Where you want to be a paid firefighter & what you will need

[Guest]

Lets start this off by us hearing about where you would like to start your paid career. For example say you would like to join the FDNY or some other city that has a paid fire fighters. Do you know what it takes to get on the job in that cities paid force. Lets hear what you have to say.

[Rookie]

I live in a small town in Florida, and want to join the fire department when I graduate high school. Someone told me one time that I could maybe get a job and then the department would pay for my school There are no departments near by that will do that. I want to stay in Florida, and will move wherever. Does anybody know of any small departments that might hire me and send me to school in Florida. I say small cause i heard its really hard to get hired by big departments like miam and orlando. They want experience. Any help would be awesome.

[Guest]

I'm not to familar with paid departments in Florida. I have never heard of being hired and then have them pay for your schooling. But I'll look into it.

[Hopeful]

I am looking to get started in the Fire Service. I have heard a couiple of different things about volunteering first. One guy told me that I should start as a volunteer and get atleast one year of experience before going to school. He said this will look better on an application and that experience helps. Another guy told me that I should not volunteer. He said some departments would rather hire someone right out of school with no experience so they can teach them. So which is it. Is it better to volunteer first, or should I go to school and try to start then? Any advice would be cool.

[rchristen118]

In response to some this discussion I have tried to find a good resource for job seekers. Try the link below and maybe you can find a job in your area.

http://www.firelink.com/careers?referra ... 906d095746

Good luck, Stay Safe.

[kbloom]

At one point Orange County was running a minimum standards class. The students were hired and then put through standards. I believe that they have stopped. Some of the volunteer departments in Florida will pay for Firefighter One, but Firefighter II.

[rdrury]

There are some departments here in Texas that won't pay for school. Such as Round Rock and Georgetown you have to have your Fire Fighter I and II, and EMT before they hire you
but most of the departments outside of Austin, Texas are combined volunteer and career. Most of them here in Texas wont hire you unless you are already trained. But mst of the big city's like Austin and Dallas they hire and send them to their own fire academy