u/SoCalWildfireHQ

Hey everyone - Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR), the local wildfire department is currently recruiting new volunteer firefighters.

If you’ve been looking at getting into wildland fire, CAL FIRE, the Forest Service, LAFD, or fire service in general, this can be a good way to start getting training and experience while serving locally.

We train toward California FFT2 qualification and regularly work on things like Type 6 engine operations, hand crew skills, hose lays, wildland tactics, drills, and incident response. There are also opportunities to move into leadership and instructor roles as you gain experience.

You don’t need previous fire experience, but we are looking for people who are serious about training, showing up, and being part of the department.

We’re holding a recruiting night on Thursday, August 20 from 6:30–7:45 PM at 12601 Mulholland Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. You’ll be able to meet some of the crew, see the equipment, ask questions, and learn what the training and hiring process looks like.

If you have questions or would like more information, please don't hesitate to message me.

Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR), the Los Angeles Wildfire Department is currently recruiting new volunteer firefighters.

If you’ve been looking at getting into wildland fire, CAL FIRE, the Forest Service, LAFD, or fire service in general, this can be a good way to start getting training and experience while serving locally.

We train toward California FFT2 qualification and regularly work on things like Type 6 engine operations, hand crew skills, hose lays, wildland tactics, drills, and incident response. There are also opportunities to move into leadership and instructor roles as you gain experience.

You don’t need previous fire experience, but we are looking for people who are serious about training, showing up, and being part of the department.

We’re holding a recruiting night on Thursday, August 20 from 6:30–7:45 PM at 12601 Mulholland Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. You’ll be able to meet some of the crew, see the equipment, ask questions, and learn what the training and hiring process looks like.

If you have questions or would like more information, please don't hesitate to message me.

Hey everyone - Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR), the Los Angeles Wildfire Department is currently recruiting new volunteer firefighters.

If you’ve been looking at getting into wildland fire, CAL FIRE, the Forest Service, LAFD, or fire service in general, this can be a good way to start getting training and experience while serving locally.

We train toward California FFT2 qualification and regularly work on things like Type 6 engine operations, hand crew skills, hose lays, wildland tactics, drills, and incident response. There are also opportunities to move into leadership and instructor roles as you gain experience.

You don’t need previous fire experience, but we are looking for people who are serious about training, showing up, and being part of the department.

We’re holding a recruiting night on Thursday, August 20 from 6:30–7:45 PM at 12601 Mulholland Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. You’ll be able to meet some of the crew, see the equipment, ask questions, and learn what the training and hiring process looks like.

If you have questions or would like more information, please don't hesitate to message me.

Most people don't realize volunteer fire departments still exist out here. Cal OES, career agency consolidation, liability concerns, funding structures — all of it has pushed volunteer departments to the edge of extinction in this part of the state. We're one of the few still standing.

I run Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR), stationed in the Santa Monica Mountains. We're an all-volunteer, zero-paid-staff recognized fire department — nobody on this team draws a paycheck, including me. We operate Type 6 wildland engines, run a 25 person hand crew and work along side, with the same expectations and trainings as career agencies like LAFD, LACoFD & Cal Fire.

I joined because I believe the work matters more than the paycheck attached to it. Happy to talk about any of it — the ops side, the politics, the funding, why people sign up for this with no pay.

PROOF: https://socalwildfire.org/reddit-ama/

Ask me anything.

Most people don't realize volunteer fire departments still exist out here. Cal OES, career agency consolidation, liability concerns, funding structures — all of it has pushed volunteer departments to the edge of extinction in this part of the state. We're one of the few still standing.

I run Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR), stationed in the Santa Monica Mountains. We're an all-volunteer, zero-paid-staff recognized fire department — nobody on this team draws a paycheck, including me. We operate Type 6 wildland engines, run a 25 person hand crew and work along side, with the same expectations and trainings as career agencies like LAFD, LACoFD & Cal Fire.

I joined because I believe the work matters more than the paycheck attached to it. Happy to talk about any of it — the ops side, the politics, the funding, why people sign up for this with no pay.

Ask me anything.

Most people assume volunteer fire service died out in Southern California once the career departments and state agencies scaled up. It hasn't — it just looks different now.

Southern California Wildfire Response (SCWR) started in 2021, founded by firefighters who saw gaps in the system from the inside and decided to stop complaining about it and put boots on the ground instead.

We're a volunteer-operated fire department stationed out of the Santa Monica Mountains, organized and operating under California's official fire department framework. We run a Type 2 hand crew and multiple Type 6 engines across the LA WUI and Tier 2-3 terrain in LA County. Zero paid staff — everyone here is showing up because they want to be, not for a paycheck.

Our members have worked the Kenneth, Hurst, and Palisades fires, along with other major incidents across the region over the years.

We hold cooperative partnerships with land conservancies, with suppression and prevention responsibilities across more than 30,000 acres of conservancy land.

We're not trying to compete with career agencies. We work alongside them and fill a gap they don't always have the bandwidth for — still alarms in the WUI, brush response support, and community/land-level coverage that falls through the cracks during peak season. We operate under ICS with a defined command structure and qualification minimums for every member that match those of career agencies.

Here's why I'm posting this: there's a narrative going around that volunteer fire service in a place like LA doesn't make sense anymore — too urban, too covered, no real need. From where we sit, that's just not true. The need is real, the call volume is real, and the people willing to train and show up are real too.

Happy to answer questions about how we're structured, how the partnerships work, or what it takes to get on the roster.