air force fire

[bigpappabull]

hey guys i have been trying to get hired with a fire department for a couple years with no luck. i am thinking of joining the air force to become a FF. How do you make sure that you get this job guaranteed? also is it a regular enlistment 4 years? what types of training certs do you receive? and how long is the wait to get into the program? any other advice? thanks

bigpappabull

[Spectre08]

hey guys i have been trying to get hired with a fire department for a couple years with no luck. i am thinking of joining the air force to become a FF. How do you make sure that you get this job guaranteed? also is it a regular enlistment 4 years? what types of training certs do you receive? and how long is the wait to get into the program? any other advice? thanks

bigpappabull

well, it's a pretty high demand job right now, so if you put it at the top of your list at MEPS you have a pretty good chance of getting it.

I leave in 2 weeks, and just processed through MEPS in July.

[Spectre08]

oh, it is a regular 4 year enlistment.

you'll go to tech school at the DoD fire academy in San Angelo, tx. You'll come out with FFI, FFII, Haz-mat ops, and Airport FF. You'll also get your first responder certification.

I'll let you know more when I get there in december.

[Station21]

You can also check with your local Af base or state Air National Guard Unit to see if there are any openings there. They still require a 4 year committment but you can be part time in the military (one weekend a month two weeks a year). Good luck it's not bad.

[THEFIRENUT]

Just remember....when the recruiter tells you something, GET IT IN WRITING!!!
They are not all bad, but there are a few. DO NOT go "open general".

Also, don't forget about the other 4 years of inactive reserve after you complete your 4 years active time.

You get really good training as an Air Force FF. Depends on what base you go to if you get alot of fires or not. If you have a base that has a guard or reserve unit near by, that would also be worth looking into.

I am AF Reserve FF out of Barksdale AFB. If you have any other questions, I will try and find answers.

Take care and stay safe!!!

[Spectre08]

Hey firenut, do you know an SP named A1C Micheal Dove?

He's probably working the gate, he just finished tech school 5 or 6 months ago.

[THEFIRENUT]

Sorry, Spec....don't know the guy. Good luck in "basic" and then at tech school. Let us know how you are doing when you get the chance. Take care and stay safe.

[cgerdes97]

hey guys i have been trying to get hired with a fire department for a couple years with no luck. i am thinking of joining the air force to become a FF. How do you make sure that you get this job guaranteed? also is it a regular enlistment 4 years? what types of training certs do you receive? and how long is the wait to get into the program? any other advice? thanks

bigpappabull

everything above is all very good information but also one thing to add is that the certifications that you get at the DoD Fire Academy are IFSAC certs, which are mainly used by DoD. If you want to transition to a civilian fire department after your 4 (or 6 year) enlistment, then make sure you find out what type of certification they accept (alot only accept thier own certs) and also if they have any type of repricocy or lateral hiring. As far as fires, it depends (like stated above) what place you go because alot of stateside bases have mutual aid agreements with local depts. Here at Ramstein I haven't had any fires in 2 years then in the past month we had 3.