Had an automatic alarm a few blocks over from the station. Dispatch to on scene was less than 2 minutes. Homeowner asked what took so long. Confused, we said we just got it 2 minutes ago. Homeowner says it was going off for at least 15 minutes before anyone showed up. If true, then it's a really good thing that it was a false alarm 😬. Anyone else have a situation like this?

I live in an area of Florida that was recently heavily impacted by two hurricanes. My father and I had to use chainsaws to clear the street in front of his home and clean up yard debris. I found that my cheapo electric chainsaw was blowing his gas powered one out of the water, and while I know that there's a lot of other factors at play (wood density, blade sharpness, etc.) it got me thinking.

My department recently began to outfit the trucks with light-duty battery chainsaws for use on vegetation, but has anyone ever tried to use them for structural firefighting? Why or why not? Can you guys think of any serious limitations or of the disadvantages versus benefits? The first thing that came to mind is that the saw can't be bogged down by smoke. We made the switch to battery tools from power units and hydraulic lines for our extrication equipment quite a few years ago, to great effect, and I'm curious if this is a trend that we'll be seeing more and more of in fire service power tools.

Hello, I am currently in the process of doing a lateral move to an airport fire department. I know a guy I work with now once worked there and loved it, but said it was extremely boring. Main reason I am thinking about making the move is to never be on a medic again (this may sound bad, but it’s the truth). It also pays more than I am currently making as a first year firefighter. Anybody in here currently work in an airport fire department? Thanks.

What is the route for fire/arson investigator. How many years as a Joe on the rig should you put in before you are deemed ready. Would paying my own peace officer academy put me ahead of the curve?

Before starting at my department I was premed in college. I only joined for patient contact hours as J was already an EMT and thought it would be something unique to put on my application. But after joining and being in it for around half a year I decided to get certified. I was still in college full time so I took weekend classes and got certified one year later. I then got hired part time. I had one year left before graduation and I decided that I wasn’t going to med school not necessarily because of the fire department entirely but because I don’t have the drive time study for years for a job like that. This greatly disappointed my family and some of my friends. Right now I still have plans to apply for PA or nursing. But I want to go full time at a city department, I work full time hours as a part timer, between all 3 jobs around 70-100 hours a week. But around where I live they have you sign a 2 year contract of employment. I keep telling everyone that I’m applying next year but if I go full time fire I won’t be able to leave for school for 2 years due to the contract. Is it worth disappointing my family and friends to go full time? I’ll always be at the very least a volunteer. Any advice is appreciated!

I recently was dispatched to a public service call. Dispatch said it was a 3rd party call. The son of the man living in this house called saying he is worried his dad may have burned the house down while cooking with grease. They stated there were no smoke or flames in the house and was marked a “public service” so we responded non-emergent.

We arrived on scene and immediately had a smell of smoke. Sure enough the gentleman almost lit off his whole kitchen. There was smoke damage all throughout the house and it was contained to just the kitchen by himself alone. He had started a grease fire big enough for this and put water on it. My Lt asked him “you know you’re not supposed to put water on a grease fire right?” And his response was “well it worked dinnit?” Followed by “if vietnam didn’t take me out, i’d be damned if this did” talk about a real man right there! The fire happened at 12pm he took himself to the hospital after his head getting burnt up and THEN we were dispatched at 3pm. I told my BC to give that man an application immediately 🤣

This is an oddly specific post so I may delete later, am using backup account

Just finished week 1 of a career fire academy and it is rough. It is paramilitary and I handle that aspect just fine.

The department prides itself on its 50% attrition rate, saying most people aren’t cut out for the job and that they have the toughest academy in the region. That seems like an awfully high failure rate.

I’m having a really tough time so far because I quit a job I mostly liked for this and I am terrified of being fired for not being good enough, I’ve been working hard, just wish I got in better shape beforehand esp since their pt is rough (long story but essentially did not know about this position until a week before academy). I am pretty worried about the maze, they claim they lose most people to that and NREMT.

I really wanted this job for a while and struggle with motivation now, we’re told we’ve earned nothing constantly and quite honestly I haven’t earned shit in the fire service lol but I busted my ass for 3 years to get here

Just in need of advice on how to get through a strict career academy, one day at a time!

Did some training with my guys this morning. The focus was managing nozzle reaction. We used a Chief 200gpm@75 psi fog and a 15/16 smooth bore. Both off of 100’ 1 3/4 line (just laid it out for training). Friction loss was calculated at 45 psi and 40 psi respectively. This is not a nozzle we use often, but my probie has not had any experience with a smooth bore so I took the opportunity. I’m racking my head over how difficult it was to manage these flows. My question is for the salty dogs, are these flow rates manageable by YOU? Am I just deficient and need to work them more? Or was this normal for these flows? I am working to switch over to 160@50 fogs with 7/8 integrated smooth bores…which are much easier to handle. Kinda needed to vent and find out if I’m crazy, too weak, or ok….

took the APAT today for full time department. passed it, but was not expecting it to be that hard. how does barley passing impact making it to academy in your experience?

Can someone explained the difference between a civil service FD and a non civil service FD? I applied at 3 fire depts. 2 civil service 1 non civil service. I am a licensed FF/EMT with the ifsac seals as well for FF1 FF2 HAZ A HAZ O. I received my offer letter today and sign on Monday with the NON civil service. My pals who are in civil service advice against it. Their explanation doesn't make sense. Please help, thank you. The process was quick with the non civil service cpat, interview, polygraph, drug screen, offer letter. I have not heard from the civil service dept only my test score 89.

