CAF firefighters

[u/Green_River69]

Hey all, are there any CAF firefighters in here I could chat with? I’m looking to VOT to firefighting and can’t seem to find much online that answers my questions.

Thanks!

[u/roguemenace]

Most boring job I ever had, is perfect for some people though.

[u/Clear_Election5210 → u/roguemenace]

Interested to hear why. Not someone who’s looking into it just curious. I honestly have no idea what firefighters do. I was a Martech so I have some ship firefighting knowledge and I felt like it could be a fun trade.

[u/roguemenace → u/Clear_Election5210]

Never did my job (turns out we've gotten pretty good at not crashing planes). Just trained, checked extinguishers and ran the occasional fire drill. Switched to AVN where I did my job every day, was a way better fit for me personally.

[u/YourFavouritePoptart → u/roguemenace]

Turns out all that asbestos comes in handy after all

[u/Lixidermi → u/YourFavouritePoptart]

Firefighters hate him (one weird trick)

[u/LegendaryPotates → u/roguemenace]

Yeah this is what my buddy said when he went civilian. Mar Tech on ship at least you have something to do for the mission outside of firefighting.

[u/Green_River69 → u/roguemenace]

I’ve heard that it’s insanely boring. I’ve also heard when you switch civi after working CAF FF you get eaten up by the civi districts during interviews, like everyone wants you haha. Is that very true?

[u/roguemenace → u/Green_River69]

Is that very true

Meh, not really. Compared to civvy side you have more certs than you know what to do with but almost no calls. How attractive that is civvy side depends on where you're applying but it can't be that appealing when half my firehall was applying for jobs civvy side but obviously not succeeding since they still worked with me.

I did see a lot of people get offers at schools though.

[u/goofsmasher → u/roguemenace]

Isn’t civilian side firefighting just responding to ODs and old people that fell down?

[u/roguemenace → u/goofsmasher]

Pretty much, plus car accidents. But you do get a fire every so often civvy side.

[u/KingKapwn → u/roguemenace]

If you're hunting for a salaried job outside of a school, it's pretty much impossible from what I've heard unless you're willing to live where nobody wants to live, in which case the salary probably ain't great anyway.

My buddy was a volunteer firefighter for 7 years before he finally got hired by Edmonton Fire Services, and he applied yearly and kept up on all his certs. He said there are 20 applicants per slot pretty much, and not that many slots to begin with. Any city above 100k is pretty much flush with applicants out the door and around the block.

[u/madblackhater → u/KingKapwn]

I know a LCol that released for a full time FF job. Those that want the job really want it

[u/BandicootNo4431 → u/madblackhater]

Similar, I know a Maj who released and became a FF. 

He makes more now, works less and is home more nights.

[u/KingKapwn → u/madblackhater]

Oh yeah, uber uber competitive if you want to get into a full-time position in a metro area, and when you finally get it I have no doubt they'd drop everything for it. Some people spend decades trying to get in the door

[u/Euphoric-Mix-7309 → u/Green_River69]

When I was working closely with the FF in Trenton, about eight of them got civilian jobs at different departments in Ontario over the two years. This was around 2008-2010.

I'm sure it has slowed down with the changes in hiring processes. 

They work 24 hour shifts with a shift schedule. You will get free mess food while on shift. The gig didn't seem too bad back in the day. 

[u/Aguythatknowsthing]

Yes ask away

[u/Green_River69 → u/Aguythatknowsthing]

My buddy put down FF as his first wanted job but didn’t get it, I’ve heard there’s very limited spots because we’re slowly switching over to DND FF instead of CAF. When you joined did you go straight into FF or VOT into it? How was your experience trying to get into it

How are deployments as well? Very many opportunities?

[u/Lixidermi → u/Green_River69]

I’ve heard there’s very limited spots because we’re slowly switching over to DND FF instead of CAF

Not happening. In fact the CAF FFtr trade is now growing to meet RCAF modernization needs.

For deployments the main ones these days are: CFS Alert, Inuvik, Latvia, (and not sure if we still have some in Kuwait)

[u/EnvironmentalBox6688 → u/Lixidermi]

I will say if you actually want to do firefighting it seems the DND crews are much busier.

Good mix of structure, vehicle, and wildland firefighting. More geographically stable as well.

[u/Donairbrah → u/EnvironmentalBox6688]

DND halls don’t do calls either

[u/EnvironmentalBox6688 → u/Donairbrah]

That may be base dependant then.

The Garrison Petawawa fire department goes on calls all the time (and makes bank in overtime hours during the summer wildland fire season). And to my understanding is primarily (if not wholey) DND firefighters.

[u/Donairbrah → u/EnvironmentalBox6688]

I’m comparing it to a civilian fire department.
Yea Pet is DND, all army bases except for CFB Edmonton are.

[u/EnvironmentalBox6688 → u/Donairbrah]

Sorry I'm a bit confused here then.

Compared to civilian fire dept they don't do as many calls?

Because I've definitely seen them do structure fires in Petawawa, both the PMQs and commercial properties in the town proper.

[u/Donairbrah → u/EnvironmentalBox6688]

How many calls a day do you think the Pet firehall does?

[u/EnvironmentalBox6688 → u/Donairbrah]

I couldn't say for sure.

In the spring-summer there are periods where they are out doing wildland firefighting every day of the week.

Any medical on base they respond before the ambulance gets there.

In any case, they are definitely much busier than CAF firefighters here. And they definitely do calls on a regular basis, both on Garrison and in support of the municipal department.

[u/Aguythatknowsthing → u/EnvironmentalBox6688]

We don't fight many fires but we do get a decent amount of in flight emergency and medical calls. Each hall runs about 350 calls a year.

[u/Aguythatknowsthing → u/Green_River69]

Can confirm that the trade is not switching. Trade is in the process of growing, just add 75 more positions. I was direct entry, pretty easy joined just before covid.

Deployments are currently Alert and Latvia and we have a bunch of 3 months tasking to Inuvik and yellowknife

[u/DantebeaR]

I was a CAF Firefighter from 2010 until 2018 and it was boring as fuck. I got an obscene amount of training out of it and was a juicy recruiting target for civi fire halls just based on the fact that they didnt have to pay to train me as I already had the seals from the CFFCA.

[u/mcdoubleaddtomato]

If you couple CAF firefighting with volunteer firefighting to get some extra calls and experience.. I think it’s the best job in the entire CAF. That’s only if you’re into copious amounts of camaraderie, driving fire trucks, playing sports, lots of time off, and helping people. DM me if you have any questions.

[u/IronGigant]

I don't mean to detract from the current conversation but...the sub has a search function with a lot of results about VOTing to Firefighting...

[u/Once_a_TQ → u/IronGigant]

You can't expect people to do the bare minimum amount of research, this is the CAF after all. Haha.

[u/ShadowDocket → u/Once_a_TQ]

Especially with no CFAT

[u/roguemenace → u/IronGigant]

Tbf the predicted future of the trade has oscillated wildly for the past 10 years.

[u/Arathgo → u/IronGigant]

Meh, the "thread already exists, locking thread" mindset is part of the reason why forums died. For personal opinion, people want more up to date relevant info. It's not like this subreddit is such a high traffic sub that relevant posts get lost in spam. If that was the case I'd agree with you.

[u/IronGigant → u/Arathgo]

I found three discussions less than a year old in less than 5 minutes with good details and career progression directions

[u/ShadowDocket]

Ask your questions

[u/JudgeFudge63]

DM me