Anyone know which Fire Academy in the Dallas/Forth Worth Metro is the best? Do Fire Departments care much about which Fire Academy you attended?
thanks for all your help!
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Anyone know which Fire Academy in the Dallas/Forth Worth Metro is the best? Do Fire Departments care much about which Fire Academy you attended?
thanks for all your help!
Below are schools for the state of Texas. Good luck !!
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road. Alvin, TX 77551
Telephone: 281-331-6111
Website: http://www.alvin.cc.tx.us/
Amarillo College
2201 South Washington, Amarillo, TX 79109
Telephone: 806-371-5000
Website: http://www.actx.edu/
Angelina College
3500 South First Street, Lufkin, TX 75902
Telephone: 936-639-1301
Website: http://www.angelina.cc.tx.us
Austin Community College
5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, TX 78752-4341
Telephone: 888-223-8026
Website: http://www.austin.cc.tx.us/
Blanco Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Inc.
P.O. Box 632, Blanco, TX 78606
Telephone: 830-833-5239
Website: http://www.moment.net/~bvac/
Blinn College
902 College Avenue, Brenham, TX 77833
Telephone: 979-830-4000
Website: http://www.blinncol.edu/
Cedar Valley College
3030 North Dallas Avenue, Lancaster, TX 75134
Telephone: 972-860-8201
Website: http://www.dcccd.edu/cvc/cvc.htm
College of the Mainland
1200 Amburn Road, Texas City, TX 77591
Telephone: 409-938-1211
Website: http://www.mainland.cc.tx.us/
Collin County Community College
2200 W. University Dr., McKinney, TX 75071
Telephone: 972-548-6836
Website: http://iws.ccccd.edu/firescience/fire.html
DeSoto Fire Academy
211 E. Pleasant Run Road, Desoto, TX 75115
Telephone: 972-230-9680
Website: http://www.ci.desoto.tx.us/dsfire.htm
El Paso Community College
P.O. Box 20500, El Paso, TX 79998
Telephone: 915-831-2000
Website: http://www.epcc.edu/
Grayson County College
6101 Grayson Drive, Denison, TX 75020-8238
Telephone: 903-465-6030
Website: http://www.grayson.edu
Howard College
1001 Birdwell Lane, Big Spring, TX 79720-5015
Telephone: 915-264-5000
Website: http://www.hc.cc.tx.us/
Kilgore College
1100 Broadway Boulevard, Kilgore, TX 75662-3204
Telephone: 903-984-8531
Website: http://www.kilgore.edu/
Lamar University - Div. of Continuing Education
4400 Martin Luther King Blvd, Beaumont, TX 77710
Telephone: 409-880-7011
Website: http://hal.lamar.edu/~psce/fire.html
Laredo Community College
West End Washington Street, Laredo, TX 78040
Telephone: 956-722-0521
Website: http://www.laredo.cc.tx.us/
Lee College
P.O. Box 818, Baytown, TX 77522
Telephone: 281-427-5611
Website: http://www.lee.edu/
McLennan Community College
1400 College Drive, Waco, TX 76708-1402
Telephone: 254-299-8622
Website: http://mccweb.mcc.cc.tx.us/
Montgomery College
3200 Highway 242 West, Conroe, TX 77386
Telephone: 936-273-7436
Website: http://wwwmc.nhmccd.cc.tx.us/
Navarro College
3200 West 7th Avenue, Corsicana, TX 75110-4818
Telephone: 800-628-2776
Website: http://www.nav.cc.tx.us/
North Central Texas College
1525 West California Street, Gainesville, TX 76240-4699
Telephone: 940-668-7731
Website: http://www.nctc.cc.tx.us/
North Harris Montgomery Co. Comm. College District
250 N. Sam Houston PKWY, Houston, TX 77060
Telephone: 281-443-5400
Website: http://www.nhmccd.edu/
Northeast Texas Community College
P.O. Box 1307, Mount Pleasant, TX 75456
Telephone: 903-572-1911
Website: http://www.ntcc.cc.tx.us/
Odessa College
201 West University, Odessa, TX 79764-7105
Telephone: 913-335-6400
Website: http://coyote.odessa.edu/
Paris Junior College
