

The goal is to complete a four year degree while developing firefighter experiences. As Chief Woods pointed out, a lot of that experience will be on an ambulance. Oh, there are no emergency lights/sirens allowed on your personal vehicle in PG.

If expenses are an issue, you can take your first two years of course work at the local community college and then transfer to the fire technology programs at Eastern Kentucky University, Oklahoma State University, UNC Charlotte or University of New Haven. Some of these places have a formal or informal arrangements with the local volunteer departments.

If you are great in math and science, consider the University of Maryland Fire Protection Engineering program at College Park.

The John Jay College in New York City has an outstanding fire science program that is aimed at existing firefighters. With 10,000 FDNY members needing college credits for promotion, there are some New Jersey colleges that have ramped-up their fire science programs.

Here is a reality check: big city fire departments do not care what type of experience you have as a volunteer. You have the same chances of getting hired after four years of being a volunteer in PG as the guy next to you with a four year degree.

Except that, generally, the guy with the degree will move quicker through the ranks and be able to work at much better paying part-time gigs.

Good luck!

Mike

Michael Ward
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
The George Washington University
(see what can happen when you let a firefighter go to a university )

retired Captain II/paramedic - Fairfax County Fire & Rescue
author: Fire Officer: Principles and Practice (NFPA/Jones and Bartlett)

[NFD1957]

i have thought about going to the university of maryland for fire engineering. if you are a live in at the college park fire co. is that for 1/2 a year, 1 year or all 4 years? what was the average class size for fire protection engineering courses?

i know that being a volunteer won't help much because i would need to go through that dept's. academy.

[hwoods]

Prof. Ward, Thank You. Where can I buy an Autographed copy of the book??

[MikeWard]

Harve, I will personally deliver a signed SECOND EDITION to you when it comes out next year! It will comply with the 2009 edition of NFPA 1021 for Fire Officer I and II.

FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERING @ UM COLLEGE PARK

Note to prospective students:
http://www.fpe.umd.edu/prospective/index.html

http://www.enfp.umd.edu/

COLLEGE PARK VFD "SACKROOM"

http://www.cpvfd.org/sackroom.php

[clark918]

I am not a live-in yet. I currently work part-time in Milwaukee County. However, I've been looking at becoming a live-in out there. Even though I'd be losing my paid jobs here, I LOVED PGFD when I visited. I visited Co 8(Seat Pleasant) and Co 1(Hyattsville). I also spent the night at Co 1 the second time last weekend before the DCFD test. Everyone that I met was great.

With PGFD, you have to remember, this isn't a normal volly dept. This was ranked the 12th busiest fire department in the country for 2007 by Firehouse Magazine. They are busier than most major cities. These guys don't respond from home to the three fires that they get every year. They are fully staffed at the station and out the door in seconds.

Co 8 that I visited runs an average of one working fire every three days. They have run over 5000 calls so far this year. Co 1 is a little slower, but they only have daytime career guys. They still see plenty of action and would probably be better for a college student since it's near UMD and has several already living there.

I'm most likely going to become a live-in at Co 1 in January unless I get picked up by a full-time department before then. It can be competitive to get a spot depending where you go. They don't HAVE to accept you. Several places told me that they "lose" applications once in awhile.

Good luck and hwoods should have a lot of great advice to give if you need some.

[cap6888]

I am not a live-in yet. I currently work part-time in Milwaukee County. However, I've been looking at becoming a live-in out there. Even though I'd be losing my paid jobs here, I LOVED PGFD when I visited.

Ummmm, not for nothing, but you are giving up a job to become a volunteer?

[Just a new name]

Just a heads up to you. All of the NJ departments you listed require residency.

[LADDER2EKU]

If expenses are an issue, you can take your first two years of course work at the local community college and then transfer to the fire technology programs at Eastern Kentucky University

At EKU you also have the oppurtunity to Co-Op with the Richmond Fire/Rescue Department. This is an excellent program where current students are used as supplemental staffing for the RFD while still going to class. You work the same 24/48 schedule as the rest of the department except for the days that you have class you just leave work for the hour or how ever long your class is. When class is over, you came back to work.

Most fire service certifications will transfer over as long as it is IFSAC or Proboard. After being accepted into the program you complete an 8 hour department orientation and then are given a yellow fire helmet. This means that you are exterior only. After completing an additional 24 hours worth of training you are issued a Maroon helmet and are now released to perform all fireground functions.

You also get paid. While its not a lot ($200 a month) your still essentially getting paid to ride fire trucks and go to class. It's a pretty sweet deal. I just got accepted to the program and can't wait to start later this week.

[clark918]

Ummmm, not for nothing, but you are giving up a job to become a volunteer?

I don't make THAT much money here. One is POC and the other is part-time.