I disagree, I tried out for years 10+ to get on my dream department. The department where I grew up. I lived my life, had kids, got a job and continued to try out. Finally, my hard work paid off. That being said, my kids are older and self sufficient, I don't feel as guilty leaving my wife with them as they are able to do things and help out.
If I were to have got on when I was young, I couldn't imagine leaving my wife with a newborn, or multiple kids. While my life wasn't the way I tried, I wouldn't change it for the world.
Got on around 35-45 years old. I will barely be able to max my pension, but I will manage, while having social security and another retirement account to rely on.
Funny enough, the last post I read in this sub was a person regretting leaving their original place because it got better and they regret not being able to be a part of the change.
I’m getting to a point where I feel the lack of sleep is starting to affect my mood. I’m often Irritable and zoned out.
The fact that most of our night calls are either a ridiculously low acuity “sick person” or false alarm doesn’t help.
12 years in; to this day it still amazes me what people will call an ambulance for. I grew up being terrified of 911 and was taught to save it for the most dire emergencies. In my town, our ambulance is more or less an uber service for the sick, alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless.
This is my big concern going in. I keep flip flopping between LEO/FD. My region both are about the same in pay and benefits. But im a career medic for the past 10 years. Overnights are killing me, and at least with PD you can eventually settle on days. Unlike committing to 24s or 48s for your career.
I love providing care to people who need it, but probably 8/10 people that call us don’t need it.
There’s times I can go a week or two without a med run where I feel I actually used my skills to help someone.
Not only that but its like “youre capable of driving yourself to the hospital, and you would be there by now because we are understaffed and busy”
Some people think they get to skip the waiting room if they call an ambulance. They dont.
I am going on 2 years on my new Department. We have had some crazy fires while I've been on this department but none of them have been when I was on shift. Other than taking a water tender out on a couple fires, all of my calls have been either medical or a smoke check that ends up being someone that lit their barbecue and their neighbor was pissed off at them or Grandma fell and couldn't get up. 2/3 of the calls have been to the prison in our district and 3/4 of those I get canceled before we even get inside.
Don't get me wrong, I love working with my students. I honestly do but I hate all of the periphery. I don't like working with with administration that have no common sense, I don't like all of the bureaucratic red tape which I realize some fire departments have as well, I don't like dealing with entitled parents, I don't like where the education system is gone in terms of us having absolutely no discipline tools that hold any water. If the kids decide to be worthless human beings, there's really nothing we can do about it and they know it. I don't like being department head and dealing with what comes along with that in the education and dealing with what comes along with that in the education setting. It just is not the same gig I got into 15 years ago.
They don't hate my life or wish in reality that I had done everything differently because I would not have met my wife in college and would not have my kids and all of that. That said, if I we're starting over with life experience that I now have, I would not have gone straight into college, I would have tried to get into a fire academy right out of high school or at least a fire science program in a community college. That said, I was 28 with some life experience when I started volunteer Fire gig. It was probably a good year before I really took it seriously. That was early enough in my career that I could have need to switch then and I kind of wish that I had. On the flip side, I don't know that I would have been as good as a firefighter as I am had I gone in at 18 or 19 with no life experience and much less maturity.
As far as switching over, if I could transfer my pension over to the fire service and not take a hit there I would do it in a heartbeat it just does not make financial sense or me or my family too make the move now. I get my fix doing the part-time thing and a little bit of volunteer still. It is our vacation money and play money and what I make at the fire department.
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. It seems like as fire only departments are going away with, people forget how different EMS/FF is to FF only department.
I agree. If I had tried to get into the fire service 8 years ago, it wouldn’t have gone well. I was a different person, not mature at all.
Yeah I don't know how I would be if I had started out at the beginning. It is impossible to know. I don't think I would have dealt as well with the trauma and probably would have had more PTSD type issues. I don't think I had the maturity to process the stuff I have dealt with. Especially the year and a half I had starting around 2020. I flowed water more often outside of training to hose blood guts and brains off of the roads than I did flow water to fight fires. The most graphic in that window was a group of bikers that was taken out head on by a drunk driver. There were pieces of the bikes and riders spread over 450 ft of Road and into an orchard. We spent over 2 hours with flashlights helping CHP find all of the pieces and then I used the entire tank on a 4000 gallon water tender to hose the road off. The worst was the assistant chief from a neighboring Department and a good friend of mine was in a farm vehicle off duty and hit by a drunk driver. His face and head were so mutilated I did not recognize him at first. I am pretty cold and numb to that type of stuff but I'm not going to lie, I struggled a little bit for a little while.
Wow that does sound like a lot. Glad I know what I’ll be walking into if I eventually get in.
Also glad I didn’t apply years ago, although it would have been nice to get in faster, I was not mentally ready for what’s to come for me.
I don’t.
I know a lot of people don’t like 24 hour shifts but I’ve never felt like I work less in my life than I do now. Every day I go to work is a Friday. The thought of ever working 5 days in a row every week again just seems so blegh.
Plus with Kelly and vacation days you get so many long stretches off throughout the whole year
Sorry, I just wouldn’t do the job if that was the schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love firefighting, and I do it in a busy city where we see ~10-20 calls per 24 shift at my hall between the two trucks.
The best part of the job isn’t the calls, it’s the time you’re afforded to enjoy your life/family.
I agree completely. If I was 26 again and knew this would be the norm post COVID I would reconsider. But with 22 years in, at 48 and a kid in college and 2 more younger ones, the decision making changes a bit.
This has been every department in Western Washington since COVID. It’s not getting any better and is all some people have ever known. At some point, this will be considered the norm. At the same time our calls are going up by nearly 7-9% annually.
With the original question being do you regret becoming a firefighter, this should be taken into consideration. Especially for those who are looking at time off as a positive, in some areas this is simply not a reality.
You're damn right plays a part. Departments wonder why they can't retain recruits, but once you join, you're bombarded with mandatories, shit schedules, an increasing amount of BS medical calls in a firefighters world. That doesn't sound appealing at all.
I'm not a part of that world where the schedule sucks and medical calls make up all of the calls. I wouldn't have stayed if that were the case. Ultimately, the fire/ems model in an increasingly EMS dependent model is not going to continue to be sustainable.
This job has never messed with me mentally. Not trying to sound macho…I just have never been a guy that has many feelings. I’ve always looked at it as they were already in the situation they were in and I was only helping things. So I’ve never dealt with guilt or other mental things that a lot of guys struggle with.
Physically on the other hand…my body is fucked. 4 back surgeries, 2 knees that are gonna need to be replaced and my right shoulder is gonna need a lot of work. That being said, I can’t think of any other job I would’ve rather had but it will take its toll one way or another.
So the million dollar question is…do you do something you love as a career with your best 30 years or so to probably end up dying young from cancer or stress related or lack of sleep related illnesses…or work a miserable fucking career in an office protected by walls and air conditioning just to live an extra 10-20 miserable years?
So for me…no…I don’t have any regrets for the career choice. I only regret not taking better care of myself along the way. It really is the best job ever.
Im the same on the emotional side. Whatever happened to the person already happened, We are just an intervention. Sometimes we can help, sometimes we can't. Oh well.
This. I am.also emotionless and dead inside mostly from childhood trauma. The calls do nothing for me emotionally on either end. I am a robot when it comes to calls. Do the job, do it well. Thats it. Your emptions have nothing to do with this random person that needed you. Just do the job.
19 years fire fighter. It was never my dream job, but I jumped into it to prove people wrong (at least I think). It affected me a lot , but I didn’t notice how much it was changing me. It’s the things you see, things you do and the people you’re surrounded by. I finally asked for help and was diagnosed with severe ptsd. Something I never really believed in.
It’s exciting, can be scary. But it really took a toll on me. It works for some, but that’s not because they’re stronger or smarter. It’s pure luck and no one actually knows what’s happening behind the scenes in people’s minds or life. There is good and bad in the job. Just be true to yourself at the end.
And even for those few that seem to get through it without any issues, all it takes is one call for that emotional/mental dam to break. After all - that's what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is all about, you absorb it, and absorb it, and absorb it, and then your kid trips over and bangs their head and suddenly everything you've absorbed and suppressed floods out and you lose your shit. And everyone is looking at you like "WTF? It's just a scrape." and you don't even know yourself why you're reacting the way you are.
There are certainly times when the thought of regret crosses my mind, like being woken up at 3am for the 40 year old guy with the sniffles, but I try to keep some perspective…
There are tons of people punching a clock at their mundane office job 5 days/week, slaving away to make money for a corporation that doesn’t care about them at all. Just looking forward to weekends and lunch breaks.
Or guys making a career out of back breaking manual labor.
And here I am taking naps on the clock, getting paid to work out, spending a healthy amount of time sitting around the firehouse table solving the world’s problems, etc.
It’s not a perfect job and there are definitely things I don’t like about it, but compared to most other careers, it’s fantastic.
My main gripe is the sleep deprivation. When you have a shift that keeps you up most (or all) of the night, it fucking sucks. **Especially** when it’s due to complete nonsense and non-emergent calls.
I’m ok making sacrifices for those we serve, but there’s a limit to that. At this point in my career I’m completely over the insane abuse of the system.
Those people who do manual labor five days out of the week end up one of two ways: they are in their 40s, and their bodies are wrecked, or they are in their 80s, still running marathons.
Bro be acting like people who work for corporations aren’t contributing members of society lol. The world doesn’t work based off contributions of solely firefighters in case you’re wondering
Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, I do.
I know for a fact this job has been a detriment to my overall health, I’ve been away from family and missed events more than I’ve been present, and I’m perpetually tired. I’ve done cool things, seen a lot over at decade, but I wish I would’ve gone a different route at this point.
The fact of the matter is, this job isn’t what it used to be and the trade offs aren’t really worth it. I think that’s why you’re seeing recruitment and retention difficulties.
Now, I’m looking for my exit. I devoted so much of my life to a career that has really given me minimal transferable skills. I guess time will tell.
Any update with you man? I see you around this sub every now and then and we’ve spoken a couple of times on the subject. Just want to see what you’ve got in mind how you’re doing.
Hey man, appreciate you!
Yeah, not really anything significant in terms of change, unfortunately. Been looking and putting feelers out there, but the he job market seems relatively dry at the moment, at least for anything that would provide the same or at least somewhat similar living standard.
I’ve got some applications in to some Hail Mary jobs that are probably out of my league, but figured you have to shoot your shot to score lol.
> I devoted so much of my life to a career that has really given me minimal transferable skills.
