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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:03:31 PM EDT
The local volunteer fire department is always looking for volunteers and I'm curious about that job
Plus I need something to be part of again |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:06:36 PM EDT
[#1]
 Policeman vs Fireman pt. 2 |
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USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:08:11 PM EDT
[#2]
Volunteer fire? PA?
With almost certainty you’ll end up on HIHFTY. 
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USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:08:20 PM EDT
[#3]
I volunteered for about 15 years before the department transitioned to paid.
It’s a lot of work, a lot of training, puts you in some horrific situations, wakes you up in the middle of the night and I kinda miss it. The department and city can be political but it’s not hard to avoid. |
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KY, USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:22:57 PM EDT
[#4]
Vol firefighter almost 30 years myself. Every department has a different culture. Ours is small completely vol. nobody gets paid.
The fire department attracts some people you don't want. I call them red light sticker t shirt firefighters. They want to be seen and acknowledged everywhere, but don't want to do any of the work. My chief/department doesn't allow that and if you don't work you'll be run off. That being said it's a great opportunity to learn valuable skills and help your community. Lots of good people are still willing to do it. Lots of work involved that most people don't see if you do it right. We are rural and work with 8 other departments in our county. I've done everything from fight house, brush/woods vehicle or boat fires to pick up elderly people out of the floor. We make medical calls anytime the ambulance runs emergency they also call the fire department. We train once a week minimum and you're required to keep a certain amount of training hours every year. Our department makes more medical and car wrecks than fires. I don't know how it is other places but we welcome anybody that's willing. You show up to class and after a few months you've either become part of the group or you don't. We require a certain minimum amount of training hours to make runs and state drivers training to drive trucks. What else do you want to know? |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:25:07 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AXE0FWAR: Volunteer fire? PA? With almost certainty you’ll end up on HIHFTY. No joke. What’s the hate with PA anyway? |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:34:22 PM EDT
[#6]
Volly in CNY for several years 2013-2017 before I moved...lots of training, pretty wild experices and incidents I'll never forget....we ran more rescue calls then fire calls.
I really enjoyed the rescue or RIT side rather then the traditional firematic side. Firepolice just direct traffic. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:34:29 PM EDT
[#7]
I think it's definitely worth a try if you're trying to stay busy and useful in retirement.
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:39:11 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Stumps]
[#8]
Work commitments finally stopped me from continuing. i did it for 5 years.
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:42:53 PM EDT
[Last Edit: KitBuilder]
[#9]
There are volunteer fire police?
Originally Posted By Jmo371: Firepolice just direct traffic. Around here the volunteer firemen do that. (and they love putting lights on their POVs lol) |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:54:29 PM EDT
[#10]
FF/EMT for 8 years. The Firehouse was closed for consolidation. We had good times with some good people. We were big into training.
I would do it again if I had the time. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 9:54:31 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By KitBuilder: There are volunteer fire police? Ah, that makes sense. So do they have blue lights? Around here the volunteer firemen do that. (and they love putting lights on their POVs lol) When I was doing it we all could run blue lights, fire police might have been allowed audible too? I'm not sure. It was an old man's job on the department, after graduating from driving equipment. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:05:00 PM EDT
[#12]
The real question is how do you do that with a young family?
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USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:08:18 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M1Zeppelin: No joke. What’s the hate with PA anyway? Well, I wouldn’t call it hate as much as I would mocking a seemingly endless supply of clown shoes VFDs. Of course, they make fun of everything, but PA seems to supply a lot of material. |
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VA, USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:09:57 PM EDT
[#14]
I'm currently in the process of joining one of my local vol companies which is part of a well-funded combined system. Some companies are 24/7 career while some have volunteers covering 1800-0600 part or all of the week. Less than two weeks to go for me to officially be voted in and begin red hat training. Eventually, a few nights per week and Saturday days I'll be in courses for EMT and FF I and II+HAZMAT. Also EVOC somewhere along the line.
Just go visit the station, ideally meet one of the chief/assist chief and find out how they operate, time commitment, requirements to join, and what training they offer. Do some ride-alongs if you can. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:11:30 PM EDT
[#15]
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MT, USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:11:57 PM EDT
[#16]
I got accepted onto my local dept. about 2 months ago. Lots of training and reading I have to do for FF1 but it's an awesome group of guys.
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:13:30 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Harmonic_Distortion: The real question is how do you do that with a young family? It’s been my experience that you have the young blood come in with the energy, the middle aged guys drop off a bit with family and career, then the old timers fill in all the gaps since they’re retired or kids have got older. Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:14:51 PM EDT
[#18]
Not to derail but what is fire police?
