r/Firefighting

I will be attending a pair of classes at Alabama Fire College later this year and I must bring my bunkers and helmet. As I live in AZ, I have to fly. I'm considering the purchase of a large, rigid, lockable tote as opposed to my red gear bag. What say you, brothers? What is the best way to pack bunkers for the flight?

Like I know there both for emergencies but like I never asked for ambulance yet they came?
I mean I know they don’t mind false alarms but it’s like phoning for police and getting fire.

I mean Yeah do you guys understand what I mean or

I’m about a month and a half on the job and I’m genuinely trying to figure out if this is just how probation is or if I’m missing something big.I knew I’d get corrected a lot. I expected to be new, do the grunt work, get things wrong, and learn as I go. I’m not complaining about that part.

What I can’t figure out is the constant moving target.
I’ve been told I talk too much, so now I’m basically trying to be seen and not heard most of the time. Unless it’s training or I have a direct question, I’m not really saying anything anymore because I’m trying to avoid adding to the list of things I’m doing wrong. I’ve also been told I’m not taking enough initiative, but at the same time it feels like everything I do gets picked apart. I do all the cleaning without being asked, I stay on top of chores, and when training comes around I’m fully engaged and ask questions when I need clarification. When I’m not doing that, I’m usually in the pit studying maps, streets, hydrants, and trying to learn the district. One of the things I’ve been corrected on is interacting too much when people stop by the firehouse walking their dogs. People come by regularly to grab dog treats, and I was told I was petting too many of the dogs or engaging too much there. That was something I adjusted immediately too.

The frustrating part is it feels like every time I get corrected on something and fix it, something else comes up right after. It’s like the standard keeps shifting. Yesterday kind of hit a breaking point for me. I got chewed out, and the senior firefighter literally pulled out his phone with a list of things I was doing wrong and went through it line by line. On top of that, I was told other groups have been talking about me and saying things, and it felt like there’s already a narrative about me that I’m trying to catch up to. Even during training, I feel like I’m actively improving in real time, fixing things as they’re pointed out, but it still doesn’t feel like it’s enough. The atmosphere feels really hot and cold. Some shifts people are joking with me and it feels normal. Other shifts it feels like I’m being watched or waiting for the next thing I’m going to get called out for.

I’ve started second guessing everything. How much I talk, where I stand, whether I should ask questions or just stay quiet and figure it out on my own. It feels like no matter what I choose, it’s wrong. I’m not trying to say I don’t make mistakes I know I do. I’m new. I’m just trying to understand if this is normal probation culture, if I’m already developing a reputation without realizing it, or if I’m missing something everyone else already knows

Hello all, I'm an aspiring Georgia firefighter that followed through the process through and through. I'm kind of in shock because 2 weeks ago I signed my conditional offer but now I see that I my application is inactive. My investigator gave me 3 days to schedule my psych appointment atter I passed my polygraph and signed my conditional offer on the same day. I was consumed with my current job that i kept procrastinating but I did schedule it on the 3rd day but past 10 am like i was told to do so. I take accountability for that and I called the office to communicate but no answer and I even had issues signing the documents for the psych appointment which I also called the office did not answer. The psych appointment ended up getting canceled because of July 4th so I had to reschedule. I sent the screenshots of everything to my investigators email. I ended up receiving an email asking why I didn't communicate and why I scheduled past 10 am which I responded almost immediately with honesty and assurance that I'll communicate moving on. I called my investigators office AGAIN and still no answer and I still had issues signing the documents which ended up being because of my middle initial smh. Only for me to receive an email saying that my psych appointment has been canceled because my investigator dropped me from the process. I checked my application via the official website and truly it showed Inactive. I'm very confused and sad. What should I do ? I appreciate any and every opinion and advice and criticism thank you.

