Fire Fighter

[SwarovskiCoues]

Im 20 years old and going to school to be a fire fighter, I have my EMT, clean background, CPR, and enrolled in HAZMAT right now. hopefully will be applying for tucson here soon. but is there any fire fighters that can give me some pointers.....anything helps!!!

[Curtis Reed]

Start practicing for the daily xbox tournaments. Haha j/k -

[anthonyrmatthews]

If you get a chance volunteer somewhere and get actual experience. This will help you understand the job better. Keep at it band don't give up. Good luck!

[azslim]

Mike Adelman at Paradise Valley Community College gives a class on the interview process, you may want to take it

[ajohunter]

I have been in the Fire service for 18 years. PM me and I will help you any way I can.

[huntswnm]

Good Luck! I have been a paid firefighter for almost 11 years and volunteered for a few years before that. It is a great career. I second the comment on volunteering, if possible, in order to gain experience. The fire service is a place where skills are tested on a daily basis. It is one thing to have classroom training, which of course is needed, but where one really shines is when they are able to put that knowledge into work on the ground. Be persistent and don't give up. I hear some of those larger departments can be tough to get into so always be striving to learn a little more than the next guy to give you an edge.

 

Jeff

[Smith2260]

I also have 11 years on the job. I tested for 4 years and got hired by a small full time department at age 22. Then 2 years later got the call from a bigger city in the east valley. I have 2 bits of advice for anyone your age that is testing:

1st- stay in college and continue testing. No, you don't "need" it to get hired, but I did not finish my 4 year degree and I now have to go back to college if I ever wanted to promote. That piece of paper means a lot.

2nd- While in college get your firefighter 1 and 2 certification. Usually one semester. This will allow you to test for smaller full time departments and will get your retirement started. You can continue to test for a bigger city if you wanted.

 

If you ever want to ride along for a day give me a pm. We may be testing in the summer or fall. Good luck!

 

[SwarovskiCoues]

I also have 11 years on the job. I tested for 4 years and got hired by a small full time department at age 22. Then 2 years later got the call from a bigger city in the east valley. I have 2 bits of advice for anyone your age that is testing: 1st- stay in college and continue testing. No, you don't "need" it to get hired, but I did not finish my 4 year degree and I now have to go back to college if I ever wanted to promote. That piece of paper means a lot. 2nd- While in college get your firefighter 1 and 2 certification. Usually one semester. This will allow you to test for smaller full time departments and will get your retirement started. You can continue to test for a bigger city if you wanted. If you ever want to ride along for a day give me a pm. We may be testing in the summer or fall. Good luck!

yeah im going to do fire 1 an 2 this fall after i get my hazmat class done! and awesome i will defiantly being PM you!! thank you

[huntswnm]

Smith makes a great point about education. Keep with it. I received my Associates in Fire Science Technology from NMSU prior to getting hired and that put me way ahead of the other applicants. I, however, did not complete a bachelors degree. For me and my department there is only 1 job description requiring a bachelors degree and that is the Chief's but there are some departments that are requiring 4 year degrees for the line officers positions. I am now having to go back and take 1 or 2 classes a semester while working full time in order to get my Bachelors degree and it is difficult to say the least.

 

jeff

[naturegirl]

My husband went through this process for years so first I will say do not give up. If it is your dream, stick with it and make it happen.

 

Volunteer and if you can volunteer in your community fire department or one close by, but anywhere will do that is in the field. Here in the valley it was mostly in a neighboring town to ours, but he volunteered as much as he could. It is good to know the field you are getting into plus you will make some valuable contacts.

 

Make sure all of your certs are where they need to be, all personal medical stuff is taken care of, etc., and then apply, apply, apply. Every time you interview and go through the hiring process, it will make you better at it the next time. Here in the valley it is super competitive and you need to stand out. For my husband it was physical fitness and his self-confidence. He also took an interview class in college that I believe was taught by a fire fighter and he practiced, practiced, practiced. For him this hiring process was like another full-time job. It was very time consuming.

 

You are welcome to PM me and my husband can call you to give you some additional pointers. It took him two years of prepping with school and then over two years of solid interviewing anywhere in the valley that was hiring, volunteering, and almost getting picked up by PD but he finally made it with fire and got hired

 

edit: He also got hired by a smaller dept first, kept applying, and then got hired by a bigger dept less than a year later. He ended up doing two academies in a year. It was really tough.

[anthonyrmatthews]

All good advice! If you ever wanna do a ride along in northern AZ I'd be happy to have you ride on my shift. I work at Camp Navajo FD. I'm on the hiring panel too and would be willing to help wherever I could. Just stay with it. I love my job and tell my guys that if they ever wake up thinking "Man I don't want to go to work today" then we're doing something wrong.