how long is your drive to work?

[hoselayer211]

Hi fellow brothers

I am a full-time firefighter for a great department, but the cost of living is pretty high in this city (where I currently live). I am considering moving to a little over an hour away from my current home where the cost of living is much lower (its actually across the state line). If I were to sell my house and move I would be able to afford a home that is about 500-800sq ft larger, newer, and also with a least an acre of land to go with it for near the same price that I could sell my current home for. Currently I live in a 1300 sq ft home with a small front yard and small backyard in a not so great neighborhood.

I am considering driving this distance to work every third day, but wanted some advice of other firefighters who cannot quite live in the area where they work and have to move a great distance away in another city.

Is it worth moving and enjoying the bigger house and more land? I am 25 years old and will be starting a family in the next couple years.

Thanks for replying and stay safe

[TurkII]

I live about 35 miles from my department and with traffic it takes me about an hour to get to work. Definitely worth it.

With a 24 hour shift, I physically am driving to work 8 days a month, so I commute 560 miles each month and spend 16 hours each month in my car. Compare this to someone that works Monday through Friday, and it would be the equivilent of driving 14 miles to work and spending the same 16 hours each month driving.

For a bigger house, I would certainly move.

[Kobersteen]

I moved from 5 minutes from the station to 45 minutes from the station and the only thing I regret is the buffer of the engine driver calling me at 30 minutes till shift change because I overslept and still making it to the firehouse in plenty of time!

I traded up from a townhouse to a single family and love it.

Although I think he is nuts, the engine driver drives about 3 to 3 1/2 hours to work from Virginia Beach to Fairfax.

[FireMedic049]

Can't help you much on this one. My commute is about 60 seconds.

[hoselayer211]

Thanks to all that posted so far.

I am a bit uncertain as to whether or not I shoud make the move. I am greedy and want bigger and better than what I have now, and the only way to do that is to move out of the city. The only bad thing is that I would be far away from friends and city life. Instead of grocery stores, and hardware stores and pretty much everything else being just a few minutes away, I would have to travel further distances to do the same since where I want to move would be "country living."

I am jealous of you guys that live just a few seconds away from their firehouse!!

stay safe brothers

[xchief9b]

I live 57 miles from the station with a commute time of about an hour and do it every other day. Luckily, most of my driving is on main roads and I leave early enough to beat the typical workday traffic. If your dept. has an early relief policy, it works well.
I have been doing it for 10 years now with 2 to go and have never regretted leaving the suburbs for "the country."

[BoxAlarm187]

I live about 30-35 minutes from work, depending on traffic. It's not a big deal to me though, as I was raised living in the country, and we drove to get everywhere anyway. I suppose living near work would be cool, but I enjoy my land and home too much.

[Doc1411]

I live 130 miles from my station. I take 2 1/4 hours to get there. I leave the house at 0345 and arrive at roughly 0600. It doesn't bother me one bit. On my 24/72 schedule its only two trips per week. Where I live is a lot cheaper than where I work.

[jgennaro]

Hi fellow brothers

I am a full-time firefighter for a great department, but the cost of living is pretty high in this city (where I currently live). I am considering moving to a little over an hour away from my current home where the cost of living is much lower (its actually across the state line). If I were to sell my house and move I would be able to afford a home that is about 500-800sq ft larger, newer, and also with a least an acre of land to go with it for near the same price that I could sell my current home for. Currently I live in a 1300 sq ft home with a small front yard and small backyard in a not so great neighborhood.

I am considering driving this distance to work every third day, but wanted some advice of other firefighters who cannot quite live in the area where they work and have to move a great distance away in another city.

Is it worth moving and enjoying the bigger house and more land? I am 25 years old and will be starting a family in the next couple years.

Thanks for replying and stay safe

It's worth it! I live 40 miles away and it takes 50 minutes to get to work. You may want to include the gas price in your decision making process. I ride a motorcycle and get 50MPG but if I had to drive a car for the last 15 years.....well you can figure that one out!

[Eng3ineer]

I went from living about mile from the station to over 20 miles... And for the same reasons you posted... In moving I got a little smaller house, but made up for it with 20 acre's of land vs 1/4 acre lot... I now have room for myself, my wife and my 3 girls to play all they want... Downside is if you like the city life you'll burn up your money fast buying GAS these days... As far food and stuff goes we make a end of week trip into town and turn it into a all day event...If need something small pick it up on the way home...

Jason

[FyredUp]

Roughly 95 miles. I have been doing it for about 17 years and I see it as time to get ready for the work day on the way in and time to wind down from it on the way home.

I've got 15 acres of land with woods and a pond. Simply can't get that in the city.