K.C. area departments

[t2guinness]

To anyone with input,
I am a career FF in GA and am needing to relocate to my hometown of KC. I have put in at a few departments in the area and have been told I need to pass the written and the CPAT before continuing. I have completed both before, but it was for the department I'm on. From my understanding The KC area uses a general entrance exam and CPAT, but I'm having a hard time finding out which ones and where to get them. If anyones got any advice, I would love to hear it.
Thanks,
t2guinness

[chingon]

Johnson County Community College has both CPAT and entrance exam.

Blue River Community College has at least the CPAT, maybe an entrance exam as well.

Some places might require Firefighter 1 and 2 which are widely available both here and in GA, and I think are pretty much universal or reciprocal between states, just like EMT-B. There are probably 30+ FD's in the metro, so I don't really know who requires what but most of the pre-hire Fire and EMS training and requirements for suburban departments goes through one of those two institutions, I believe.

[truckman125]

I, too, am looking to relocate to the KC area. I'm currently on a larger department in the South Central Kansas area, so would love to be able to keep my K,P & F. Would like to know more about the KC metro departments? Tell me what the pros/cons are of them? Anyone have lateral moves? Anyone of them growing looking to hire in the near future? Thanks!

[htruckee]

In Johnson County it looks like Lenexa is hiring right now. I am not sure if its a list or actually filling or adding positions. Lenexa has 4 houses, I think they are possibly going to be building a 5th not sure though with the economy the way it is. At the moment they use the Quint concept but thatll be leaving here shortly with 2 new Engines soon to be delivered. Thatll give them 2 Engines, 3 Quints and 3 BLS ambulances. Not real sure about their day to day stuff or some of their SOPs.

Merriam plans on hiring 2 in July. Merriam is landlocked but has 2 large commercial developments going in to the city. Its kind of slow going right now due to the economy but one day itll be filled. They are 1 house, a Engine & a Truck. They currently staff 3 & 3 but they will fall to 3 on the Engine & 2 on the Truck. Once these new hires get put in too play theyll have 7 per shift with minimum of 6 on each day.

KCKFD & KCMO hire every now again its pretty much a set deal, and with every big city it varies on how many they take from the list. Most departments on the MO side seem to be going with medics in the metro area and in KS being an EMT you can still find work in the KC metro. With the other depts in the area youll probably see more filling vacant spots then adding people until the economy gets fixed. If you have anymore questions about run stats or to the operational level let me know Ill try and find an answer.

[truckman125]

htruckee,

just wanted to say thank you for the insight and info. Gotta love the brotherhood! Stay safe and do the job.

truckman125

[t2guinness]

evey little bit of info helps, if you here anything else develop i would be thankfull to here it.

[t2guinness]

man, it can be tough getting any advice about the KC area departments around here. Thanks for the input. Any furthur information would be very appreciated.
t2guinness

[chingon]

Most of the KS suburban departments are KP&F. Most of them require a valid CPAT and some require that standardized entrance exam that Johnson County and other Community Colleges offer before you apply or as a condition of hire.

Kansas City, Kansas Fire is by far the busiest, and the only KS-side metro department with any true urban area, although they also have plenty of suburban areas within their jurisdiction, if that's more your speed. They are also the only one with a residency requirement so far as I know. I don't know if they have KP&F or their own pension. But I can say that KCKFD has got to be the best department to work for in the State, in my opinion.

Many of the suburban departments pay quite well, and the firefighters I know from JoCo departments speak highly of Northeast Johnson County Consolidated District 2 (which I think might absorb Merriam FD in the next few years), Overland Park FD(which is the biggest of the KS side suburbs in terms of population) and Olathe FD.

Other departments in Johnson County tend to have more mixed reviews in terms of employee satisfaction/happiness. Take that with a grain of salt, of course, I am biased towards a certain kind of fire department atmosphere, and you might be looking for something else entirely.

[t2guinness]

Thanks for the info, I grew up there, but its been a few years and 1500 miles since the last visit, and its harder to get information over the internet than I thought it would be. If you hear anything else let me know.
thanks again

[Jake88]

Does anyone know much about Lenexa Fire Dept? Good? Bad?