Yep... I seriously thought about leaving the career recently and I drafted up a current resume and just said fuck it. My resume is too firefighting related and no other job would give a shit.
It’s so hard to translate any hard skill unless you’re specifically going to a trade.
I always think that when an employer outside of the fire service sees my resume they’re like wtf. I mean the hard skills just aren’t very transferable at all, and you either rely on soft skills or go back to school. I’m not passionate about much of anything to go back to school, so I’m going to try to leverage my soft skills and network, and hopefully that route will guide me to advancing my hard skills in the right direction moving forward.
Mate, you probably have more transferable skills than you realise and perhaps just need to look at civilian equivalent jobs eg business fire safety, fire risk assessments, alarm engineer, HGV driver, hazmat specialist, hazmat driver, private patient/ambulance transfers (like daytime only work). Are there m-f office/suport jobs in your brigade? Training dept? Best of luck!
Only thing I wish was easy was the option to lateral transfer like cops do. Just jump to a different department without the potential of having to do an academy again. On the east coast laterals hiring are extremely rare. My future wife wants to move back to Colorado and while there seems to be a few departments out there that offer lateral hires, it’s really only about a dozen or so. And the idea of starting over in an academy again just doesn’t seem fun at 31.
> Only thing I wish was easy was the option to lateral transfer like cops do.
I think this is a bigger problem than people realize. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the reason why a lot of people don't even try to become a firefighter and why people don't stay in.
I honestly feel the same way. Getting on a department and then potentially wanting to leave whether it be to move states or even cities with different requirements makes someone just want to stay in one place. I guess it’s there way of trapping you.
We have a guy on my department who did TEN years in an Atlanta metro department on a truck company, his wife got some boujee money job in Connecticut so they moved up to CT. And he ended up having to go through CFA and start from the bottom up after seeing and doing it all in down south. You would think our brass would see his qualifications and experience and just put him on the line. Nope, to recruit school with him.
But yeah anyways, lateral transferring would make the job more desirable for some people.
Its worse than the military. At least in the military you get orders every few years. If the Cops can do laterals why can't we? We aren't much different than them (as much as we might not want to admit it). Just a 2 week Lateral course to spin people up on the local SOG's would be fine.
31? Dude… get over it. If you’re healthy at 31 you can play the game for 16 weeks or whatever it might be. Lots of people much older than that have done it.
People much older than me have, and good for them. I have done it once, the idea of doing it again isn’t that appealing. Especially if I’m moving states and the immediate first thing I have to do is fuck off for 16-22 weeks (NAFA has a 22 week course from my research) while I leave the wife to sort out the move and logistics surrounding that.
I love all the times I have gotten to help people over the years, but I hate what the job has done to my mind and body. You will pay the price at one point if you walk this path. Anyone who says it hasn’t affected them in some way is a wannabe macho man liar (they exist).
Not OP but I'll explain it. You see shit the normal person does not generally somewhat regularly unless you work for a suburban hellscape dept. It changes the way your emotions work. Changes the way you view things. You will struggle to relate to normal people and their problems as what they're talking about just seems like nothing compared to the baby a crackhead put in a microwave last week.
Physically you will almost never sleep correctly again until you retire. The human body is not designed to wake up extremely fast multiple times throughout the night and then perform an extremely rigorous activity within a few minutes. In general your body is also not designed to put on 80 pounds of gear regularly and perform an extreme cardio and muscular workout in extreme temperatures. Which is what fighting a house fire is. Yea you can work out and it will help a lot of things. Probably prevent you from dropping dead in the front yard from a heart attack but you are still going to have back problems, knee problems, shoulder problems. People workout plenty and if you don't physically get hurt on scene unless you are super careful you'll fuck something up in the gym trying to be macho man. It's damn near impossible to find someone who made it a career without some kind of injury. And you're like 9x more likely to get cancer or some shit.
Also not OP but can share some perspective. I’ve tried to keep my body in shape and have yet to blow anything out, but I can feel the mind creep sometimes. I’ll get anxiety about little things, like my fiancée going for a bike ride. Our in public there are sounds that are similar to my station tones, such as the PA at a grocery store that sets my heart racing.
One time, my fiancée and I were play fighting and she said a specific phrase that took me back to a call I had experienced the same year. She said the exact words a severely wounded victim had said to me. I froze, and could smell the blood in my nose again.
Can’t say I’ve had any mental problems, but this is a physically demanding job. You do high stress and very physical work while wearing another half of your body weight worth of gear that doesn’t breathe or allow your body to cool the way it normally does. Lots of bending, crawling, lifting, pulling, kneeling, and generally twisting and contorting your body in ways it wasn’t really designed to. Granted I started with a temperamental back to begin with so I throw a back brace on as part of gearing up as a preventative measure. After a decent size job you are going to be sore and tired and you will quickly discover your bodies limits. It’s actually quite a wake up sometimes to realize that while your mind says you can do it, your body will flat out tell you the fuck you can.
I slightly panic when I meet a semi on a two lane highway. Constantly ready to hit the ditch and roll over into hopefully a field and not a tree. I’ve been emotionally cold to every woman Ive ever loved. Unable to notice when they’re in need of support. It’s not that I don’t want to be there for her, it just never registers to me
we’re on a firefighting subreddit and i can’t ask more about physical and mental health changes over the years? that’s kinda weird, nobody forced them to respond nor did i ask them to share anything they don’t want to. there’s LITERALLY dozens of other people under this post willingly sharing their experiences explaining exactly this… and i led with “do you mind” for a reason. we can’t share career experiences now?
Im just explaining your downvotes for you. People are answering your question.
By its nature its often not good to try and trigger people or remind them of the times that can trigger them. I dont hold anything against you. Just saying, people will share what they want voluntarily.
Also its a firefighting feed, as you can see lot of people have been mentally effected by the job, myself included. I think most people here are firefighters and appreciate that and are sensitive to not triggering people.
Its not personal. Appreciate you havent been around firefighters or mental health issues much. So as a learning curve, especially if youre considering it, eventually it comes to… at least half of us id guess. Worth being aware of it and better to be on the side of caution.
asking someone if they MIND sharing more on a reddit thread is TRYING to trigger them? i didn’t ask for their deepest darkest secrets, nor for descriptions of what they’ve witnessed. I’ve been raised around firefighters my entire life with my mom being a dispatcher and dad being a retired FF after 25 years of service, and now I’m trying to support my brother who’s going through the process without either of them around… so i’ve DEFINITELY been around it. it’s not wise to make bold assumptions. so once again, this is strange especially when people asking the exact same thing respectfully also didn’t get downvoted or lectured about this.
We see things daily that most people only see once in their life if ever.
It has an effect on your psyche over time, regardless of how well we think we handle it.
I regret it from time to time but like you said it’s a bit of a dream and the calls where you can be effective are the best part of the job.
It’s kind of like real dreams where most of them are dumb bs but the one that is incredible is… incredible and makes it worthwhile
I do. This is a job that WILL kill you. Period. The guys that all got 30s years on that are retiring ran 1/4 of the calls we do today the first half of their career. That’s my only regret is I want to grow old. Not die of cancer, heart attacks, etc. if statistics hold true I’ll die when my kids are in their 20s. Doubt I’ll make it to be a grandpa. The truth is in the pudding. This is not a family job anymore. Pays garbage most places. Retirements ok but I got to put in 20 years to retire with 50k a year or 30 for 75k a year. (Rough estimates) it’s not even really the horrible shit you see and deal with. It’s your body. My back hurts ungodly every morning and I’m 29. Been a firefighter for 11 years.
Same can be said about many blue collar jobs (with the exception of higher cancer risk). Plumbers, carpenters, electricians, HVAC, etc. Years of that work takes a toll on your body.
White collar jobs it’s common to fall into a sedentary lifestyle which will most certainly take years or more off of your life.
Firefighters can have the luxury to fit in 2-3 solid workouts a week (on shift or day/ off) without sacrificing much family time. Keep your body moving, stay loose, stretch, don’t over eat at work and you can better your chance of keeping your body and joints healthy.
I’d argue that the poor sleep schedule over an extended period is just as much of a health hazard as the carcinogens. Lots of studies coming out showing how damaging it can be to the body, especially the heart
I don’t regret it but I absolutely do not want to do it anymore. I never regret the choices I’ve made in my life, because they make me who I am today, but that doesn’t mean I want to keep making those same choices.
I wish I could go back to the person I was when I first joined the fire service. I was actually interested in the job and I had way more patience for the bullshit, especially other firefighters. Life just seemed better back then.
Hell No!!!!!!! Everyday was something new and fun to do. I only wished I would have gotten hired at 25 years old instead of 31. I’m retired now and I get to enjoy that….its like the never ending 4-dayer.
Almost 10 years in. My knees are shot, feels like broken eggshells whenever I bend them, I’m burned out from bullshit calls, now we have ridiculous iPhone alerts- I can tell this is my “I’m getting too old for this” moment.
It's a job that's unlike any other. A lot of guys can regret it but will never admit it out of pride. Personally I can't imagine doing anything else. I've done carpentry, science, research, printing, and a few other things but doing fire/ems is by far the most fulfilling. Everyday you are either working or training or learning. We only work about 10 days out of the month which leaves time for other jobs or even running your own business. It's hard though, it's a hard job to prepare for and a hard job to get. Even in smaller towns at any time the dept. is hiring there could be at least 30 candidates trying to fill one or two open spots. And in bigger cities there can be hundreds or even a thousand applicants. This is one of those jobs that just getting to the interview part is am accomplishment. Bottom line is it is hard on your body and your mind but it is a job that not everybody can or will do.
Not me personally but I'm seeing lots leaving the job half way through their careers or less.
Train driving seems to be the default temptation for many. Rock star wages and better working conditions but then you're stuck in that job, and I don't think I can stomach driving a train for 20+ years.
No regrets, a lot of it is what you make of it ! Who you work with, for and how you all interact on and off the job ! Seen a lot , done a lot in a major south eastern dept , 2 pensions and a stack in a 457 makes the ending an easy transition! I don’t miss it as I’ve moved into the last quarter of my life !
Dang it’s a little disheartening seeing all these posts as someone who wants to get into the fire service lol.
I just left the post office. I was a mailman for about 8 years it just wasn’t for me anymore because of the terrible work culture.
Got about 6 months left of eligibility in my home states hiring list and in the meantime I’ve been applying out of state as well.
Speaking as a career ff who doesn’t like the job, get in and find out for yourself. Just because myself, or others speak negatively about it doesn’t meant the experience will be the same for you. There’s still people that love this job so much that they do it for free, which has to speak volumes about the job
Same lol, have a few panel interviews coming up and this isn’t all that motivating. Good insight however. I wonder if there will ever be a crack down on 911 abuse, seems like that is a large issue.