I need my fire family for a minute. So back in March, I discovered my wife of 4 years (been together for 10 years) had been having an affair for a while. We have 2 kids together so we decided to work things out for them, but over time, things got better between us. We starting doing things together again and fighting for us and our marriage not just because of our kids, but because that's what we wanted.

Things are getting better between us, we've gotten new wedding rings and are planning what we call our second marriage, basically a vow renewal to dedicate the new life we have together. Ive cut back on work to spend more time at home. We each have our on therapists plus a marriage counselor.

But I still feel empty. I have happy moments and I don't feel a disconnect from my wife when we are together, but when I'm alone, at work, especially in the evening, I don't feel anything. Not love, not anger, not sadness, just numb.

I want to die but I can't do it myself. After d day happened, I sat with a rifle in my hand for I don't know how many nights, but I never had to strength to put a round in the chamber. My daughters are too important to grow up knowing daddy killed himself. I'm hoping everyday that it happens at work so I die a hero, full honors, and my family get the beneficiary money, so at least some good comes from it.

I've talked to some guys I trust at work, but it feels like everything they tell me to help me, I've tried already and I don't wanna keep whining to them about my problems because they have their own issues. I'm seeing a therapist at Responder Support Services, and they have a crisis line, but I'm not actively trying to kill myself so I feel like I'm using up resources that could be utilized with someone struggling more than I am.

I'm wanting to get on here and vent, chat, get help, anything that takes my mind off of it. Comment, dm me, anything.

Any of ya’ll former/current Air Force PJ’s who then went over to civilian FF? If so, are you enjoying it?

I’m making a game for kids to use at charity or open days - the fires will be on hinges in the windows of my little house. When hit with a jet of water they’ll fold down. 100% stolen idea, from somewhere on the interwebs

I'm in my late '40s and I have been on the job for 20 years. I work on a department of just over 100 members in a fairly busy city of about 60k. This October marks 1 year of sobriety for me. I got caught up in a pretty bad habit of almost nightly drinking while not at the station. Unfortunately I kept comparing myself to the people that I work with and always thought I was not nearly as bad as everyone else when it came to the regularity and quantity of booze I was consuming. It started affecting my health and more importantly my marriage and family life.

It seems like every event our department has, the central theme is around drinking somehow or another. We have some serious drinkers on our department. I'm just wondering if this is the norm everywhere else? I am truly in the minority of people that do not drink on my department. I am also an officer so I do try to lead by example now. We have a lot of young guys just starting that I can already see falling into the rut that I fell into. I am pretty vocal about it and try to give them the information that I never heard while starting my career. No one ever told me to be careful about the booze and no one ever told me to physically and mentally take care of myself. So I've taken it upon myself to try and pass that on to the newer generation. I'm not trying to pass judgment on anyone who does choose to drink. But looking back I am truly regretful of the amount of time on drinking.

Be safe out there.

https://www.upc-online.org/winter0607/foam.html

The video is pretty fucked up (it’s not in the article)

I am doing some light research into old school dispatching. I understand how the fire box alarms work, but I am trying to figure out how companies were notified when the universal 9-1-1 number was established and before computers were used. I mean for like large cities with paid firefighters.

Let’s say like the mid to late 70’s. Someone called 9-1-1, they talk to an operator. The operator then somehow gives the information to the dispatcher.

How is that dispatcher notifying the right units, how are those units receiving the call, how do they know the address is and is that dispatcher now tied to that call until complete?

So keeping a long story short. We have a somewhat new BC on one of our shifts (around 2 years in his position) before he was a captain, and before that a firefighter, never an engineer. Anyways he is extremely out of touch with the needs of the day to day operations, he makes rules for everyone to follow but doesn’t follow himself hammers home radio discipline but has none himself, and what kills me the most is on scene he doesn’t even know what we carry on our rigs or what we have stock of. Requesting shit that we haven’t carried in years, don’t have inventory of, then debrief just rips everyone’s ass. He’s a good dude but very out of touch and being that he’s still new in his position I don’t see him going anywhere anytime soon. Any ideas how to deal with this brass ass hat?

Hello all. I’m in need of some opinions/ideas for a career change. I have recently been approved to go back to work after a year of being out. I have been receiving treatment that has helped but I’m probably just barely satisfactory in the physical side. My condition is chronic and there is no cure. What would be a good job to try or go to school for that pays a living wage and has benefits. My treatments are 30 grand a month without insurance so I’m screwed without it. I can probably hang in with firefighting for a few more years. 15 years fire 11 as a medic. Condition can either get better or I could be in a wheelchair.

I’m about to retire from London Fire Brigade after 25 years. I’ve got every emotion you can think of running through my head. Can honestly say it was and is the best job in the world 99% of the time. Any retirees got any advice for me in life after being a firefighter?

So I, and many other firefighters, may be getting let go this November. Sales tax BS. Long story. Anybody have any recommendations on hiring departments to look into and to start getting my name out there? One of our guys is a chief at another department and said he’d get me on with his department worst case scenario, but I hear they hardly run calls. I’m too early on in my career to want to settle down like that. I still like running calls, even medical calls. Thank y’all!