Advice for pursuing a career in Fire Fighting

Hey guys, I'm Austin, a 17 year old senior who is highly interested in fire fighting. I've been looking into fire fighting for a while and it is, by far, the career choice im interested in the most. Fire fighting is the most appealing to me over any other career. I've been thinking about getting an associates degree in EMT, to get a paramedic certificate. I've heard that a paramedic certificate can really help you land a job. Also, it can serve as a backup plan and I can possibly have a job as a paramedic for experience and income, while trying to land a job in a fire department. I'm also thinking of getting an associates degree in fire science. Fire science, I would imagine, is a must have. All I know about fire fighting is based off websites and articles online. So because of this, I'm guessing there are alot of unsaid tips that are more indept and personal than a public article. Please, I would really appreciate feedback from the guys that do this job on a daily bases. Any feedback and advice, from what degrees I should look into, What is most sought after by fire fighter recruiters, and ways to stand out from the croud to personal experience of your own that can help me out will be highly appreciated. I want to soak up as much info. as possible, and if I can gain any legitament tips on how to prepare for fire fighting from the men who do the job, that would be awesome. I'm here to learn!! - Thanks, Austin

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Originally Posted by Arteg

Hey guys, I'm Austin, a 17 year old senior who is highly interested in fire fighting. I've been looking into fire fighting for a while and it is, by far, the career choice im interested in the most. Fire fighting is the most appealing to me over any other career. I've been thinking about getting an associates degree in EMT, to get a paramedic certificate. I've heard that a paramedic certificate can really help you land a job. Also, it can serve as a backup plan and I can possibly have a job as a paramedic for experience and income, while trying to land a job in a fire department. I'm also thinking of getting an associates degree in fire science. Fire science, I would imagine, is a must have. All I know about fire fighting is based off websites and articles online. So because of this, I'm guessing there are alot of unsaid tips that are more indept and personal than a public article. Please, I would really appreciate feedback from the guys that do this job on a daily bases. Any feedback and advice, from what degrees I should look into, What is most sought after by fire fighter recruiters, and ways to stand out from the croud to personal experience of your own that can help me out will be highly appreciated. I want to soak up as much info. as possible, and if I can gain any legitament tips on how to prepare for fire fighting from the men who do the job, that would be awesome. I'm here to learn!! - Thanks, Austin

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OK Art!! First things first; graduate from school first!! No s%*t right!!! But in the meantime, look for a program for youth that will give you more exposure to the FD. The Explorer Program is an excellent program that prepares young men and women for a fire service career. Don't know if you're in/near a large community or not. But most large departments have some type of Explorer program. Go to your local FD and find out. if you're in a small community, start looking at opportunities to be a volunteer firefighter. Some "volly" programs will allow young people your age to get on. If you have a community college near you that has an EMT program, if you don't have a full schedule next semester, most colleges will allow you to take EMT for either college or high school credit. Yes!! Paramedic training is a good way to position yourself for a firefighting career. BUT, is it a silver bullet?? Not all by itself!! Once you get out of school, it's going to take some focused preparation and much diligence on your part to get ready for the fire department oral interview. That's where the rubber meets the road!!

"The Axeman"
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"Purpose, Truth and Passion Yields POWER AND DOMINION IN ACTION!!!"

Thx!!!! As far as where I live, I live about 30 minutes north of cincinatti. I have looked into a school that has both EMT and FIRE SCIENCE, and it would be in cinci. As far as volunteering, i didn't really suspect someone my age with no type of experience of that means could volunteer yet for a FD. Thx a bunch though, I really appreciate it!!! I will for sure take your advice though. Just one more question though, so would working towards an EMT certificate FIRST, then taking FIRE SCIENCE would be a great route to take? Because my first thoughts were doing EMT first because i would imagine it is less competitive to land a paramedic job than in a FD. So i could be able to get paramedic experience while I'm taking Fire Science and by the time I'm through with Fire Science, I can ammediatly start applying with paramedic experience already at hand? So would that really matter, or is there a better way to go about things? Like i said before though, i will look into volunteer work, thx a lot AXEMAN!! You're awesome! - Austin

sent u a PM ARTEG.

Advice for texas

Get paramedic

Get Texas firefighter certified

Before you do anything else

If you check the commission web site you will see most want ff cert and either emt or paramedic


http://www.tcfp.state.tx.us/employment.asp


Then go for fire science degree

thx!! well i sort of know what to do to get an paramedic certificate, but i dont know much about a fire fighting certificate. What do I have to do to get a fire fighting certificate?