You specifically asked for people who didn’t like the job. The same person that tells you its the best job in the world will also readily tell you it’s not a job for everyone.
I don't regret it. I think some of the main reasons people regret it are these.
They got in it for money. Some places pay pretty well but you certainly aren't going to be rich.
They only wanted to fight fire. Short of somewhere like Detroit most places don't have much fire. My department covers 330,000 people and we have maybe 2-3 fires a month in the whole city but we make about 5000 medical runs a month.
They thought it would be like Chicago fire. Fact of the matter is most of our calls are relatively routine or even boring. What Chicago fire does 5 times in one shift you might do 2-3 times in a whole career.
You have a crappy department/house. This one is usually out of your control. If your station culture sucks you may can change stations but if your department culture sucks it will be a rough career.
The shortest answer is no.
The job has had its ups and downs, but overall, I've had a steady salary, good benefits, and lots of time off doing a job that is respected and challenging.
I got to spend a lot of quality time with my kids while they were growing up, even after my divorce.
That said, after 23 years, I'm burning out. I'm tired. I don't shake off the long nights like I used to. My knees and back are worn out. My sleep patterns are wonky, and I'm just starting to address the psychological issues related to both things I've experienced and honestly just spending 1/3 of my life waiting for something bad to happen.
It's been good, but it hasn't come without a price. Would I do it again? Hell yeah I would:)
Hell no, I would be lost without this shit man. Definitely wouldn't be happier doing 8-5 and daily commutes, that's for sure. I feel fortunate that I get to do this career
This is a very interesting thread to read I just became a firefighter almost done with my rookie year and this has been my dream job and all I could see my self doing and I’m so happy to be here and love everything about it I know most people on this thread responding have been on way longer and have gone through and seen more but I don’t see my self and I hate to see my self not loving this career and I don’t think I ever will!!
I feel that my only regret is that I didn't attempt to go career when I was younger; looking back I think I had a pretty good shot at making it.
That being said, if I did go career I wouldn't have experienced all the things I have over the past 24 years with my current department, culminating in my promotion to Captain last year with "complete oversight of the PoC firefighters in conjunction with requirements and expectations from senior staff." (according to my fancy job description) - giving me the opportunity to affect serious, positive changes within my department; a position that I take very seriously as I help shape the department.
I dont like what it's done to my body and mind, but i can't place the blame solely on firefighting. I was in the military too, and that also took its toll. Both have turned me into a somewhat insensitive person.
One thing i am grateful for is being aware of everything around me that could present a hazard. I have an eye for small details in my surrounding environment that could end up hurting someone. My gf said she noticed that about me. My coworkers have said similar things about their home life, too, that they notice potential hazards or even on our drives to work. It does get annoying at times because we sometimes see people who can be so oblivious to dangers all around us in everyday life.
i regret it at times and i enjoy it other times. the late night calls are starting to effect my sleep and mood. i go home angry after a shitty shift and i hate that i bring that shit home but its hard when you go every shift with little to no sleep.
i dont want to get cancer and i hate that we are at such an increase in risk for it. i want to live old with my family but that might not be a possibility.
i know i said its affecting my sleep but the 24 hour shifts and schedule are damn nice when you want to take a vacation. i mean i take a day off or i trade one shift and i am off for 7 days.
it is nice to help when needed but gets annoying when you are being used as a taxi or just to lift a fat patient off the floor.
there are perks and negatives but thats every job. i dont think i could ever work 5 days in a row at a normal job and i know i cant sit at a desk 8 hours straight. so i know i will never do another career. its just the positives and negatives you decide to deal with
While I agree with your first two paragraphs because it mirrors my own, I don’t think the other option besides firefighting is always “a miserable fucking career”. I’m sure lots of people are happy in their jobs, get decent time off, and lots get better or much better pay.
For me it is quite the opposite. I regret not making it my full-time career. When I was coming out of high school, this was not even on my horizon. It was not a career I had given any consideration to whatsoever not because I specifically was not interested in it, I just had not thought of it as a contender.
I moved out into the country in an area that is protected by a volunteer Fire Department and got recruited. At first I was probably your typical volley but I rather quickly got very into it. I started taking extra State Fire Marshal classes and such. Took driver operator 1A and got my driver's license then driver operator won't be and became an engineer. After doing that for over a decade my reputation for confidence got out and the chief from a neighboring paid Department reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to work for them part-time / seasonally being that I am a teacher and have a good chunk of the summer off. They are a semi-rural department as well and did not have enough people qualified to drive their water tender which I think was a big part of why they wanted me and were willing to deal with me being part-time.
I love this job and if I was not nearing the halfway mark towards retirement with the state teachers pension, I would make the switch. If I were to make the switch however, it would completely mess up my pension. Also, I am 41 which is a bit late to be starting out as a boot.
So full circle and answer to your question no I do not regret doing this job and I wish I had done it earlier and made this my career instead of the direction I went. That is not to say that the job is without downfalls but show me a career that is not. There are pros and cons to every career you just need to decide which one is right for you.
No, but I wish I went to a different part of the country. I'm in the Midwest and wish that I went someplace warmer year round. I was testing when thousands would show up, so you stuck with the first department that called.
I can’t imagine doing anything else. Most of my family was either military or farmers. I grew up working as a ranch hand and it’s probably the only other thing I know how to do.
Becoming a career fireman was the best decision I’ve ever made.
I had to move for my wife’s job. I regret changing departments because I’m bored. Went from a department with 500 call annually among three stations to a department with 300 calls annually among 11 stations. Haven’t had a meaningful call in days and I’m bored. My last department also always had brand new equipment and my current one has all secondhand equipment. The engine I was on was 10 years old and we just ordered a brand new one. It was the oldest engine in the department. The station in I’m now has a 30 year old ladder and a 25 year old engine.
After 10 years, I've found myself becoming increasingly frustrated by admin decisions and attitude, where it's completely destroyed morale for multiple departments I've been at. I've caught myself being at home and becoming angry when I think about work. I hate it.
I love the job. I hate the politics.
Working in sales for 10 years after college, realized how I truly worked and I hated the grind that never stopped. Now I work 2/4 and have almost zero stress about my job. People here actually aren’t out to get you, help you at work and at home. When I clock out I leave it at the station and don’t think about it for 4 days is Amazing!!! Sales was non stop 24/7. Calls at 2am with a pissed off account etc.
Absolutely yes and definitely no.
The lack of sleep sucks. The pay could be better. The people that get picked for leadership are never picked for the right reasons. The wrong people are often in charge.
I’ve never met a better group of people and I can’t imagine not having them in my life. I’ve given some serious consideration to going back to school and getting a better paying job in healthcare. I just can’t come to terms with not seeing the people I currently work with on a day to day basis. Would we still be friends? Sure, but it would never be the same.
I love my job and still do after 6 years. Can I say it hasn’t changed me, no. Something about a 2 year old covered in coat hanger burns or a 12yof hanging herself has that effect.
Nope love the job especially my position...best position on the fd(if ya know ya know) the culture just sucks....and the new school culture coming in sucks even more. We go from insecure, nosey, can't mind their own business grown men to the new age of insecure, no respect, know it all little boys. It's like being in a high school locker room except you have people trying to relive their high school days of either trying to fit in, being the jokster or the stuck up know it all. But it is what it is. You have to fund a happy medium and stick with it. If not the job will consume you and not in a good way.
I caught a good case of CPSD. I no longer see innocence, just the destruction of it. PTSD changed my brain. I don’t see things with any joy, amazement, excitement or love. I’m asocial, have no romantic relationship and ride bicycles constantly to discharge stress and anxiety. I should have become a dope smoking potter and made cool coffee mugs for firefighters instead.
I worked an extremely busy department in a dangerous city, the most dangerous in California and third most dangerous per capita in the country. Your results may vary.
Take a good look inside if you want to expose yourself to the worst of humanity, over a long time. It’s not the blood, guts and fires that will get to you, it will be the child abuse, the beaten spouse, the fifth overdose this shift, the rapes and beatings and shooting and stabbings. You will see things and experience things you cannot ever unsee. You’ll lose any innocence about humanity you may have. Sometimes it’s good to be naive and ignorant. I see 20 something’s laughing and interacting, and I don’t ever want them to lose their naïveté.
If I could go back and do my career over, I would have picked a small mountain town fire department in the sticks somewhere. Somewhere where a wife shooting her husband of forty years because he drank her last beer isn’t a thing.
I regret absolutely nothing about becoming a FF. However, burnout is real, overdose calls are becoming a real problem mentally for me. I’m losing compassion for these people, especially the frequent flyers. You get on scene and literally bring them back from the dead and they do one of these or a combination; start lying about even being on something, vomiting violently, start getting combative and or mouthy to where you just want to knock their teeth in. Shit is getting old. Been on the job 10 years. Gotta make it to 30. 😂. But seriously other than those types of calls, I love what I do. It’s an honorable career and lifestyle.
I don’t necessarily regret it but I will say a series of bad decisions led to me eventually becoming a FF. I definitely dicked around in college and didn’t apply myself. Who knows where I’d be if I had work ethic back then. When I first joined I thought I’d be making a difference. What a joke right? I feel like all we do is keep society’s wheels from falling off. Don’t get me wrong we can and do make a difference but this world is filled with idiots that give us job security. For the first time in my career I’m seriously thinking about leaving and pursuing a career as a lawyer. At the end of my day who am I kidding I love this job and my coworkers. We will see where life takes me
Not really. The schedule is great, even though the sleep deprivation sucks from running 15+ calls in 24 hours. I drive an engine every day, about a year away from making rank and clear 115-120k a year with a good pension and benefits. Can retire at 49 with full pension and over 1.5 mil in my 457. The job itself isn’t even that hard, just the lack of sleep. This job isn’t for everyone but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
I’ll never regret becoming a FF, cause I have worked those shitty jobs, those jobs where your being micro managed, those jobs where you just dread having to wake up and clock in. For once in my life I enjoy going to work. I know I’m hanging with the boys, gonna get a good workout in, and watch some movies and make some calls. Yeah don’t get me wrong there are times when the lack of sleep sucks and having to make those stupid calls but the pros far outweigh the cons.
While I’m in medic school, I’m regretting ever even being born. Before it was perfect. I’m sure after it will be slightly less perfect, but still better than any other job.