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:15:30 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M1Zeppelin: It’s been my experience that you have the young blood come in with the energy, the middle aged guys drop off a bit with family and career, then the old timers fill in all the gaps since they’re retired or kids have got older. Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. Very accurate to what I've seen, and believe |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:17:51 PM EDT
[#20]
Been a volunteer fireman since i couldn’t vote. Still am. It’s hard with my job.
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:18:25 PM EDT
[#21]
I definately recommend it with a caveat:
If the department sucks…..it isn’t indicative of them all. There’s he whole gamut of VFDs that are professional level to old boys club where they all just get together to have beers and bonfires. My old department was a train wreck. I stayed there to do some good and while I’m glad I did, my mental health suffered DRASTICALLY to the point it was affecting my home life. I joined a neighboring department and am running the same calls (old department so short handed it’s automatic mutual aid) and am relaxed. Many of the calls suck but the department itself causes no stress. Depending on what you’re used to, know that it WILL affect your life. You miss stuff/events. Lose evenings and weekends for training . You’ll see stuff you wouldn’t imagine and you’ll not think of then dream about it 6 years later. And you won’t get a dime. That said being able to help people at their worst time is something no other form of volunteering can match. Just don’t become a jolly volly There’s the old joke “how can you tell someone’s a volunteer firefighter? Don’t worry. They’ll tell you.” I don’t wear fire dept shirts. I don’t have bumper stickers or window decals. That’s way too close to the posers who have it all and never respond. No offense if you want to do all that. Just back it up. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:20:44 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By pilatuspilot: Not to derail but what is fire police? They direct traffic after racing to a “scene” with 87 strobe lights on their Chevy Nova. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:20:47 PM EDT
[#23]
i did it twice
the first time was in high school and it was fucking glorious, we got out of school for any decent sized fire and the coke machine was really full of beer. my favorite truck was a korean war era gasoline deuce and a half we called the beast. the next time was a decade later and it was already 180 degrees out. not only was the coke machine not full of beer but everybody had a stick up their ass. i stayed for a few months because with me they had a total of two people that could drive their 10sp international |
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VA, USA
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:21:05 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M1Zeppelin: Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. Volunteering in general is certainly declining. But in my county, at the volunteer orientations and ride alongs I've done, I'm seeing a lot of interest and participation from the younger range. I'm starting at middle age, several minors are also joining the same company when I do. I've met a bunch of guys and girls in the 18-25 range during my station visits and ride alongs. I think some more middle-age wisdom/life experience would be a good addition to some of these crews. What I haven't seen are any really old guys. The asst chief is the oldest I've met so far, mid 50s. |
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:23:55 PM EDT
[#25]
What specifically do you want to know? I spent my youth growing up in a volunteer firehouse, taking 'vacations' in the summer to regional fire training schools. 6 years volunteering as EMT/Paramedic-Firefighter, and now 20 some years fulltime. I've done it all
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Posted: 4/24/2024 10:58:22 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By bubbahana: What specifically do you want to know? I spent my youth growing up in a volunteer firehouse, taking 'vacations' in the summer to regional fire training schools. 6 years volunteering as EMT/Paramedic-Firefighter, and now 20 some years fulltime. I've done it all I know it will vary but what kind of time do you generally speaking have to commit to it? I understand the upfront training will consume a lot of weekends but how does the shift system generally work once you are vested or whatever it's called. Our local always has signs out for volunteers and I've thought about it but am leery of the politics and drama. They recently ran the chief off and replaced him for on the job recreational activities with a subordinate so now might not be a good time
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Posted: 4/25/2024 12:43:42 AM EDT
[#27]
Was one once, volunteer, great stuff included arson training. Very rural, meetings, some beerNall. Saw a lot of fires at -30 or more, you get covered in ice quickly. Something to do.
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Posted: 4/25/2024 12:56:59 AM EDT
[Last Edit: NotIssued]
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Fulcrum-5: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/73/e8/44/73e8442988e95f5b32c6f2d92bc61321.jpg I was a volunteer EMT for a paid municipal FD and this was probably 50% of our day. Well, for the paid guys. I had to stay busy 
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Posted: 4/25/2024 6:31:54 AM EDT
[#29]
I did it for 8 years, EMT/FF. The amount of BS med calls in the middle of the night got old, but working a real fire or trauma was the juice.
