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A Lieutenant from Fairfax County came and talked to my paramedic class this week, I'm in Illinois. They had great things to say about the department and the area of where it is. It seemed like a very interesting opportunity, in that they are looking for medics, so first things first on that. But I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about the Dept?
Anything specific you'd like to know? They're a big department, operating out of 37 fire stations with about 1400 uniformed personnel protecting 1 million people. All stations are staffed by career personnel, although some of the stations and apparatus are owned by the volunteers and painted in their respective organization's colors. They're answering around 90k calls per year, with a majority of those being EMS, as are most departments.
They staff 37 engines, 8 heavy rescues, a whole slew of aerials (don't remember the number right off), ambulances, tankers, and of course support vehicles. They have a large hazmat team, and Station 18 is the home of one of Virginia's two FEMA USAR teams (VA-TF1). Station 12 routinely operates with Montgomery County, MD at Great Falls performing swiftwater rescues.
Like any place, they have some slow stations, some busy stations, some ghetto, and some $5M homes. Just depends on where you are.
Hope that helps, I'm sure some others can chime in and add some facts, figures, and the ever-important opinion. ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by BoxAlarm187
It is a good department to work for. A lot of everything going on. Newer apparatus is always coming in as the fleet gets updated.
Medics have been the main hires of late. Now beginning to hire firefighter grades too.
The salary is pretty.
See the web site:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/
I posted this in the employment section for Fairfax, but likewise, I am a NREMT-P / 10 year DoD firefighter interested in moving to the DC/Baltimore area as well. I was wondering if a Fire/Medic from Fairfax would be able to donate a little bit of their time to help me get a better feel for the department and area over a private message. The recruiting office was a wonderful help, yet recruitment can really only tell you so much apart from having some quick one on one time with the men and women who currently work in ops to get a better sense of the day to day. Most of my questions are along the lines of continuing education opportunities, ALS protocols/ED facilities in the area, resources/equipment, community outreach, etc.
As like sTages19, I'm from the MidWest, so I am trying my best to educate myself and get a feel for the community I'd potentially be serving. I hope my inquiry isn't too taboo, for I feel it never hurts to ask humbly, with an eagerness to learn.
Thank you
What is the starting salary? Just curious. I didn't look too hard since it's not a big concern of mine since I'm not looking for a job there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonnee
I googled "Fairfax County fire department salary" and this is what I found.
Googling works well.
This link will tell you a lot!!
http://www.novaregion.org/index.aspx?NID=917
$48,877
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonnee
Bear in mind...a higher salary usually means a higher cost of living in the area.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by len1582
See here............ http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/cost-living
also google Fairfax County, Va Cost of Living.
Thanks for the replies. On the handout we got it stated that after the whole fire school, probationary period the salary was $71,XXX. The $48,XXX is what it said for during the probation and all that.
They said that most ambulances go up 1 on 1? is that correct? Also do they have many hospitals around, whats an average transport time like? Being 1 on 1 i feel it would be more difficult just being the only one to be able to do certain things. Here in chicago you have a hospital every 5-7 mins so it doesnt come into affect, but they were saying the times were longer.
Also we googled the area during break and it seemed like its a pretty costly area, thus the higher salary.
Relax man, just asked since it was conversation. I didn't care THAT much since I have no desire to work there. I already have a job on the "better" side of the river. haha kiddingQuote:
Originally Posted by CaptOldTimer
About cost of living, I think DC recently passed up LA and is only behind NYC and Bay Area. It sucks paying rent here, but the area itself is great in my opinion. You do get what you pay for. I'm not as familiar with FFX County itself and haven't lived that far out from the city, but it seems nice the few times I've been there. Tysons Corner is bigger than Downtown Atlanta from what I've read. The new silver line on the Metro should be finished in a few years and will connect it to the city which would make it more of an option for people to live and not just work. The DC area really is a fun place.