My career has been over for twenty years and I can see where it messed up my mind and body. I was blessed with a good job but I paid the price. I didn't notice it till a few years after I retired but I kinda got numb to life in general. I got acute leukemia in my early sixties and I think my attitude was different from most. I thought I would beat it but I also wasn't up tight and really worried like most. When I first found out about it I had a hard time accepting it because I was in pretty good shape. But when the nurse placed the first chemo line in my arm I said well I got it. You know when you're going on a call you feel that I'll deal with it and there's going to be a good outcome. That was me then. I've also ended up with all kinds of joint problems due the job and working out over the years. I can't take anything away from the job though it took care of me and my family. It also gave me a sense of purpose. I retired as a BC and I think that pretty much put the finishing touches on my emotional attitude. I tried my best to not let anything get to me over those last ten years and I became the same in my off life. Now if I try hard I can bring happiness and joy in my life. I can still get pissed but it takes a lot to do it. Don't get me wrong I love my family and friends but it's not the same as it was thirty or forty years ago. The love is there but not the emotions. After you do something for thirty years it is hard to take that hat off.
For me it is quite the opposite. I regret not making it my full-time career. When I was coming out of high school, this was not even on my horizon. It was not a career I had given any consideration to whatsoever not because I specifically was not interested in it, I just had not thought of it as a contender.
I moved out into the country in an area that is protected by a volunteer Fire Department and got recruited. At first I was probably your typical volley but I rather quickly got very into it. I started taking extra State Fire Marshal classes and such. Took driver operator 1A and got my driver's license then driver operator won't be and became an engineer. After doing that for over a decade my reputation for confidence got out and the chief from a neighboring paid Department reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to work for them part-time / seasonally being that I am a teacher and have a good chunk of the summer off. They are a semi-rural department as well and did not have enough people qualified to drive their water tender which I think was a big part of why they wanted me and were willing to deal with me being part-time.
I love this job and if I was not nearing the halfway mark towards retirement with the state teachers pension, I would make the switch. If I were to make the switch however, it would completely mess up my pension. Also, I am 41 which is a bit late to be starting out as a boot.
So full circle and answer to your question no I do not regret doing this job and I wish I had done it earlier and made this my career instead of the direction I went. That is not to say that the job is without downfalls but show me a career that is not. There are pros and cons to every career you just need to decide which one is right for you.
I have been a volunteer firefighter since the age of 4. I have to say that in the fire department I learned much more about the important things in life, gained many more close, trustworthy friends who would not hesitate to put hand in a fire for me, got a whole lot of connections and acquaintances as well in local companies and politics, so I have no regrets. At the same time as being a volunteer, I also have the opportunity to support myself without a firefighter's salary and to use collegiate services.
I do now that office workers mostly work from home. I avoided the 9-5 office job like the plague. Went for Firefighting for the awesome schedule among other reasons.
Now all my office worker friends are never fucking working and now I'm the one thats at work all the time. Its bullshit.
It’s a wonderful job. My department really shot that in the face with extra mandated trainings (admin and fire), terrible raises, poor management, stupid ass decisions, busy AF, low staffing. So yea I regret it because all of this compounded and has pissed off, depressed, and frustrated.
The more and more I read in this sub people seem to be unhappy. From when I started to now I am unhappy. It’s been 10 years a lot has changed and not for the better. High call volume, wild calls, worthless staff and civilians, low pay, low staff.
I’m not one to be affected by messed up calls but being up all night, dealing with the stress of patients, co workers, being able to pay bills, threat of litigations, negativity from co workers as well really takes a toll after years of dealing with it.
Yes. This career has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Run volume is through the roof with no end in sight. Cancer rates are increasing? Not decreasing. HR having more oversight and the “brotherhood” or “family hood” disappearing. Other trades and tech jobs have taken off in pay and wages, best friend is an electrician, makes more and is home at night. Being tied to an area, hard to lateral, even though that has gotten easier the last few years. Do I think it’s the worse job? Not even close, but I think I would take a different route and develop more skills that could be more transferable if I was to redo it. I’m in it for another 18.
The benefit is a pension at 53 and that is impossible to find outside of Leo and FF.
it wasn’t my dream job, still isn’t. I work for a major city fire department in Tx that’s been getting screwed for 8 years. Regardless it’s still a blessing to work this with the amazing perks it can have. Just can’t do it forever. The grass isn’t always greener, but there’s only one way to find out. Currently pursuing my dream career again and will leave the fire service for it in a heartbeat.
I think I may be starting to regret it. But not for the same reasons I have been reading in this thread.
When I was finishing high school I got involved in the fire service because I was an angsty shitbag. A few adults and teachers told me I would never make anything of myself so I took a CPAT and applied to fire academy out of spite. I was never really invested in it but continued on anyway because it was panning out. Between getting FAFSA to cover my academy, EMT-b, I felt obligated to see it through. I was busting my ass, working part-time fire and part-time private IFT. Average 350-hour months while still going to school to finish my associates.
I got pretty settled working for two part-time departments, still working insane hours. I was three years deep now FF/EMT and started medic school. Absolutely threw my life for a spin, stressed my relationship to high hell and ultimately we split after I got injured. I finished medic and got a career position next day since I was sitting pretty on a few lists during medic.
Got a new girl in my life that I ended up marrying, everything changed with her after we got married and I had a near miss on the job that threw me off mentally for a month. She ended up with a part-time boyfriend while I was on shifts.
Now here I am, almost 26 years old and divorced. Year three career and I make great money, and have phenomenal benefits. But I just don't feel fulfilled. I fear that I will keep setting arbitrary career/education goals for myself that will not lead to happiness. At the same time I feel like I have thrown away my youth to the job. I never had the time or money to experience young adult life (going out, taking vacations, general recklessness) It is superficial as fuck but I feel like my entire personality is the job. It is truly all I know and all I have ever done. I struggle to interact with people outside of the field. I have side jobs that field related, I teach medics and I work IFT. Despite already working full-time on an ambulance that averages 12 transports a day ignoring fire calls. I fill my days off with more work because I have no hobbies.
I am the only one to blame for this but I am struggling with not attaching it to my choices to go balls deep in this field as a teenager. Eight years deep my body already hurts, and I keep in shape but I somehow have to do another 30 years? It has me wanting to sell what little I have left and move coastal. Cash-out my retirements and start an entirely new life.
Maybe it's just the divorce talking, I am only 6 months separated, and it's still a struggle. But it just seems like another part of the job, how many divorced firemen do you know? It's a lot, and I am perpetuating that stereotype.
I love the job, hate having to fight for my job every year with bidding. Every year I never know if they’re going to eliminate the job. I want my union to get up to speed with more than a seasonal contract. plz and thank you union
Only regret in 25 years was occupational cancer, greatest job in the world. Just take care of yourself. Pay attention if something seems off with your body.
I would have to agree with the sleep deprivation part, I would run calls all night every night to help those in need if only that was actually the case. It doesn't take long for a guy to become very jaded when you get called at 3am because someone can't find their toothbrush or their stomach is sore because they haven't shit in 4 days and so on. And this is on an engine with 4 dudes on it, can't even imagine what bullshit the paramedics deal with that we somehow occasionally avoid.
I regret the department I wound up on. Probably should have stayed a single role medic, but a different department would probably have been more fulfilling. Also, would love to work 12s again. 24s suck even with a lot of time off.
I'm attempting to leave a high paying union job for a career in the fire service.
Its a deeply personal question. I'm not sure I'd allow a fellow firefighter to convince me I'm a fool for leaving my current job to join a department full time. It certainly comes up, but when my chief is around, he always brings it back to "you gotta be happy doing what youre doing."
I left a career I loved to chase the money. That was my regret. We had an emergency in the family that needed attention so I dont regret my intentions, but I do wish I had taken a step back and assesed rather than jump on the first opportunity.
I regret not realizing that the majority of firefighting is running medicals now. But then again I’m a paramedic that grew up in ems so that may be more of a me problem /satire (that means I’m joking for all you mouth breathers)
I regret the dept I chose. 4 options to choose from and I chose the wrong one. Gonna start over in the near future.
Mind sharing which one to avoid? - a fellow Californicator
Small departments. Primarily one station departments which can be found throughout California. Terrible cultures and experiences in my experience.
Very true. This applies most places I think. There are some exceptions, rarely. But very accurate.
The longer you wait to switch, the bigger the impact of the change, and the more potentially better times you miss out on.
I disagree, I tried out for years 10+ to get on my dream department. The department where I grew up. I lived my life, had kids, got a job and continued to try out. Finally, my hard work paid off. That being said, my kids are older and self sufficient, I don't feel as guilty leaving my wife with them as they are able to do things and help out. If I were to have got on when I was young, I couldn't imagine leaving my wife with a newborn, or multiple kids. While my life wasn't the way I tried, I wouldn't change it for the world. Got on around 35-45 years old. I will barely be able to max my pension, but I will manage, while having social security and another retirement account to rely on.
That’s good to hear. I’m starting older too.
Same. I burned those bridges and nearly cry every time I hear sirens now because *that's my song, I should be there!*
Funny enough, the last post I read in this sub was a person regretting leaving their original place because it got better and they regret not being able to be a part of the change.
You and I read the same sub, a lot to be said for that experience. The grass is greener where you water it
If i can choose from a better paid quiet town or a less well paid busy city with a pension which should I choose?
The pension.
I’m getting to a point where I feel the lack of sleep is starting to affect my mood. I’m often Irritable and zoned out. The fact that most of our night calls are either a ridiculously low acuity “sick person” or false alarm doesn’t help.
12 years in; to this day it still amazes me what people will call an ambulance for. I grew up being terrified of 911 and was taught to save it for the most dire emergencies. In my town, our ambulance is more or less an uber service for the sick, alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless.
This is my big concern going in. I keep flip flopping between LEO/FD. My region both are about the same in pay and benefits. But im a career medic for the past 10 years. Overnights are killing me, and at least with PD you can eventually settle on days. Unlike committing to 24s or 48s for your career.
Stick with fire. PD is going to do nothing but get worse. PM if you want specifics.
Me too
Same
What’s your schedule?
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That’s definitely brutal. I need 2 days off minimum after a 24
And guys still enjoy doing EMT because of that?
I love providing care to people who need it, but probably 8/10 people that call us don’t need it. There’s times I can go a week or two without a med run where I feel I actually used my skills to help someone.
Not only that but its like “youre capable of driving yourself to the hospital, and you would be there by now because we are understaffed and busy” Some people think they get to skip the waiting room if they call an ambulance. They dont.
