Wanting to Volunteer in Pasco County

I just moved to the area and am wanting to get back into fire/rescue. I'm attending PHCC to get my AS in EMS and become a paramedic. I'd like to volunteer with a station, preferably one that runs EMS, but I'm not sure who would be good for that. I've filled out the application from the Pasco County site to volunteer and it lists the station names, but not where they are or what they do. Do any of the volunteer stations provide EMS transport? I'm in Wesley Chapel, just off I-75 at route 54 (exit 279) if that helps any.

If I remember right, there were only two. One in Moon Lake (Hudson) and I want to say the other was near downtown NPR. I could be wrong about that one...

Do yourself a favor though: Do it all the way or dont do it at all. Work on getting a job as a fire-medic; with the location your in. Youve got good access to Pasco, Hillsborough and Tampa, and all the cities that make up Pinellas.

Im not ripping vollies in general, but Pasco county is big enough and well off enough that they can afford to outfit and maintain professionals. Doing the volley gig in a place that employs pro's will set you up for a career of frustrated unappreciation.

Double Post

I've still got a couple of years to go since I'm just getting ready to start this coming semester. Unfortunetly it's been long enough that all my old EMS cert's have long since expired. I do plan on doing it as a career, but with having no current certifications I've got a long way to go before I'm eligable to apply anywhere. That's partly why I was wanting to start volunteering again.

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Originally Posted by SkylinePCG

Doing the volley gig in a place that employs pro's will set you up for a career of frustrated unappreciation.

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Not everywhere brother





(Granted, I am not a volunteer anymore)

As a follow up question on all this, where do I find out about getting certified as FF2 in FL? I'm trying to figure out where I can go (and how much it'll cost) to get the training, but am not sure where exactly to look.

Well I remember seeing a list of fire school on the state website somewhere but can't seem to find it. But if your planning on going through a local fire departments fire 1 course the State fire college offers a fire 2 bridge course. https://floridastatefirecollege.org/public/pb_index.asp

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Originally Posted by Gilliduck

As a follow up question on all this, where do I find out about getting certified as FF2 in FL? I'm trying to figure out where I can go (and how much it'll cost) to get the training, but am not sure where exactly to look.

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look up pasco/hernando community college.. i believe they have an academy..
also look at Hillsborough community college.. i am not sure where either ones fire grounds are..

Hey i used to be a volunteer in pasco and i would suggest Station 28 off land o lakes blvd/hale rd, only station in the county that has its own coverage area. Lemme know I can get you in touch with the chief over there. We don't transport but you can ride with career rescue if your nice enough :P

He is trying to make it a full 24hr volunteer station so help him out!

Chief Gene Wright --> firegene45@yahoo.com

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Originally Posted by tydougherty

look up pasco/hernando community college.. i believe they have an academy..
also look at Hillsborough community college.. i am not sure where either ones fire grounds are..

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PHCC doesn't, that's where I'm going to get my EMT-P. Thanks for the info on HCC, finally found the info on their fire academy. Looks like I need to wait a while still though. Gotta get my EMT-B first before I can even become a firefighter now.

Have you looked into a challenge refresher? If you had the certs before and theyre just expired, I think you can sit through a week long refresher course with a couple tests and be good to go. Again, its been a while, but I recall that being an option.

I'm pretty sure I'm past the time limits on those. It's been 3ish years or so since my NREMT-B expired. My FF1 & 2 were through WV and don't meet the hours requirements for FL's training.

Gotcha... thought you had all FL stuff. Floridas great to be from, but not to go into. Theyre accepted everywhere, but accepts nobody.

Id recommend HCC; sign up now since theres (used to be anyway) a waiting list. Part time class is cake. i recall showing up one morning so gooned up I almost fell face first onto the pavement opening up the door to my truck... thats another story though.

Look them up, their academy is out of the Ybor campus. Sufficient facilities. Good staff... I take it back, GREAT staff. If Rusty, Jim and Big Andy are still teaching, youll have a MFing ball at that place. EMS, I still think the place to go would be St. Pete College. The two best in the business (best anywhere IMlessthanHO) have moved on to different opportunities, but youll still pick up more there than anywhere else. From Pasco, youre striking distance to both.

EMS training offers a lot more out of the initial program. Fire, youll learn alot more OTJ. Do what you got to do to get paid, but keep that in mind for when multiple opportunities present themselves.

I'm currently enrolled in PHCC (Pasc-Hernando Community College) for their AS in EMS. So I'll have my EMT-B by the end of this school year (taking it next semester) and be a paramedic by the end of next school year. From the looks of it, my clinical hours during my second year are going to take up pretty much my entire life, so I highly doubt I'll be able to squeeze in an extra set of classes at HCC. I might be able to do the part time academy there, but I'm not sure.