2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, TX 75460-6258
Telephone: 800-232-5804
Website: http://www.paris.cc.tx.us/
San Antonio College
1300 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78212
Telephone: 210-733-2000
Website: http://www.accd.edu/sac/sacmain/sac.htm
South Plains College
1401 College Avenue, Levelland, TX 79336-6503
Telephone: 806-894-9611
Website: http://www.spc.cc.tx.us/website/home.php3
South Texas Community College
P.O. Box 9701, McAllen, TX 78501
Telephone: 956-618-8361
Website: http://www.stcc.cc.tx.us/
Tarrant County Jr. College District
1500 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102
Telephone: 817-515-5100
Website: http://www.tcjc.cc.tx.us/
Temple Junior College
2600 South 1st Street, Temple, TX 76504-7435
Telephone: 254-298-8282
Website: http://www.templejc.edu/home.html
Texarkana College
2500 North Robison Road, Texarkana, TX 75501
Telephone: 903-838-4541
Website: http://www.tc.cc.tx.us/
Texas A&M University - Texas Engineering Extension
P.O. Box 1104, College Station, TX 77843
Telephone: 877-833-9638
Website: http://www.teex.com/esti/
Texas Rope Rescue
P.O. Box 206, Nordheim, TX 78141
Telephone: 361-938-7080
Website: http://www.texasroperescue.com/
Texas Southmost College
80 Fort Brown Street, Brownsville, TX 78520-4956
Telephone: 956-544-8200
Website: http://www.utb.edu/
Texas State Fire Marshal
333 Guadalupe, Austin, TX 78701
Telephone: 512-305-7900
Website: http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/fire/indexfm.html#top
Texas Wildfire Academy
301 Tarrow St., Ste. 364, College Station, TX 77840-7896
Telephone: 979-458-6650
Website: http://txforestservice.tamu.edu
TrainingDivision.com
712 Creekview, Burleson, TX 76028
Telephone: 1-877-470-FIRE
Website: http://www.trainingdivision.com
Trinity Valley Community College
500 South Prairieville Street, Athens, TX 75751-2734
Telephone: 903-677-8822
Website: http://www.tvcc.cc.tx.us/
Tyler Junior College
P.O. Box 9020, Tyler, TX 75711-9020
Telephone: 903-510-2200
Website: http://www.tyler.cc.tx.us/
University of Texas Health Science Center
7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900
Telephone: 210-567-7000
Website: http://www.uthscsa.edu/
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390
Telephone: 214-648-3111
Website: http://www3.utsouthwestern.edu/index.htm
Vernon Regional Junior College
4400 College Drive, Vernon, TX 76384
Telephone: 940-552-6291
Website: http://www.vrjc.cc.tx.us/
Victoria College
2200 East Red River, Victoria, TX 77901
Telephone: 361-573-3291
Website: http://www.vc.cc.tx.us/
Weatherford College
225 College Park Drive, Weatherford, TX 76086
Telephone: 817-594-5471
Website: http://www.wc.edu/
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There is also another one that I will be attending starting in August.
Johnson County ESD #1 / Hill College
PO Box 633
Cleburne, TX 76033-0633
(817)556-2212
district@johnsoncountyfire.org
This academy is one of the best if not the best in the DFW Metroplex. I am told this by many firefighters I am on shift for. I have my paramedic final on Friday July 15, National registry on August 5-6 and I am stoked about starting fire academy. As far as the question "Do Fire Departments care much about which Fire Academy you attended?" I know that the city of Grand Prairie will hire someone who is a medic faster if they attend the Hill College academy. This is due to the fact that they (Hill College/johnson County ESD) are the official training facility for the city. I know the the NFACT(?) Euless, Bedford, and Hurst are more inclined to hire someone out of the TCC Academy. I hope that this helps.