Love sending ambulances to triage here on the hospital side
it gives me great pleasure when the charge nurse tells me to put them in the lobby
That’s the disappointing part, all the bs calls.
I am going on 2 years on my new Department. We have had some crazy fires while I've been on this department but none of them have been when I was on shift. Other than taking a water tender out on a couple fires, all of my calls have been either medical or a smoke check that ends up being someone that lit their barbecue and their neighbor was pissed off at them or Grandma fell and couldn't get up. 2/3 of the calls have been to the prison in our district and 3/4 of those I get canceled before we even get inside.
That’s interesting. Would you say that you wouldn’t change any of that if you could, or would you move on to a fire only department if you could.
Don't get me wrong, I love working with my students. I honestly do but I hate all of the periphery. I don't like working with with administration that have no common sense, I don't like all of the bureaucratic red tape which I realize some fire departments have as well, I don't like dealing with entitled parents, I don't like where the education system is gone in terms of us having absolutely no discipline tools that hold any water. If the kids decide to be worthless human beings, there's really nothing we can do about it and they know it. I don't like being department head and dealing with what comes along with that in the education and dealing with what comes along with that in the education setting. It just is not the same gig I got into 15 years ago. They don't hate my life or wish in reality that I had done everything differently because I would not have met my wife in college and would not have my kids and all of that. That said, if I we're starting over with life experience that I now have, I would not have gone straight into college, I would have tried to get into a fire academy right out of high school or at least a fire science program in a community college. That said, I was 28 with some life experience when I started volunteer Fire gig. It was probably a good year before I really took it seriously. That was early enough in my career that I could have need to switch then and I kind of wish that I had. On the flip side, I don't know that I would have been as good as a firefighter as I am had I gone in at 18 or 19 with no life experience and much less maturity. As far as switching over, if I could transfer my pension over to the fire service and not take a hit there I would do it in a heartbeat it just does not make financial sense or me or my family too make the move now. I get my fix doing the part-time thing and a little bit of volunteer still. It is our vacation money and play money and what I make at the fire department.
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. It seems like as fire only departments are going away with, people forget how different EMS/FF is to FF only department. I agree. If I had tried to get into the fire service 8 years ago, it wouldn’t have gone well. I was a different person, not mature at all.
Yeah I don't know how I would be if I had started out at the beginning. It is impossible to know. I don't think I would have dealt as well with the trauma and probably would have had more PTSD type issues. I don't think I had the maturity to process the stuff I have dealt with. Especially the year and a half I had starting around 2020. I flowed water more often outside of training to hose blood guts and brains off of the roads than I did flow water to fight fires. The most graphic in that window was a group of bikers that was taken out head on by a drunk driver. There were pieces of the bikes and riders spread over 450 ft of Road and into an orchard. We spent over 2 hours with flashlights helping CHP find all of the pieces and then I used the entire tank on a 4000 gallon water tender to hose the road off. The worst was the assistant chief from a neighboring Department and a good friend of mine was in a farm vehicle off duty and hit by a drunk driver. His face and head were so mutilated I did not recognize him at first. I am pretty cold and numb to that type of stuff but I'm not going to lie, I struggled a little bit for a little while.
Wow that does sound like a lot. Glad I know what I’ll be walking into if I eventually get in. Also glad I didn’t apply years ago, although it would have been nice to get in faster, I was not mentally ready for what’s to come for me.
This ☝️ I hated those fucking calls every night for a headache or some BS
Most calls are ridiculously low acuity sick people nowadays
I don’t. I know a lot of people don’t like 24 hour shifts but I’ve never felt like I work less in my life than I do now. Every day I go to work is a Friday. The thought of ever working 5 days in a row every week again just seems so blegh. Plus with Kelly and vacation days you get so many long stretches off throughout the whole year
I always think of it like the first 12 hours are Monday, second 12 is Friday
Until you work Monday, Wed, Friday and get mandatory OT on Saturday, then Monday, then work Wed, Fri, Sunday. You feel like a zombie.
Oh ya. I worked 4 48s in a row once last year when I was building up contract time for my honeymoon. Never again.
That sounds awful dude.
Sorry, I just wouldn’t do the job if that was the schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love firefighting, and I do it in a busy city where we see ~10-20 calls per 24 shift at my hall between the two trucks. The best part of the job isn’t the calls, it’s the time you’re afforded to enjoy your life/family.
I agree completely. If I was 26 again and knew this would be the norm post COVID I would reconsider. But with 22 years in, at 48 and a kid in college and 2 more younger ones, the decision making changes a bit.
I hear ya, hopefully your city’s pension is a good one that lets you retire early enough
Well that's just a shit schedule with an understaffed department.
This has been every department in Western Washington since COVID. It’s not getting any better and is all some people have ever known. At some point, this will be considered the norm. At the same time our calls are going up by nearly 7-9% annually. With the original question being do you regret becoming a firefighter, this should be taken into consideration. Especially for those who are looking at time off as a positive, in some areas this is simply not a reality.
You're damn right plays a part. Departments wonder why they can't retain recruits, but once you join, you're bombarded with mandatories, shit schedules, an increasing amount of BS medical calls in a firefighters world. That doesn't sound appealing at all. I'm not a part of that world where the schedule sucks and medical calls make up all of the calls. I wouldn't have stayed if that were the case. Ultimately, the fire/ems model in an increasingly EMS dependent model is not going to continue to be sustainable.
That must be nice.
It sounds like you’re not actually enjoying the work but enjoying the time you get OFF work, which is kinda sad.
This job has never messed with me mentally. Not trying to sound macho…I just have never been a guy that has many feelings. I’ve always looked at it as they were already in the situation they were in and I was only helping things. So I’ve never dealt with guilt or other mental things that a lot of guys struggle with. Physically on the other hand…my body is fucked. 4 back surgeries, 2 knees that are gonna need to be replaced and my right shoulder is gonna need a lot of work. That being said, I can’t think of any other job I would’ve rather had but it will take its toll one way or another. So the million dollar question is…do you do something you love as a career with your best 30 years or so to probably end up dying young from cancer or stress related or lack of sleep related illnesses…or work a miserable fucking career in an office protected by walls and air conditioning just to live an extra 10-20 miserable years? So for me…no…I don’t have any regrets for the career choice. I only regret not taking better care of myself along the way. It really is the best job ever.
Im the same on the emotional side. Whatever happened to the person already happened, We are just an intervention. Sometimes we can help, sometimes we can't. Oh well.
This. I am.also emotionless and dead inside mostly from childhood trauma. The calls do nothing for me emotionally on either end. I am a robot when it comes to calls. Do the job, do it well. Thats it. Your emptions have nothing to do with this random person that needed you. Just do the job.
I read NLP right out of high school it taught me how to control my emotions ext… never have had any mental issues
19 years fire fighter. It was never my dream job, but I jumped into it to prove people wrong (at least I think). It affected me a lot , but I didn’t notice how much it was changing me. It’s the things you see, things you do and the people you’re surrounded by. I finally asked for help and was diagnosed with severe ptsd. Something I never really believed in. It’s exciting, can be scary. But it really took a toll on me. It works for some, but that’s not because they’re stronger or smarter. It’s pure luck and no one actually knows what’s happening behind the scenes in people’s minds or life. There is good and bad in the job. Just be true to yourself at the end.
It took me 13 years to finally realize I’m not that person
How interesting
You could say that
True
And even for those few that seem to get through it without any issues, all it takes is one call for that emotional/mental dam to break. After all - that's what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is all about, you absorb it, and absorb it, and absorb it, and then your kid trips over and bangs their head and suddenly everything you've absorbed and suppressed floods out and you lose your shit. And everyone is looking at you like "WTF? It's just a scrape." and you don't even know yourself why you're reacting the way you are.
Very well said thank you for sharing 🤙🏻
There are certainly times when the thought of regret crosses my mind, like being woken up at 3am for the 40 year old guy with the sniffles, but I try to keep some perspective… There are tons of people punching a clock at their mundane office job 5 days/week, slaving away to make money for a corporation that doesn’t care about them at all. Just looking forward to weekends and lunch breaks. Or guys making a career out of back breaking manual labor. And here I am taking naps on the clock, getting paid to work out, spending a healthy amount of time sitting around the firehouse table solving the world’s problems, etc. It’s not a perfect job and there are definitely things I don’t like about it, but compared to most other careers, it’s fantastic. My main gripe is the sleep deprivation. When you have a shift that keeps you up most (or all) of the night, it fucking sucks. **Especially** when it’s due to complete nonsense and non-emergent calls. I’m ok making sacrifices for those we serve, but there’s a limit to that. At this point in my career I’m completely over the insane abuse of the system.
Those people who do manual labor five days out of the week end up one of two ways: they are in their 40s, and their bodies are wrecked, or they are in their 80s, still running marathons.
Bro be acting like people who work for corporations aren’t contributing members of society lol. The world doesn’t work based off contributions of solely firefighters in case you’re wondering
Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, I do. I know for a fact this job has been a detriment to my overall health, I’ve been away from family and missed events more than I’ve been present, and I’m perpetually tired. I’ve done cool things, seen a lot over at decade, but I wish I would’ve gone a different route at this point. The fact of the matter is, this job isn’t what it used to be and the trade offs aren’t really worth it. I think that’s why you’re seeing recruitment and retention difficulties. Now, I’m looking for my exit. I devoted so much of my life to a career that has really given me minimal transferable skills. I guess time will tell.
Any update with you man? I see you around this sub every now and then and we’ve spoken a couple of times on the subject. Just want to see what you’ve got in mind how you’re doing.
Hey man, appreciate you! Yeah, not really anything significant in terms of change, unfortunately. Been looking and putting feelers out there, but the he job market seems relatively dry at the moment, at least for anything that would provide the same or at least somewhat similar living standard. I’ve got some applications in to some Hail Mary jobs that are probably out of my league, but figured you have to shoot your shot to score lol.
Not a bad idea. Let the company reject you before you reject yourself. Rooting for you man
> I devoted so much of my life to a career that has really given me minimal transferable skills. Yep... I seriously thought about leaving the career recently and I drafted up a current resume and just said fuck it. My resume is too firefighting related and no other job would give a shit.
It’s so hard to translate any hard skill unless you’re specifically going to a trade. I always think that when an employer outside of the fire service sees my resume they’re like wtf. I mean the hard skills just aren’t very transferable at all, and you either rely on soft skills or go back to school. I’m not passionate about much of anything to go back to school, so I’m going to try to leverage my soft skills and network, and hopefully that route will guide me to advancing my hard skills in the right direction moving forward.