Hear Hear! Also, there are guys that commute from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, southern Maryland, Deleware and I have heard at least one guy drives in for his tours from North Carolina. The shift schedule allows this, for those that don't mind a little driving every other day. But as a DC Native who has lived on both sides of the river, but always inside the Beltway, I will agree that the cost of living is worth what it gets you.Quote:
Originally Posted by pipeman1822
Yea it seems as though most live pretty far away now. I'm sure I eventually will with the prices going up so fast but I definitely don't want to. This is definitely one of the best cities in the country, as well as many of the suburbs.Quote:
Originally Posted by DennisTheMenace
I was hired at Fairfax County as a FF/medic with the 126th class, 4/08. I'm very happy here. What do you want to know in particular?Quote:
Originally Posted by sTages19
All true, but what's considered a ghetto here really isn't, if you compare those areas to rough parts of PG county, SE DC, The Bronx, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by BoxAlarm187
That $53,887 is what you make in the academy, although that may drop to a basic FF's starting salary until you get released into the field. That's where the 48,000 came from.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonnee
I started out making the same (after the COLA took effect in July). My offer letter stated that I would get $182.59/pay period as cert pay after graduation from fire school. That was 10% of a basix FF's salary. It's probably a little more now, let's say $5,000 even on the year. You'll get night diff, which probably comes out to 2 grand a year. You get riding pay - $2/hr to ride the engine, $3/hr to ride the medic unit. It's a 56 hour workweek. If you were to not take any days off at all, you'll earn around 5,800 a year for engine riding pay, or 8,700 for the medic. If you split your time between the two, and take vacation, you'll get at least 6,000 as a conservative number. You also get paid holidays - 11.2 hours of straight time if you're off, and 16 hours if you work at least that amount of hours on a holiday. That's where the 71,000 comes from.
Medics from my class just passed the EMS Technician promotional exam. The additional pay puts us at around 80k give or take on the year.
Ask away...Quote:
Originally Posted by Adenosine6
There's no residency requirement. Many of us commute from The Winchester/Front Royal area, Prince William County, Warrenton, Stafford, Fredricksburgh/Spotsy, Culpepper, etc. All affordable areas.Quote:
Originally Posted by len1582
When I moved from NYC thecost of living from Queens, NY to Fairfax County was almost identical. Fairfax property values dropped more than those in NY, so it's a little cheaper now. I wouldn't live in Fairfax. I don't care for the inflated home values and the traffic, which wil only get worse. The only thing I don't like about working here is that there are no beaches around. I like to surf, and it's four hours to the OBX.Quote:
Originally Posted by pipeman1822
The average txp time is usually less than ten minutes. We only have one level 1 trauma center, so that may be a hike from the corners of the county. No 45-60 minute txp's like in rural areas, though. Otherwise, 5-15 minutes for the most part.Quote:
Originally Posted by sTages19
Until a couple of years ago, we had only 14 PTU's (double medic training units), and the balance of our 37 stations had BLS buses. Each station has an ALS engine; that hasn't changed. Admin saw fit to convert all but four of our BLS ambulances to "one and one" units. The remaining four are BLS units that also have a PTU in the same house. You need to have an arbitrary eighteen months as an ALS field provider to be cleared to ride lead on a one and one. Also, most calls get an ALS engine, so you'll usually have two medics onscene. The county wants at least two medics onscene for any ALS call.
I don't particularly agree with going to an all ALS system. I came from the NYC 911 tiered system. Medics weren't running sick jobs, injuries, MVA's, EDP's, abd pain, the intox, etc. We were only dispatched to serious jobs. The learning curve was high. I'd see several serious patients each shift. Now, you might see one or two a month. Vitals, O2, monitor, IV, txp doesn't count. With every unit being a medic, our opportunities to see truly sick pts diminishes greatly. You can also have three or four medics onscene with you. It's still not a bad system, though. It's better than a lot of places. I just get bored running mostly non acute, routine stuff. Back in NY, I used to go from the diff breather w/APE, to the unc. diabetic, to the arrest, to the tight asthmatic, to the pin job, (and a couple of sleeping "unconscious" drunks, to be honest) all in the same 12 hour shift. With any good call here, you'll have more help than you need.
Wow. I'd never leave the DCFD for Fairfax personally, but that's a BIG difference in pay. How many platoons does FFX have?Quote:
Originally Posted by edpmedic