My name is Juan and I am a full-time firefighter. I have been around the fire service for 10+ years. Currently, I work in a municipal fire department as a Firefighter Paramedic in the western United States. We are a smaller department that runs only around 2000 calls per year. I love what I do and wouldn’t do anything else.
I knew at a young age (when I was 14) that I wanted to become a firefighter. There was just one problem, I couldn’t find a lot of resources online to help me figure out how to become one. After doing some research I realized that the best move I could do at that age was to join an explorer program. I found out that there was actually an explorer program going on in my city so my parents helped sign me up.
I love the program and learned an incredible amount about the fire service. I highly recommend doing an explorer program if one is available to you. With my experience as a fire explorer and motivation to continue in the career, I decided to enroll in the 8 month basic fire academy at Fresno city college and signed up for an EMT-Basic class at Fresno City College. I passed both classes then started my exciting search for a job. I applied to every fire job, both municipal and wildland, that I could find. I didn’t have much hope that I was going to get any full-time position soon because I had no experience at the time but I still had hope. The next summer came and I didn’t get any calls for a job.
Since I didn’t get any calls I decided I was going to get my degree in fire science. I signed up to be a full-time student for that fall semester. 3 weeks into my classes I got a call from a type 2 wildland crew. I was stoked! Because it was later in the year I didn’t have to go through the normal interview process but instead had to go on a hike with 6 other individuals. I was the first to finish and so I was offered the job as a firefighter on the crew.
I was on that wildland crew for 4 seasons in which I went up the ranks and became a lead sawyer, lead firefighter, and lastly a Squady. Within all these years I was periodically testing to multiple different municipal fire departments but the furthest I got in the testing process was a handful of interviews.
After the 4th season, to my surprise, I was offered a job with that same wildland crew to be a full-time employee at their municipal department. I accepted the position and I’ve worked happily working there. I understand how hard and stressful it is to become a firefighter. Test after test after test being told no takes its toll on you. That feeling is what made me want to start this site in the first place. If I can help others get a job then I have succeeded.
Please let me know if there is any way I can help you and I will do what I can. I read every email and message that’s sent to me so please contact me with any questions you may have. Good luck on your journey of becoming a Firefighter.