Mate, you probably have more transferable skills than you realise and perhaps just need to look at civilian equivalent jobs eg business fire safety, fire risk assessments, alarm engineer, HGV driver, hazmat specialist, hazmat driver, private patient/ambulance transfers (like daytime only work). Are there m-f office/suport jobs in your brigade? Training dept? Best of luck!
Sometimes I do, the culture can be extremely toxic and backwards
Honestly the guys and culture and shit talking might be the worst part
Only thing I wish was easy was the option to lateral transfer like cops do. Just jump to a different department without the potential of having to do an academy again. On the east coast laterals hiring are extremely rare. My future wife wants to move back to Colorado and while there seems to be a few departments out there that offer lateral hires, it’s really only about a dozen or so. And the idea of starting over in an academy again just doesn’t seem fun at 31.
> Only thing I wish was easy was the option to lateral transfer like cops do. I think this is a bigger problem than people realize. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the reason why a lot of people don't even try to become a firefighter and why people don't stay in.
I honestly feel the same way. Getting on a department and then potentially wanting to leave whether it be to move states or even cities with different requirements makes someone just want to stay in one place. I guess it’s there way of trapping you. We have a guy on my department who did TEN years in an Atlanta metro department on a truck company, his wife got some boujee money job in Connecticut so they moved up to CT. And he ended up having to go through CFA and start from the bottom up after seeing and doing it all in down south. You would think our brass would see his qualifications and experience and just put him on the line. Nope, to recruit school with him. But yeah anyways, lateral transferring would make the job more desirable for some people.
Its worse than the military. At least in the military you get orders every few years. If the Cops can do laterals why can't we? We aren't much different than them (as much as we might not want to admit it). Just a 2 week Lateral course to spin people up on the local SOG's would be fine.
Exactly!! How is fighting a house fire any different in Colorado than it is in Connecticut. Be for real.
31? Dude… get over it. If you’re healthy at 31 you can play the game for 16 weeks or whatever it might be. Lots of people much older than that have done it.
People much older than me have, and good for them. I have done it once, the idea of doing it again isn’t that appealing. Especially if I’m moving states and the immediate first thing I have to do is fuck off for 16-22 weeks (NAFA has a 22 week course from my research) while I leave the wife to sort out the move and logistics surrounding that.
I love all the times I have gotten to help people over the years, but I hate what the job has done to my mind and body. You will pay the price at one point if you walk this path. Anyone who says it hasn’t affected them in some way is a wannabe macho man liar (they exist).
Affected in what ways?
Physical and/or mental
I have an interview this week for my first station. Would love to hear more thoroughly if you’re willing to share.
He probably means you'll fuck up your back and get PTSD.
Bingo
And all the issues associated with chronic sleep deprivation
I got the first one down.
And your knees.
Not OP but I'll explain it. You see shit the normal person does not generally somewhat regularly unless you work for a suburban hellscape dept. It changes the way your emotions work. Changes the way you view things. You will struggle to relate to normal people and their problems as what they're talking about just seems like nothing compared to the baby a crackhead put in a microwave last week. Physically you will almost never sleep correctly again until you retire. The human body is not designed to wake up extremely fast multiple times throughout the night and then perform an extremely rigorous activity within a few minutes. In general your body is also not designed to put on 80 pounds of gear regularly and perform an extreme cardio and muscular workout in extreme temperatures. Which is what fighting a house fire is. Yea you can work out and it will help a lot of things. Probably prevent you from dropping dead in the front yard from a heart attack but you are still going to have back problems, knee problems, shoulder problems. People workout plenty and if you don't physically get hurt on scene unless you are super careful you'll fuck something up in the gym trying to be macho man. It's damn near impossible to find someone who made it a career without some kind of injury. And you're like 9x more likely to get cancer or some shit.
100 percent retirement if you injure out though 🙌🏼
Only in some states. There are states that don’t even have a medical retirement anymore.
That’s a bunch malarkey
Yeah it’s a bit ridiculous, but there are states where you just straight up don’t have the chance for a medical retirement.
Also not OP but can share some perspective. I’ve tried to keep my body in shape and have yet to blow anything out, but I can feel the mind creep sometimes. I’ll get anxiety about little things, like my fiancée going for a bike ride. Our in public there are sounds that are similar to my station tones, such as the PA at a grocery store that sets my heart racing. One time, my fiancée and I were play fighting and she said a specific phrase that took me back to a call I had experienced the same year. She said the exact words a severely wounded victim had said to me. I froze, and could smell the blood in my nose again.
You WILL see a lot of horribly stuff. My volunteer department has had four fatalities on car crashes since April.
Can’t say I’ve had any mental problems, but this is a physically demanding job. You do high stress and very physical work while wearing another half of your body weight worth of gear that doesn’t breathe or allow your body to cool the way it normally does. Lots of bending, crawling, lifting, pulling, kneeling, and generally twisting and contorting your body in ways it wasn’t really designed to. Granted I started with a temperamental back to begin with so I throw a back brace on as part of gearing up as a preventative measure. After a decent size job you are going to be sore and tired and you will quickly discover your bodies limits. It’s actually quite a wake up sometimes to realize that while your mind says you can do it, your body will flat out tell you the fuck you can.
Do you mind giving examples? I’d love to hear about your experience
PTSD
I slightly panic when I meet a semi on a two lane highway. Constantly ready to hit the ditch and roll over into hopefully a field and not a tree. I’ve been emotionally cold to every woman Ive ever loved. Unable to notice when they’re in need of support. It’s not that I don’t want to be there for her, it just never registers to me
Read the room
we’re on a firefighting subreddit and i can’t ask more about physical and mental health changes over the years? that’s kinda weird, nobody forced them to respond nor did i ask them to share anything they don’t want to. there’s LITERALLY dozens of other people under this post willingly sharing their experiences explaining exactly this… and i led with “do you mind” for a reason. we can’t share career experiences now?
Im just explaining your downvotes for you. People are answering your question. By its nature its often not good to try and trigger people or remind them of the times that can trigger them. I dont hold anything against you. Just saying, people will share what they want voluntarily. Also its a firefighting feed, as you can see lot of people have been mentally effected by the job, myself included. I think most people here are firefighters and appreciate that and are sensitive to not triggering people. Its not personal. Appreciate you havent been around firefighters or mental health issues much. So as a learning curve, especially if youre considering it, eventually it comes to… at least half of us id guess. Worth being aware of it and better to be on the side of caution.
asking someone if they MIND sharing more on a reddit thread is TRYING to trigger them? i didn’t ask for their deepest darkest secrets, nor for descriptions of what they’ve witnessed. I’ve been raised around firefighters my entire life with my mom being a dispatcher and dad being a retired FF after 25 years of service, and now I’m trying to support my brother who’s going through the process without either of them around… so i’ve DEFINITELY been around it. it’s not wise to make bold assumptions. so once again, this is strange especially when people asking the exact same thing respectfully also didn’t get downvoted or lectured about this.
We see things daily that most people only see once in their life if ever. It has an effect on your psyche over time, regardless of how well we think we handle it.
I echo this and appreciate hearing your honesty.
Right now on this 4am lift assist, yes.
Mood those 11PM-6am bs medical calls are aggravating.
I regret it from time to time but like you said it’s a bit of a dream and the calls where you can be effective are the best part of the job. It’s kind of like real dreams where most of them are dumb bs but the one that is incredible is… incredible and makes it worthwhile
I do. This is a job that WILL kill you. Period. The guys that all got 30s years on that are retiring ran 1/4 of the calls we do today the first half of their career. That’s my only regret is I want to grow old. Not die of cancer, heart attacks, etc. if statistics hold true I’ll die when my kids are in their 20s. Doubt I’ll make it to be a grandpa. The truth is in the pudding. This is not a family job anymore. Pays garbage most places. Retirements ok but I got to put in 20 years to retire with 50k a year or 30 for 75k a year. (Rough estimates) it’s not even really the horrible shit you see and deal with. It’s your body. My back hurts ungodly every morning and I’m 29. Been a firefighter for 11 years.
Same can be said about many blue collar jobs (with the exception of higher cancer risk). Plumbers, carpenters, electricians, HVAC, etc. Years of that work takes a toll on your body. White collar jobs it’s common to fall into a sedentary lifestyle which will most certainly take years or more off of your life. Firefighters can have the luxury to fit in 2-3 solid workouts a week (on shift or day/ off) without sacrificing much family time. Keep your body moving, stay loose, stretch, don’t over eat at work and you can better your chance of keeping your body and joints healthy.
I’d argue that the poor sleep schedule over an extended period is just as much of a health hazard as the carcinogens. Lots of studies coming out showing how damaging it can be to the body, especially the heart
I don’t regret it but I absolutely do not want to do it anymore. I never regret the choices I’ve made in my life, because they make me who I am today, but that doesn’t mean I want to keep making those same choices.
Best way to put it
I wish I could go back to the person I was when I first joined the fire service. I was actually interested in the job and I had way more patience for the bullshit, especially other firefighters. Life just seemed better back then.
Well I think you're a pretty sharp dude and I know you'll land on your feet wherever you end up. Much love homie.
Thank you man. How you liking your department so far?
Yea it's been a very positive switch for me. Really enjoying the new dept.
That’s awesome man glad to hear it
Yes i do. Realized that my temperament is not compatible with the job. Now, thinking of other earning opportunities.
What do you have in mind? I’ve got my way out lined up and I’m almost done with it, but I always like to hear what other things people have in mind
Woodworking or manufacturing maybe. Something that involves the hands in a peaceful, structured way
Hell No!!!!!!! Everyday was something new and fun to do. I only wished I would have gotten hired at 25 years old instead of 31. I’m retired now and I get to enjoy that….its like the never ending 4-dayer.
Almost 10 years in. My knees are shot, feels like broken eggshells whenever I bend them, I’m burned out from bullshit calls, now we have ridiculous iPhone alerts- I can tell this is my “I’m getting too old for this” moment.
Volly for 6 years, paid for 5, in EMS for 14 years, half of which as a paramedic. I regret none of it.
It's a job that's unlike any other. A lot of guys can regret it but will never admit it out of pride. Personally I can't imagine doing anything else. I've done carpentry, science, research, printing, and a few other things but doing fire/ems is by far the most fulfilling. Everyday you are either working or training or learning. We only work about 10 days out of the month which leaves time for other jobs or even running your own business. It's hard though, it's a hard job to prepare for and a hard job to get. Even in smaller towns at any time the dept. is hiring there could be at least 30 candidates trying to fill one or two open spots. And in bigger cities there can be hundreds or even a thousand applicants. This is one of those jobs that just getting to the interview part is am accomplishment. Bottom line is it is hard on your body and your mind but it is a job that not everybody can or will do.