I enjoyed it but damn it was a part time job and I was working my way up in a trade that got real busy . Fringe bennie was using an antique brush fire rig for hauling dead elk off the mountain.  Attached File |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 6:37:57 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Harmonic_Distortion: The real question is how do you do that with a young family? Volunteer fire departments are for the young and/or single. If you've got young kids, it's extremely difficult to participate. Also, the nature of "volunteerism" is changing. Many places (including ours) "volunteer" now means "not paid full-time, but have a stipend." |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 6:39:23 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By pilatuspilot: Not to derail but what is fire police? Guys with safety vests and flashlights that direct traffic on scenes. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 6:47:12 AM EDT
[#32]
The VFD in my hometown in PA has a pretty cool private bar/social club that makes them a little money, but mostly keeps the day drinkers happy. Cheap beer and booze.
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IN, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:10:13 AM EDT
[#33]
Think about this. Why are we still relying on volunteers for fire protection in 2024? Every other essential service is paid. Do we have volunteer
Trash truck drivers, electricians, doctors, road crews etc etc. The list goes on. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:19:57 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AXE0FWAR: Well, I wouldn’t call it hate as much as I would mocking a seemingly endless supply of clown shoes VFDs. Of course, they make fun of everything, but PA seems to supply a lot of material. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AXE0FWAR: Originally Posted By M1Zeppelin: No joke. What’s the hate with PA anyway? Well, I wouldn’t call it hate as much as I would mocking a seemingly endless supply of clown shoes VFDs. Of course, they make fun of everything, but PA seems to supply a lot of material. That's because the vast majority of our firefighters are complete sister fucking morons. Fire Police is what you become when your IQ has officially bottomed out. |
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MO, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:20:02 AM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By glockperfection35: Think about this. Why are we still relying on volunteers for fire protection in 2024? Every other essential service is paid. Do we have volunteer Trash truck drivers, electricians, doctors, road crews etc etc. The list goes on. Frankly these days firefighters don’t have full time work other than those in larger cities. The dirty little secret is that your typical volly department responds to less than a dozen structure fires per year. Modern building codes and few people heating with wood have vastly reduced the amount of fires. So now most volunteer agencies spend their time running BS medical calls and many don’t even transport. You want to pay three shifts to sit around the fire house watching TV and surfing the net? Because that’s what they’ll be doing most of the time. |
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KY, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:26:55 AM EDT
[#36]
Lots of time involved if you do it right. What you see at a fire is just the beginning. Once the fire is over you have to put your equipment back in service. Wash the dirty hose and load clean dry hose. Wash air packs fill bottles and get them back on the truck. Fill truck with fuel water and wash them. Wash your gear if it got really nasty. Reload any consumables back on the truck like drinking water, foam and extinguishers. Basically go over and check everything on the truck so it's ready to go again.
We don't have a second shift so when the fire is over at 3:00 a.m. you still have a lot of work to do. Pretty normal for a house fire to have 3 or 4 trucks to deal with and a thousand feet or more hose. Annually we have to test equipment. Every truck has to be pump tested. Every section of hose has to be pressure tested. Every hydrant has to be flowed and tested. We have 9 trucks 30,000 + feet hose and over a hundred fire hydrants. I'm not trying to scare anyone off because volunteer departments are slowly dying. The idiot driver lights and siren t shirt sticker volunteer firefighter isn't the norm in my area. The majority just want to be involved and help their community. The same community that doesn't appreciate them or care until they need them personally. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:30:54 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Stumps: Work commitments finally stopped me from continuing. i did it for 5 years. Same. It’s currently “paid part time” and the department is requiring more mandatory hours on shift per month (a move that I agree with). I can’t hack it anymore with my schedule. With that said, I’ve loved doing it. Learned a lot, got to do a lot, demonstrate to my kids that if you want to live in a nice town it’s up to YOU to contribute to making it a nice place to live. As others have said, every department is different. I may volunteer for one of the nearby rural volunteer departments once I can get my shit straightened out at home and work. Rural departments are very different as you’re often carrying gear in your vehicle instead of reporting to a station when a call comes in, you’re hauling water instead of connecting to hydrants, and you’re tackling brush/woodland fires. Working part time for the city I mostly ran medical calls, car accidents, and fire alarm resets while on shift. Training is a lot of fun. I learned that, for being a tall bastard, I excel at operating in confined spaces. And you learn to work through any fear or apprehension. “Do it scared. There is no choice.” Train as much as you can. Training really takes over in critical incidents. |
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MO, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:32:52 AM EDT
[#38]
I did it for several years, but it got to be too much of a burden on my time and family. There towards the end I and others would get snide comments about not going to a training that was held during the middle of the day on a work day. Most of the newer guys only worked part time and/or lived in the station for free and were working towards getting a paid FD job. I am not taking time off of work to attend a training.