Adam
It depends where you want to get hired. Collin County Fire Academy in Mckinney is EXCELLENT. Cities such as Mesquite, Garland, Mckinney and Addison send thier new hires there. Plus cities such as Allen, Mckinney, Frisco, Richardson and Plano have hired a bunch from Collin County.
I have been a volunteer firefighter for about 7 months, and im now looking into hiring on a paid fd. I am currently getting my fire science degree. But, i have heard that I can go ahead and hire on a dept. and they will pay for my college depending on which one it is. Is this true? Which fire departments do this around dallas/fortworth? If so would it make sense to just go get my emt and then hire on a paid fd. and then go to college afterwards?
I have also heard that all I need to do is get my emt, and instead of going to a fire academy before i hire on, the fire dept. will send me to one after i get on their dept. is this true also?
P.S. sorry about all the questions.. I just have alot.. Thank You
It all depends on where you want to work at. Some dept's want you already certified, some have their own academy and could care less if you're already certified. Some require you to be a medic only and then send you to fire school. But it really doesn't matter where you go to school - a certification is a certification. I have noticed it is very hard to get on in the dallas metroplex unless you're a paramedic. They hire medics and send them to fire school. However, if you look at the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas, they don't care if you have anything, they will hire you and put you through their own academy whether you're certified or not. I went through the fire academy online through Training Division (www.trainingdivision.com). You do all the book work online at your own pace, then you go to TD, which is located in Fort Worth near Crowley, spend 2 weeks in boot camp doing all the hands on skills. In my opinion this is the best option. You can do all the book work from home at your own pace while working as opposed to going to school everday from 8-5 and working nights or working during the day and then going to the fire academy at nights for 4-9 months. I was very learly about an online academy but it really is very good! I had previous fire experience going in but many did not and at the end the guys who had no prior experience were very comfortable with their skills. I know that Euless FD hires paramedics and send their guys to this school. They are working together with Hill College and hopefully in the next year they are saying we can get college credit from Hill College for our work in the academy, which would make getting a fire science degree very easy.
o ok, so do you think i should go ahead and try and hire on to a fire dept.? or get my emt-b first? or get my emt-b and go through the academy first? Also, how long does it normally take to get an emt-b?
First, you have to decide where you want to work. I recommend searching the internet (most fire dept's have a website), look at dept's that you want to work for and go to their employment section and look at their requirements. If you want to work for Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, then you're wasting your time going to emt class and the fire academy. If you want to work for a suburb in the metroplex, Grand Prairie, Euless, North Richland Hills, etc, you'd be better off going to paramedic school and then letting them send you to the fire academy. But if their are departments that you want to work for that require a fire certification, plano, arlington, carrollton, etc, then go to emt class (about 1 semester - you can also do this online through training division, I recommend their fire academy but I don't know anything about their emt class) and the fire academy and start testing everywhere you can. This is just my suggestion for you, no one can tell you what is the best thing for you to do. You just have to look at all the info you can and develop your game plan. Start looking at dept's on the net and see what their hiring process is like and what their requirements are. Hope this helps.
It definitely helps.. i appreciate it.. What i want to do is get hired on to a fire dept. as soon as possible because i want to start my career. Im thinking real hard about going ahead and getting my emt this next semester and waiting till i get on a fire dept. to start getting my fire science degree. Ive been told that the fire dept. will pay for college(fire science degree) since it has to do with your profession. Do you know if this is true? If so it does not make sense for me to spend my money on going to a college right now if i can go for free when i get hired on a dept.
I don't know if any of this helps, but here's my .02Quote:
Originally Posted by stew14chico
1) Like maynerd said: look around at different departments. Find some you want to try on at, and work to meet their requirements. Also, learn about how the different departments operate. For example: Are they civil service or not? Union or not? What's the schedule (days on/off) like? Do they run the ambulance or not? What kind of retirement? They're all different. My recommendation: get on a civil service dept that is unionized. It may not matter much now because you want to get hired anywhere... I know how you feel cause we were all there once. But it will matter a few years down the road.
2) I haven't heard of a FD that will straight up pay for your college. If you know of any let me know :) They will pay your way and pay you while you go through academy to get your fire cert.