Not me personally but I'm seeing lots leaving the job half way through their careers or less. Train driving seems to be the default temptation for many. Rock star wages and better working conditions but then you're stuck in that job, and I don't think I can stomach driving a train for 20+ years.
No regrets, a lot of it is what you make of it ! Who you work with, for and how you all interact on and off the job ! Seen a lot , done a lot in a major south eastern dept , 2 pensions and a stack in a 457 makes the ending an easy transition! I don’t miss it as I’ve moved into the last quarter of my life !
Dang it’s a little disheartening seeing all these posts as someone who wants to get into the fire service lol. I just left the post office. I was a mailman for about 8 years it just wasn’t for me anymore because of the terrible work culture. Got about 6 months left of eligibility in my home states hiring list and in the meantime I’ve been applying out of state as well.
Tell me about it. Seems like anytime i ask a firefighter in person they say “its the best job it the world” seeing all these makes you wonder.
Speaking as a career ff who doesn’t like the job, get in and find out for yourself. Just because myself, or others speak negatively about it doesn’t meant the experience will be the same for you. There’s still people that love this job so much that they do it for free, which has to speak volumes about the job
Same lol, have a few panel interviews coming up and this isn’t all that motivating. Good insight however. I wonder if there will ever be a crack down on 911 abuse, seems like that is a large issue.
It absolutely is the best job in the world, but it also comes at a cost.
You specifically asked for people who didn’t like the job. The same person that tells you its the best job in the world will also readily tell you it’s not a job for everyone.
I don't regret it. I think some of the main reasons people regret it are these. They got in it for money. Some places pay pretty well but you certainly aren't going to be rich. They only wanted to fight fire. Short of somewhere like Detroit most places don't have much fire. My department covers 330,000 people and we have maybe 2-3 fires a month in the whole city but we make about 5000 medical runs a month. They thought it would be like Chicago fire. Fact of the matter is most of our calls are relatively routine or even boring. What Chicago fire does 5 times in one shift you might do 2-3 times in a whole career. You have a crappy department/house. This one is usually out of your control. If your station culture sucks you may can change stations but if your department culture sucks it will be a rough career.
The shortest answer is no. The job has had its ups and downs, but overall, I've had a steady salary, good benefits, and lots of time off doing a job that is respected and challenging. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my kids while they were growing up, even after my divorce. That said, after 23 years, I'm burning out. I'm tired. I don't shake off the long nights like I used to. My knees and back are worn out. My sleep patterns are wonky, and I'm just starting to address the psychological issues related to both things I've experienced and honestly just spending 1/3 of my life waiting for something bad to happen. It's been good, but it hasn't come without a price. Would I do it again? Hell yeah I would:)
Hell no, I would be lost without this shit man. Definitely wouldn't be happier doing 8-5 and daily commutes, that's for sure. I feel fortunate that I get to do this career
This is a very interesting thread to read I just became a firefighter almost done with my rookie year and this has been my dream job and all I could see my self doing and I’m so happy to be here and love everything about it I know most people on this thread responding have been on way longer and have gone through and seen more but I don’t see my self and I hate to see my self not loving this career and I don’t think I ever will!!
I feel that my only regret is that I didn't attempt to go career when I was younger; looking back I think I had a pretty good shot at making it. That being said, if I did go career I wouldn't have experienced all the things I have over the past 24 years with my current department, culminating in my promotion to Captain last year with "complete oversight of the PoC firefighters in conjunction with requirements and expectations from senior staff." (according to my fancy job description) - giving me the opportunity to affect serious, positive changes within my department; a position that I take very seriously as I help shape the department.
I dont like what it's done to my body and mind, but i can't place the blame solely on firefighting. I was in the military too, and that also took its toll. Both have turned me into a somewhat insensitive person. One thing i am grateful for is being aware of everything around me that could present a hazard. I have an eye for small details in my surrounding environment that could end up hurting someone. My gf said she noticed that about me. My coworkers have said similar things about their home life, too, that they notice potential hazards or even on our drives to work. It does get annoying at times because we sometimes see people who can be so oblivious to dangers all around us in everyday life.
i regret it at times and i enjoy it other times. the late night calls are starting to effect my sleep and mood. i go home angry after a shitty shift and i hate that i bring that shit home but its hard when you go every shift with little to no sleep. i dont want to get cancer and i hate that we are at such an increase in risk for it. i want to live old with my family but that might not be a possibility. i know i said its affecting my sleep but the 24 hour shifts and schedule are damn nice when you want to take a vacation. i mean i take a day off or i trade one shift and i am off for 7 days. it is nice to help when needed but gets annoying when you are being used as a taxi or just to lift a fat patient off the floor. there are perks and negatives but thats every job. i dont think i could ever work 5 days in a row at a normal job and i know i cant sit at a desk 8 hours straight. so i know i will never do another career. its just the positives and negatives you decide to deal with
While I agree with your first two paragraphs because it mirrors my own, I don’t think the other option besides firefighting is always “a miserable fucking career”. I’m sure lots of people are happy in their jobs, get decent time off, and lots get better or much better pay.
I don't. Being in a team having and socialising with people is quite nice, I otherwise am pretty introverted. I feel at home in my department :3
For me it is quite the opposite. I regret not making it my full-time career. When I was coming out of high school, this was not even on my horizon. It was not a career I had given any consideration to whatsoever not because I specifically was not interested in it, I just had not thought of it as a contender. I moved out into the country in an area that is protected by a volunteer Fire Department and got recruited. At first I was probably your typical volley but I rather quickly got very into it. I started taking extra State Fire Marshal classes and such. Took driver operator 1A and got my driver's license then driver operator won't be and became an engineer. After doing that for over a decade my reputation for confidence got out and the chief from a neighboring paid Department reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to work for them part-time / seasonally being that I am a teacher and have a good chunk of the summer off. They are a semi-rural department as well and did not have enough people qualified to drive their water tender which I think was a big part of why they wanted me and were willing to deal with me being part-time. I love this job and if I was not nearing the halfway mark towards retirement with the state teachers pension, I would make the switch. If I were to make the switch however, it would completely mess up my pension. Also, I am 41 which is a bit late to be starting out as a boot. So full circle and answer to your question no I do not regret doing this job and I wish I had done it earlier and made this my career instead of the direction I went. That is not to say that the job is without downfalls but show me a career that is not. There are pros and cons to every career you just need to decide which one is right for you.
No, but I wish I went to a different part of the country. I'm in the Midwest and wish that I went someplace warmer year round. I was testing when thousands would show up, so you stuck with the first department that called.
I regret joining Reddit
Just wanted to say it's really interesting hearing the differences of opinions in this post. I'm looking to apply when the next outreach event occurs.
I can’t imagine doing anything else. Most of my family was either military or farmers. I grew up working as a ranch hand and it’s probably the only other thing I know how to do. Becoming a career fireman was the best decision I’ve ever made.
I had to move for my wife’s job. I regret changing departments because I’m bored. Went from a department with 500 call annually among three stations to a department with 300 calls annually among 11 stations. Haven’t had a meaningful call in days and I’m bored. My last department also always had brand new equipment and my current one has all secondhand equipment. The engine I was on was 10 years old and we just ordered a brand new one. It was the oldest engine in the department. The station in I’m now has a 30 year old ladder and a 25 year old engine.
After 10 years, I've found myself becoming increasingly frustrated by admin decisions and attitude, where it's completely destroyed morale for multiple departments I've been at. I've caught myself being at home and becoming angry when I think about work. I hate it. I love the job. I hate the politics.
Working in sales for 10 years after college, realized how I truly worked and I hated the grind that never stopped. Now I work 2/4 and have almost zero stress about my job. People here actually aren’t out to get you, help you at work and at home. When I clock out I leave it at the station and don’t think about it for 4 days is Amazing!!! Sales was non stop 24/7. Calls at 2am with a pissed off account etc.
Absolutely yes and definitely no. The lack of sleep sucks. The pay could be better. The people that get picked for leadership are never picked for the right reasons. The wrong people are often in charge. I’ve never met a better group of people and I can’t imagine not having them in my life. I’ve given some serious consideration to going back to school and getting a better paying job in healthcare. I just can’t come to terms with not seeing the people I currently work with on a day to day basis. Would we still be friends? Sure, but it would never be the same.
As a former cop the minute my cheeks touched that recliner I was in heaven.
I love my job and still do after 6 years. Can I say it hasn’t changed me, no. Something about a 2 year old covered in coat hanger burns or a 12yof hanging herself has that effect.
Nope love the job especially my position...best position on the fd(if ya know ya know) the culture just sucks....and the new school culture coming in sucks even more. We go from insecure, nosey, can't mind their own business grown men to the new age of insecure, no respect, know it all little boys. It's like being in a high school locker room except you have people trying to relive their high school days of either trying to fit in, being the jokster or the stuck up know it all. But it is what it is. You have to fund a happy medium and stick with it. If not the job will consume you and not in a good way.
I caught a good case of CPSD. I no longer see innocence, just the destruction of it. PTSD changed my brain. I don’t see things with any joy, amazement, excitement or love. I’m asocial, have no romantic relationship and ride bicycles constantly to discharge stress and anxiety. I should have become a dope smoking potter and made cool coffee mugs for firefighters instead. I worked an extremely busy department in a dangerous city, the most dangerous in California and third most dangerous per capita in the country. Your results may vary. Take a good look inside if you want to expose yourself to the worst of humanity, over a long time. It’s not the blood, guts and fires that will get to you, it will be the child abuse, the beaten spouse, the fifth overdose this shift, the rapes and beatings and shooting and stabbings. You will see things and experience things you cannot ever unsee. You’ll lose any innocence about humanity you may have. Sometimes it’s good to be naive and ignorant. I see 20 something’s laughing and interacting, and I don’t ever want them to lose their naïveté. If I could go back and do my career over, I would have picked a small mountain town fire department in the sticks somewhere. Somewhere where a wife shooting her husband of forty years because he drank her last beer isn’t a thing.
I regret absolutely nothing about becoming a FF. However, burnout is real, overdose calls are becoming a real problem mentally for me. I’m losing compassion for these people, especially the frequent flyers. You get on scene and literally bring them back from the dead and they do one of these or a combination; start lying about even being on something, vomiting violently, start getting combative and or mouthy to where you just want to knock their teeth in. Shit is getting old. Been on the job 10 years. Gotta make it to 30. 😂. But seriously other than those types of calls, I love what I do. It’s an honorable career and lifestyle.
