beginner help

[ghandi90]

Hey guys, new here and was looking into a career in firefighting. Only thing is I have no clue where to start. I live in Colorado and I'm 20 years old. If anyone can give me some info as to where i can get started out here in CO i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

[PaulC.]

Hi Ghandi-

Here is exactly where to start:

http://www.gethiredbyfire.com/?p=21

I posted this on my blog a few months ago. It should be good help for you.

Best,

Paul C.

[CowboyD Eng6ine]

Helped me out too, thanks Paul. Taking EMT-B course in January. I will start applying places now, initially planned on waiting until I finish the course and my last semester of college.

Where can you get some exam preparation material at?

[yjbrody]

Hey guys, new here and was looking into a career in firefighting. Only thing is I have no clue where to start. I live in Colorado and I'm 20 years old. If anyone can give me some info as to where i can get started out here in CO i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey ghandi, welcome to the forum.

It depends where you are in CO, but you've got a lot of options if you are in the Denver/Colorado Springs. Most depts out here are looking for at least your EMT basic in order to apply, but there are a few that don't require it (Denver Fire, Colo Springs FD come to mind, but I'm sure there are others). That might be a good place to start. Also getting that cert will give you an idea of what you will be doing 90% of calls.

Most depts have you apply when they announce their testing so you just have to keep an eye out for when they are taking apps. This forum is a good resource.

Also, another good option is to take the DRCOG test. Type DRCOG into the search feature here and you should find some threads with info on what it is and why it's helpful. Basically it allows you to take one written exam that several Denver area depts can use when they need to hire.

Then there are always smaller depts, but those are almost harder since they don't hire all that much or they usually hire from their volunteers. I wouldn't rule them out completely though. Just my 2 cents.

That's about it in a nutshell. Let me know if you have any further questions.

[PaulC.]

@Cowboy-
I'm going to be posting a free written exam guide on my blog over the holidays. I'm also creating a comprehensive guide for the whole process right now that should be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2011. Here are some locations of commonly used guides you can pick up:

eatstress.com - this is the Capt. Bob stuff.
aspiringfirefighter.com - this is stuff from Chief Paul Lepore out of Long Beach, CA.

Best of luck, and look on the forum/blog over the next two weeks for the free written guide.

Paul

[PaulC.]

Also, I used "Perfect Firefighter" to find upcoming tests in my range while I was testing several years ago. Its now online and called "firecareers.com". Its still owned by Capt. Craig Freeman (Ret.) I started blogging for him recently, and I have no financial interest in the enterprise.

Hope this proves helpful!

Paul