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Originally Posted by Arteg

Thx!!!! As far as where I live, I live about 30 minutes north of cincinatti. I have looked into a school that has both EMT and FIRE SCIENCE, and it would be in cinci. As far as volunteering, i didn't really suspect someone my age with no type of experience of that means could volunteer yet for a FD. Thx a bunch though, I really appreciate it!!! I will for sure take your advice though. Just one more question though, so would working towards an EMT certificate FIRST, then taking FIRE SCIENCE would be a great route to take? Because my first thoughts were doing EMT first because i would imagine it is less competitive to land a paramedic job than in a FD. So i could be able to get paramedic experience while I'm taking Fire Science and by the time I'm through with Fire Science, I can ammediatly start applying with paramedic experience already at hand? So would that really matter, or is there a better way to go about things? Like i said before though, i will look into volunteer work, thx a lot AXEMAN!! You're awesome! - Austin

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Art, look for "and" solutions rather than "or" solutions. It's possible for you to schedule yourself to complete both fire science classes "AND" EMT at the same time, instead of EMT "OR" fire science. I did this in my last year of high school. I took EMT and one Fire Tech 101 (Intro. to Fire Science) class in my senior year of high school. EMT and fire science are not necessarily stand alone programs. In fact in your community, the EMT curriculum may be under the fire science program. Don't think of them as exclusive to each other. Especially since they are part and parcel to what you're pursuing.

Now, you need to know that EMT can be a challenge if you've never had any exposure to the material, however, it's not rocket science; you can do it!! As I said in my original post, paramedic training and experience would be an excellent way to position yourself for a firefighting career. As far as getting a firefighter certificate, I wouldn't worry about it personally. You're going to be more competitive with a paramedic certification. Besides, everyone's gonna have fire science (which is not bad) under their belt, BUT not everyone is going to have a paramedic cert.

Start taking tests everywhere and anywhere you can. This is going to get you engaged in the process and refine the ever so important: Oral Interview. This kills a lot of guys. They get so caught up in getting all the 'merit badges", firefighter certifications; hazmat certifications; then paramedic certification. They take every class known to man. Then they get to the oral interview and like an impotent guy that gets the babe back to the hotel room; they can't close the deal! They completely meltdown!! The reason is a complete lack of preparation and knowing how to package all those certifications and experience. Orals are usually weighted 100%. It's "do or die", and like the hotel scenario, the only "blue pill" is preparation and practice!

The take away from all this is that you can pursue all the certs you want. But nothing is going substitute for getting the practice of taking tests, refining your ability to perform well on oral interviews and packaging yourself well, regardless of experience and certifications.

"The Axeman"
____________
"Purpose, Truth and Passion Yields POWER AND DOMINION IN ACTION!!!"

Thanks to everyone for the feed back and advice so far!! All of yall's suggestions have really helped me out a lot. -Axeman, thanks for that last post. It really got through to me. I actually have looked into a school (SINCLAIR, Mason Ohio), thanks to nairB, which offers, like you said a program that is EMT based with FIRE SCIENCE mixed in with it. My local FD does have an explorer program that i will be getting more info. on. I've looked into a thread about Interviewing advice and I won't forget to work on it before i actually start applying.

The only other question I really have is how to prepare for the testing? I would think there's books or websites that have practice tests i can take before the real deal.Any suggestions?

Thx though to everyone for the fedback so far. - appreciate it, Austin

Axeman, nice analogy by the way!! :D

I think San Antonio has an academy through the junior college, do not know what it takes to get in, check their web site

Should be an academy in Austin area


Here is an online by fort worth

http://www.trainingdivision.com/Testimonials.asp

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Originally Posted by Arteg

Thanks to everyone for the feed back and advice so far!! All of yall's suggestions have really helped me out a lot. -Axeman, thanks for that last post. It really got through to me. I actually have looked into a school (SINCLAIR, Mason Ohio), thanks to nairB, which offers, like you said a program that is EMT based with FIRE SCIENCE mixed in with it. My local FD does have an explorer program that i will be getting more info. on. I've looked into a thread about Interviewing advice and I won't forget to work on it before i actually start applying.

The only other question I really have is how to prepare for the testing? I would think there's books or websites that have practice tests i can take before the real deal.Any suggestions?

Thx though to everyone for the fedback so far. - appreciate it, Austin

Axeman, nice analogy by the way!! :D

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Try www.eatstress.com. CaptBob is a retired Fire Captain who has been helping people get hired for years. He has a lot of great free content on his web site and some will cost some $$$. There are others out there! Do your homework!! Godspeed!

I want to say thx to all the guys that have helped me out! All of yall are awesome and have been a huge help to me. I pretty much have all my questions answered thanks to you guys. The rest is up to me. I wouldn't have gotten this far so fast without the helpful feedback from yall. I got a long road ahead of me, but it's gotten a little shorter. Now that I got all the basic questions out the way, I just got to make it all happen. Firefighting is for sure for me, and thx to you guys, I know how to start towards reaching my dream. Thanks to Axeman, nairB, and Fire49!!! yall have really helped me out and have helped me figure out all my questions. Yall kick a#*!!! - Austin

Oops wrong thread.