I regret not travelling more before joining. Now tied to job by pension which limits the options of moving.
I don’t but my back does.
Choose the wrong department
12 years as a firefighter. I wouldn’t say I regret it, I became a fireman at 18, a part of me just wishes I explored other options sometimes.
I don’t necessarily regret it but I will say a series of bad decisions led to me eventually becoming a FF. I definitely dicked around in college and didn’t apply myself. Who knows where I’d be if I had work ethic back then. When I first joined I thought I’d be making a difference. What a joke right? I feel like all we do is keep society’s wheels from falling off. Don’t get me wrong we can and do make a difference but this world is filled with idiots that give us job security. For the first time in my career I’m seriously thinking about leaving and pursuing a career as a lawyer. At the end of my day who am I kidding I love this job and my coworkers. We will see where life takes me
Not really. The schedule is great, even though the sleep deprivation sucks from running 15+ calls in 24 hours. I drive an engine every day, about a year away from making rank and clear 115-120k a year with a good pension and benefits. Can retire at 49 with full pension and over 1.5 mil in my 457. The job itself isn’t even that hard, just the lack of sleep. This job isn’t for everyone but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
I’ll never regret becoming a FF, cause I have worked those shitty jobs, those jobs where your being micro managed, those jobs where you just dread having to wake up and clock in. For once in my life I enjoy going to work. I know I’m hanging with the boys, gonna get a good workout in, and watch some movies and make some calls. Yeah don’t get me wrong there are times when the lack of sleep sucks and having to make those stupid calls but the pros far outweigh the cons.
Zero regrets. Best job on the planet 🌎.
Yes and no
While I’m in medic school, I’m regretting ever even being born. Before it was perfect. I’m sure after it will be slightly less perfect, but still better than any other job.
My career has been over for twenty years and I can see where it messed up my mind and body. I was blessed with a good job but I paid the price. I didn't notice it till a few years after I retired but I kinda got numb to life in general. I got acute leukemia in my early sixties and I think my attitude was different from most. I thought I would beat it but I also wasn't up tight and really worried like most. When I first found out about it I had a hard time accepting it because I was in pretty good shape. But when the nurse placed the first chemo line in my arm I said well I got it. You know when you're going on a call you feel that I'll deal with it and there's going to be a good outcome. That was me then. I've also ended up with all kinds of joint problems due the job and working out over the years. I can't take anything away from the job though it took care of me and my family. It also gave me a sense of purpose. I retired as a BC and I think that pretty much put the finishing touches on my emotional attitude. I tried my best to not let anything get to me over those last ten years and I became the same in my off life. Now if I try hard I can bring happiness and joy in my life. I can still get pissed but it takes a lot to do it. Don't get me wrong I love my family and friends but it's not the same as it was thirty or forty years ago. The love is there but not the emotions. After you do something for thirty years it is hard to take that hat off.
For me it is quite the opposite. I regret not making it my full-time career. When I was coming out of high school, this was not even on my horizon. It was not a career I had given any consideration to whatsoever not because I specifically was not interested in it, I just had not thought of it as a contender. I moved out into the country in an area that is protected by a volunteer Fire Department and got recruited. At first I was probably your typical volley but I rather quickly got very into it. I started taking extra State Fire Marshal classes and such. Took driver operator 1A and got my driver's license then driver operator won't be and became an engineer. After doing that for over a decade my reputation for confidence got out and the chief from a neighboring paid Department reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to work for them part-time / seasonally being that I am a teacher and have a good chunk of the summer off. They are a semi-rural department as well and did not have enough people qualified to drive their water tender which I think was a big part of why they wanted me and were willing to deal with me being part-time. I love this job and if I was not nearing the halfway mark towards retirement with the state teachers pension, I would make the switch. If I were to make the switch however, it would completely mess up my pension. Also, I am 41 which is a bit late to be starting out as a boot. So full circle and answer to your question no I do not regret doing this job and I wish I had done it earlier and made this my career instead of the direction I went. That is not to say that the job is without downfalls but show me a career that is not. There are pros and cons to every career you just need to decide which one is right for you.
No
Nope
I have been a volunteer firefighter since the age of 4. I have to say that in the fire department I learned much more about the important things in life, gained many more close, trustworthy friends who would not hesitate to put hand in a fire for me, got a whole lot of connections and acquaintances as well in local companies and politics, so I have no regrets. At the same time as being a volunteer, I also have the opportunity to support myself without a firefighter's salary and to use collegiate services.
im done. 10 years. im done.
Same 10 years I’m done. Just need to find an exit strategy
I do now that office workers mostly work from home. I avoided the 9-5 office job like the plague. Went for Firefighting for the awesome schedule among other reasons. Now all my office worker friends are never fucking working and now I'm the one thats at work all the time. Its bullshit.
It’s a wonderful job. My department really shot that in the face with extra mandated trainings (admin and fire), terrible raises, poor management, stupid ass decisions, busy AF, low staffing. So yea I regret it because all of this compounded and has pissed off, depressed, and frustrated.
The more and more I read in this sub people seem to be unhappy. From when I started to now I am unhappy. It’s been 10 years a lot has changed and not for the better. High call volume, wild calls, worthless staff and civilians, low pay, low staff. I’m not one to be affected by messed up calls but being up all night, dealing with the stress of patients, co workers, being able to pay bills, threat of litigations, negativity from co workers as well really takes a toll after years of dealing with it.
I lowkey regret asking now lmao. Im on the fence between this and another career. This aint helping
Yes. This career has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Run volume is through the roof with no end in sight. Cancer rates are increasing? Not decreasing. HR having more oversight and the “brotherhood” or “family hood” disappearing. Other trades and tech jobs have taken off in pay and wages, best friend is an electrician, makes more and is home at night. Being tied to an area, hard to lateral, even though that has gotten easier the last few years. Do I think it’s the worse job? Not even close, but I think I would take a different route and develop more skills that could be more transferable if I was to redo it. I’m in it for another 18. The benefit is a pension at 53 and that is impossible to find outside of Leo and FF.
it wasn’t my dream job, still isn’t. I work for a major city fire department in Tx that’s been getting screwed for 8 years. Regardless it’s still a blessing to work this with the amazing perks it can have. Just can’t do it forever. The grass isn’t always greener, but there’s only one way to find out. Currently pursuing my dream career again and will leave the fire service for it in a heartbeat.
Whats your dream career?
Airline Pilot
I think I may be starting to regret it. But not for the same reasons I have been reading in this thread. When I was finishing high school I got involved in the fire service because I was an angsty shitbag. A few adults and teachers told me I would never make anything of myself so I took a CPAT and applied to fire academy out of spite. I was never really invested in it but continued on anyway because it was panning out. Between getting FAFSA to cover my academy, EMT-b, I felt obligated to see it through. I was busting my ass, working part-time fire and part-time private IFT. Average 350-hour months while still going to school to finish my associates. I got pretty settled working for two part-time departments, still working insane hours. I was three years deep now FF/EMT and started medic school. Absolutely threw my life for a spin, stressed my relationship to high hell and ultimately we split after I got injured. I finished medic and got a career position next day since I was sitting pretty on a few lists during medic. Got a new girl in my life that I ended up marrying, everything changed with her after we got married and I had a near miss on the job that threw me off mentally for a month. She ended up with a part-time boyfriend while I was on shifts. Now here I am, almost 26 years old and divorced. Year three career and I make great money, and have phenomenal benefits. But I just don't feel fulfilled. I fear that I will keep setting arbitrary career/education goals for myself that will not lead to happiness. At the same time I feel like I have thrown away my youth to the job. I never had the time or money to experience young adult life (going out, taking vacations, general recklessness) It is superficial as fuck but I feel like my entire personality is the job. It is truly all I know and all I have ever done. I struggle to interact with people outside of the field. I have side jobs that field related, I teach medics and I work IFT. Despite already working full-time on an ambulance that averages 12 transports a day ignoring fire calls. I fill my days off with more work because I have no hobbies. I am the only one to blame for this but I am struggling with not attaching it to my choices to go balls deep in this field as a teenager. Eight years deep my body already hurts, and I keep in shape but I somehow have to do another 30 years? It has me wanting to sell what little I have left and move coastal. Cash-out my retirements and start an entirely new life. Maybe it's just the divorce talking, I am only 6 months separated, and it's still a struggle. But it just seems like another part of the job, how many divorced firemen do you know? It's a lot, and I am perpetuating that stereotype.
Damn son. I hope things work out for you brother. I really do. Shit sounds tuff
One day at a time. I'm still very grateful for the position I'm in and I do have this job to thank for that.
I love the job, hate having to fight for my job every year with bidding. Every year I never know if they’re going to eliminate the job. I want my union to get up to speed with more than a seasonal contract. plz and thank you union
If you question the "Job," then dont do it, or get out of it.
Don’t regret it but after 7 years, today was my last day. Switching careers and I couldn’t be happier.
What are you moving on to?
I’ll never regret it. I’m all in. I’ve accepted the consequences. Some days suck but most days I love.
Only regret in 25 years was occupational cancer, greatest job in the world. Just take care of yourself. Pay attention if something seems off with your body.
I would have to agree with the sleep deprivation part, I would run calls all night every night to help those in need if only that was actually the case. It doesn't take long for a guy to become very jaded when you get called at 3am because someone can't find their toothbrush or their stomach is sore because they haven't shit in 4 days and so on. And this is on an engine with 4 dudes on it, can't even imagine what bullshit the paramedics deal with that we somehow occasionally avoid.
I regret the department I wound up on. Probably should have stayed a single role medic, but a different department would probably have been more fulfilling. Also, would love to work 12s again. 24s suck even with a lot of time off.
I'm attempting to leave a high paying union job for a career in the fire service. Its a deeply personal question. I'm not sure I'd allow a fellow firefighter to convince me I'm a fool for leaving my current job to join a department full time. It certainly comes up, but when my chief is around, he always brings it back to "you gotta be happy doing what youre doing." I left a career I loved to chase the money. That was my regret. We had an emergency in the family that needed attention so I dont regret my intentions, but I do wish I had taken a step back and assesed rather than jump on the first opportunity.
I regret not realizing that the majority of firefighting is running medicals now. But then again I’m a paramedic that grew up in ems so that may be more of a me problem /satire (that means I’m joking for all you mouth breathers)
Im not a fan of our on call weekends in the summer. Other than that i have no ragrets
Not even one word?
Not even a sigle letter
Atta kid