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:46:38 AM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By glockperfection35: Think about this. Why are we still relying on volunteers for fire protection in 2024? Every other essential service is paid. Do we have volunteer Trash truck drivers, electricians, doctors, road crews etc etc. The list goes on. I think we should have more volunteerism for things that matter, not less. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:50:51 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Harmonic_Distortion: The real question is how do you do that with a young family? Get the family involved. I was a paid FF/medic who also vol'd for 15 years in the community where we lived. It had it's headaches, but it was a great way to give back to the the community and I made some lifelong friends out of it. My wife was involved in our auxillary and the kids loved hanging around the station when they were younger. Give it a shot OP, worst thing that can happen is that it's not for you and you move on |
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FL, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 7:52:00 AM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By AXE0FWAR: Volunteer fire? PA? With almost certainty you’ll end up on HIHFTY. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:06:08 AM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M1Zeppelin: It’s been my experience that you have the young blood come in with the energy, the middle aged guys drop off a bit with family and career, then the old timers fill in all the gaps since they’re retired or kids have got older. Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M1Zeppelin: Originally Posted By Harmonic_Distortion: The real question is how do you do that with a young family? It’s been my experience that you have the young blood come in with the energy, the middle aged guys drop off a bit with family and career, then the old timers fill in all the gaps since they’re retired or kids have got older. Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. Which is a bit scary considering that's the coverage for about 70% of the country (last numbers I saw) |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:26:08 AM EDT
[#43]
retired as a captain from a hybrid department last year.
vol departments can range from fantastic to utterly horrible. leadership and training is key. bad leadership can not only be miserable it can be dangerous. funding can be sketchy and that leads to old/bad gear which can also be dangerous. my advice if you are interested is go visit them. look at the condition of the engines and gear. if it looks bad think hard. even old equipment can be well maintained. calls can be a mixed bag depending on the department. not all departments handle everything. small dept may run fires but not EMS or heavy rescue. that means you may be responding to things where your job will be hold the fort and call additional resources. it the fire department is also the local social club good ol boys drinking team.... run like hell. |
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IL, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:35:43 AM EDT
[#44]
Volunteer EMT - our squad is a Hybrid though mostly paid now.
I enjoy it - my employer is gracious enough to let me work from ambulance quarters 2 days per month |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:35:58 AM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By glockperfection35: Think about this. Why are we still relying on volunteers for fire protection in 2024? Every other essential service is paid. Do we have volunteer Trash truck drivers, electricians, doctors, road crews etc etc. The list goes on. many rural areas simply can't afford it. our department was small. 2 engines, light rescue truck and tanker for woods fires along with a few atv's. Completely unpaid. our budget for vehicles and maintaining equipment was pushing 100k a year just to keep things working. that doesn't include admin costs and new equipment acquisitions. the income from community fire dues was around 210k per year after they finally raised them just before i retired. small communities can barely afford to pay for the equipment alone without paying for employment costs for 3 shifts of certified FF and medics. there is a reason many small towns have a vol FD that is a separate entity. |
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:52:39 AM EDT
[#46]
Some departments are run very well and have the funding to train their FF’s up to a good standard.
Other departments are nothing but a good ol’ buys club, barely scrape by, and never train. These are the departments that will get you hurt or killed. Stay the fuck away from them. The northeast usually has very well run departments while the midwest and the south struggle. Pick your department wisely, your life could be on the line. |
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KY, USA
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Posted: 4/25/2024 9:57:14 AM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By TXBBQGuy: Which is a bit scary considering that's the coverage for about 70% of the country (last numbers I saw) Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By TXBBQGuy: Originally Posted By M1Zeppelin: Originally Posted By Harmonic_Distortion: The real question is how do you do that with a young family? It’s been my experience that you have the young blood come in with the energy, the middle aged guys drop off a bit with family and career, then the old timers fill in all the gaps since they’re retired or kids have got older. Volunteering is dying because there is next to no younger people and the middle aged guys get burnt out and don’t comeback. The old guys left are the end of the cycle with nobody replacing them. I honestly think we will see the collapse of the volunteer fire service in the next 10-20 years. Which is a bit scary considering that's the coverage for about 70% of the country (last numbers I saw) Think about this. We have automatic mutual aid for structure fires. So 3 departments are paged as soon as dispatch gets the call. This is done because of lack of manpower. I live three miles from the firehouse and I get there usually in less than 5 minutes, but if it's a mutual aid fire I may have to drive the fire truck 15 or 20 miles to get to the fire. Anyone living rural needs monitored smoke alarms. Without them you're waiting for your neighbor to see smoke and call if you're not home. We're coming just as fast as we can get there, but we're behind the 8 ball from the get go. |
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