Working busy EMS only in Maryland right now and eyeing up other departments hiring Firefighter/EMT’s. MoCo, PG, and Frederick County are all hiring (Caroll too but meh). I’m familiar with MoCo and Frederick but I’m only really sort of familiar with the volunteer side of PG. How is it working for Prince Georges County? I’m assuming it’s largely station dependent?

https://preview.redd.it/7012jypymjbh1.png?width=506&format=png&auto=webp&s=78e577af17076c4b5d8c7047b1085307ca46e948

Apologies if this post doesn't belong here, but title says it all. I want to try to do this on my helmet but im not sure if you need some specific band or d-ring? Hopefully you guys know and have a nice day

Hello all, I am currently 5 weeks into my fire academy and we are supposed to be enrolling into local community college emt courses. However, all the spots at the college have been filled. I’m supposed to be on company by mid August and I do very well with online school. The only other option would be a community college an hour away which would be difficult but doable. My brother is a firefighter and got his emt through rc health but his department doesn’t run a unit, they contract it out

Just wondering if anyone had any experience and if these are legit programs

I run an academy in a large metro area. We are attempting to conduct an internal Fitness test during the course of the 18 week academy (every 4 weeks) and I was wondering if anyone out there in the interwebs does something similar?

My end goal is to make it part of their overall GPA/Class Rankings, and I'm planning on either using the Air Forces new AFPT (2 mile run, sit ups in a min, push ups in a minute) or the old Army one (same but with 2 minutes for push and sit)

My plan was to use the 18 - 22 age range standards.

Just wondering if anyone has anything similar in their academy, and if so if you ran up against any HR issues, any Union push back, or any increased injury rate?

Thanks in advance.

Who has experience with Akron electric valves on their apparatus. Currently doing a build and looking for pros and cons of the electric valves. To be clear I am team traditional manual valves so if you like them convince me as to why they are better.

Is your FD intending to use NERIS to risk-base properties? Or already doing it? Many reasons I'm not looking forward to this, but wonder what is said by FDs / fire inspection units, and not just NERIS spin how wonderful it will be.

TFT has a retrofit unit (Crew Protect 50/100cfm) and Rosenbauer has a factory option (Clean Air) for new builds. Both are supposed to capture soot and airborne virus/bacteria as a cancer prevention/wellness initiative. Has anybody used these? Thoughts and opinions?

I’m 10+ years into my career of being a FF/medic. Up until this point I have enjoyed it. I work for a great district with good pay and benefits so that isn’t my issue. Im not burned out. However, it’s taking a toll on my family life. Missing holidays and important events and just being there for my wife and kids on a daily basis is not good for my marriage or relationship with my young children.

My big question is if I get out what do I do? It’s all I’ve known for full time work. My wife works so my family doesn’t depend on my paycheck to live. But my job provides my family with a good steady paycheck and excellent benefits with the ability to retire at 55 and a pension. I fear though that I may not have a family to go home to by that time.

Those who have left the fire service what did you do after you got out?

Hi all. I’m the emergency warden in my office with around 290 people. We have a 2 stage fire alarm. We have many public that come in for tours and all and often use second and third floors. During a stage 1 fire alarm (alert alarm) should we still evacuate them or get them to stand by like all other occupants ?

From my understanding the best way to deal with this would be everybody wait and standby on stage one and wait for further instructions until we investigate if it’s a real fire or not and then if we hear the stage two chime then we evacuate immediately but we’re just wondering what’s the best way to deal with public during this situation?

I’m looking for any feed back on simulator building programs for command training. We currently have simsushare and it’s pretty much hot garbage. There is not a lot of options out there, and the ones I can find are mediocre at best. What are people using is AI just easier to make these with now? Any feedback is appreciated

I have an offer to work as fire extinguisher technician to refill and etc. I am worried not because of explosion and co2 but toxic and health issues. Is it toxic or dangerous? Can this affect things like blood work or chronic illness

Torn on this. I see both sides. Curious on answers from both sides. Do you allow them? What are the SOP’s you’ve implemented and/or have changed due to unforeseen issues?

With the heat in NYC, they are allowing people to open the hydrants to stay cool. Is this a good or bad thing in the eyes of most fire fighters? Does it waste much water? Stay cool out there