3) Fire science degree and firefighter certification are two different things. Arlington, for example, requires you to hold Structural Firefighter certification through the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. You can't test without it. ....Not the same thing as a FS degree.
4) It's good you're considering getting your EMT-B. 80%+ of FD runs now are EMS. If you hate the EMS side of the job, it's going to be a long career. I'd encourage you to get it just so you'll be able to show that you've taken the initiative to start down the road to the fire service. That's helpful come oral interview time.
5) IDK how much you know about the hiring process, but it basically starts by scoring high on the written. There are study guides available at local libraries, major bookstore chains. Don McNea's Fire School (www.fireprep.com) has a good study guide. I got it. It's great. I also recommend ARCO's "Firefighter Exam" 15th edition.
I don't know how useful any of this is. You may have heard it all already and I'm just repeating stuff.
One more thing... avoid getting into legal trouble, traffic tickets, financial trouble, fights, drunken parties, etc. Those can ruin your shot on the background/polygraph.
Naw, anything helps.. i want to hear anything and everything that people know and can tell me. I have heard about the college thing, but like i said, i have just "heard" and wanted to find out if it was true. I dont know much about any of the hiring processes etc. so it is definitely beneficial to hear anything about getting on to a fire dept. I do want to just get on a fire dept. but like you said, it would be smart to look into the specifics on the different depts. But, having said that, is it not a smart thing to just go ahead and get on one, regardless of any specific things about the dept. because i can later, after i have started my career and getting an income worry about specific things like you talked about and then maybe try getting on the exact dept. i want to be on for a long time? all of my stuff will carry over right? my main concern right now is getting started, then i can look into depts. and decide which one i definitely want to stay on for good. Would that not be a good idea?
If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Most departments cut off at 35.Quote:
Originally Posted by stew14chico
Definitely get hired somewhere. Anywhere. It's just a good idea to research what you're getting into and figuring out what you want. If you get hired ASAP then you'll get to know other guys on other depts who can answer questions, you'll start building some experience, and so on. If you're past 30, get hired the place you want to stay. If you're 21 you can hire on somewhere and stay there a few years. It's always good to put in a few years because your 2nd department (if you decide that) doesn't want to see someone who may jump ship on them, know what I mean?
You're certifications (fire, emt) go with you everywhere. Benefits, pay, and seniority do not over on civil service departments. I've been on my current department for 3 years. I've got got some seniority (as far as rookies go :), and my probationary years is over. I'm trying to hire on in the "Westoplex" to get my kids closer to grandparents. If I get hired, I have to start at the bottom: probationary year again, rookie academy, back to the bottom of the payscale. But I want it bad enough, I'll do what I have to.
No i dont mind at all. Im 18.
Thanks, thats what I was thinking. Just get hired on then after that look at specifics. I definitely know what you mean about "jumping ship". I will stay for a couple years, if they dont have the specifications i want for a long lasting dept. at least for a couple of years I will gain experience etc. I have been a vol. firefighter for about 7 months now, and I have gone through a little teex training, so I would say at this point, I have more experience then some at my age. But, in the same breath, I would like to gain more.. and a paycheck is always a bonus lol. I definitely understand where your coming from with moving to the "westoplex". Im sure any person in your case would do the same.
There are some dept's that will pay for your school. In fact, that is exactly what my plan is - get hired on and then let them pay for my fire science degree and maybe even another bachelor's. Some dept's will only pay for school that is fire related while others will pay for anything, once again it just depends on what dept. Fort Worth will pay for any school you take, Austin has a tuition reimbursement program, I've seen another dept that will pay for fire science classes only at one particular college. You can usually find info about this on the dept's website or go to some fire stations and talk to the guys - that's what I do.
awesome, thats good news then
Has oneone on here gone through that online school? I am thinking about doing it and crious to know more about it.
Good school. They have some of the highest written test scores in the state. And they are now and extension campus of Hill College.
Where any firefighting acadmies are that you can live there while you train? if so please if you could email me some information or the site that would be great thanks
aarron
p.s here is my email address
danzig7677@hotmail.com