Moving to AK

[firetoole]

I have been a structural firefighter in Michigan, for about a year and this summer I Am moving to Fairbanks. I was wondering what the general requirements were for most of the department, and also I am thinking about getting into wildland but don't really know where to start or who to talk to.

[sponge]

Are you looking at paid or volunteer?
Fairbanks city FD is paid and several of the other departments in the area have some paid firefighters. There are about a half dozen volunteer departments around Fairbanks. I'm not sure of the exact requirements of each department, but I'm sure they would all welcome you as a volunteer.
There are plenty of opportunities for wildland. The Division of Forestry (state) covers part of the state with BLM covering most of the rest (especially north of Fairbanks). Both have full time positions in the summer, but I don't think it's all that easy to just walk into one of those positions. Both hire EFFs (emergency firefighters) when something big happens or when they need some of the local firefighters to hang around a smaller fire for more than a few hours. This summer Forestry hired on a lot of personnel and apparatus from departments across the state, since this was our worst fire season to date. Forestry provides orientation training to local firefighters interested in being EFFs each summer and gets your info in case they hire you on.

[firetoole]

thnk's for the info, do you know anything about the university program in fairbanks?

[sponge]

The University has a fire science program. They also offer EMT I, II, and III classes.
Here's a link to the University FD http://www.uaf.edu/fire/

[Frozenhosehead]

My name is Brad and I work Full time as a Paid Civilian @ Ft. Wainwright located next to Fairbanks. The requirements to be hired DOD are to fill out a resume online @ www.cpol.army.mil and have it ready to send out when a job comes open. You should have at least IFSAC FFI, FFII, Hazmat Ops and EMT and or DO Pumper. Depends on what the job description requires you to have. I also volunteer at North Star VFD, the largest comination dept. in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, visit www.northstarfire.org and there should be a packet that you can check out. We also have a live in program as well. No requirements to become a member but having certs doesnt hurt either. We all do wildland and many college students that are live ins work for forestry in the summer or on big fires take out North Star equipment requested by forestry and work that angle as well.

I hope this helps, if you have any other questions email me and I can give you some numbers to contact me or get you any info you want.

Take Care and be Safe

Brad Hoff, North Pole, Alaska