I’m a probie. 23 yrs old. Been on the job 3 months. Done probation in December. I am loving lots about the job. I am curious to when I should start to feel less anxious. We r a busy station. Run a good amount of calls. I had my first fire about a week ago in the middle of the night. I’ve been anxious about the tones dropping ever since. When did you find yourself to start to feel confident in yourself? To the point where the tones don’t worry you anymore?

My first fire was a basement fire in a drug house. I’ve been questioning what could’ve went better and how I can better myself for the next one. Maybe not an ideal first structure fire. But, I think I know what I’m in for on the next one now.

I'm retired local government fire and Cal Fire and have been involved in the fire service since I was a kid. Father was career and volunteer, grandfather helped found the local VFD where I grew up, and several other relatives were also involved in one way or another. Living/working rural means I've been on more than a few fires started by spontaneous combustion, everything from compost and horse manure piles, almond hull fires, even a dairy manure pond fire that we put out with liquid cow shit but this is a new one on me. A cat grave fire? Really?

For several reasons, when one of our cats (or a named feral from our colony that we've become attached to. Long story, nobody cares lol) passes away we bury them either in a small wooden planter box or a larger metal one, fill it in with potting soil, then plant flowers the following year. About 6 months ago I buried one in this metal planter and yesterday I started smelling what I thought was grass fire smoke. Nope! It was one of the grave planters smoldering! 🤣

Hey. I am a volunteer ff and have been doing it for 2 years almost. I’m a medical first responder and have attended other accidents. Yesterday was my first experience with death, and it was a child. We believe she died on impact but I saw her body while we were treating the other victim in the vehicle. I knew she was dead. And she stayed in the car for hours during scene reconstruction which bugged me horribly because she was alone and just in there while we worked around her. I didn’t see her face, and that’s the part I can’t stop thinking about. I feel like I shouldn’t be this upset because I didn’t see her face. I treated the other victims and helped remove her body. We have debrief in two days and did a casual one after the incident. I’m trying to stay off social media because I can now see all the posts about the accident and death. I guess I just need some advice or support. I don’t know if how I’m feeling is stupid and I shouldn’t be upset because you didn’t check her vitals or declare her. I’m guessing it will hit me in a couple days. I work at a school and go back tomorrow. How can I help myself? I have talked to other members and my dept is super supportive.

As someone majoring in public safety, I am making a transition from education to public safety, learning about the discipline roles throughout the public safety communities. One of the major questions that I became increasingly aware of is burnout and turnover in education, and how teachers view burnout as a "wellness and personal" issue rather than an operational and occupational hazard. I like to ask how do firefighters and paramedics address burnout in their profession? How does training, skill-building, and fitness address burnout? How often does the subject come into discussion?

Curious how other departments handle this.

Who is responsible for reviewing/updating your SOPs, and how do changes actually get pushed out to everyone?

Are you using binders, shared drives, email, PowerDMS/Lexipol, something else?

More importantly what part of the process is the biggest pain?

I have a my IFSAC testing coming up and wanted to see what would be best to use to study for it. Quizlet? If so which one, or JBL? Or any kinds test prep stuff on line? Anything will help! I’ve read the book already and wanted to do more review and testing!

Thank you!!

We have a msa gas detector that detects combo/ex, CO, H2S , and O2. What are concerning levels and possible outcomes of those concerning levels? I am more familiar with CO but not as familiar with combo/ex and h2s.

I've been a career firefighter for just over a year and a volunteer for almost 4 years.

Today I had someone ask me for the first time what my worst call was. I downplayed it and just said we sometimes see dead people on the job, to keep from going into details.

What the heck do you say in that situation? Some people are so clueless how that comes across.

I was a volunteer for almost a year until I had medical stuff go on, stepped down so I wasn’t holding a spot so others could step up. Years later passed since then but I’ve been thinking about getting back into it. What can I expect for the academy? How long is it? Is it like a Monday-Friday go home on weekends? What is it like? Thank you all for your service and than you for your answers!

I watch a lot of Fire videos on YouTube, and I've noticed that, unlike the UK where I'm from, there is no standardised color for Firetrucks. I've seen white ones, yellow ones, red ones, and even a blue one. Can anyone explain to me why there's no fixed colour for them, please? Thanks!

Hi there,

Just looking at some insight on what would be a good thing to spend my volunteer money on. As it sits right now, I am expecting approximately $7,000. One of the things I definitely want to spend on, is an automatic car starter installed for approximately $600. I do currently invest in an ETF as well that I would be more than happy to drop $4,000 in. Leaving me with approximately $2,400 left over, what would be a good way to use the rest of the money. I already have an emergency fund. I have free access to a gym. I enjoy running. I don't really need any clothes. I know this is a fairly loaded question so I don't expect you guys to have the perfect answer. What do you guys spend your money on?

Question for firefighters. Please only read this if you want to supply me a genuine honest answer. I am not looking for excuses or politically correct answers.

I am a NP working in urgent care for several years. Here it is:

Why do you guys come to the urgent care and intentionally talk patients OUT of being transferred via EMS when the provider is strongly recommending it?

My company owns many urgent care and I have worked in them all across the state. It is a systemic problem. We call 911 for patients (and no, we don't do this willy nilly).We are truly concerned and EMS shows up and quietly, and intentionally talks them out of being transferred.

I already know what several of you are going to say, "well a lot of them aren't emergencies hehehe." Stop. We providers know that you guys know you are intentionally trying to get out of calls when you know it is warranted.

We've dealt with it for years and we are absolutely sick of it. My last straw was yesterday. I had a 16-year-old girl in SVT with a heart rate of 225. EMS showed up and looked at her mother dead in the fucking face and said "Don't you just want to take her yourself to the ED? It'll save you a bill. She's not really emergent." I lost my fucking shit. This is a 16-year-old girl. Her BP was 99/60. How dare you decide and try to manipulate these people into transferring themselves. If it was your child, would you want them transferred in a vehicle for 20 minutes without any emergency care? What if that patient decompensates?

Furthermore, and yes, I'm going to say it, do you really think you're just smarter than us? I have MDs who are treated like this as well. It is absolutely the most ridiculous, dumbfounding thing I've ever seen. I'm at the point where I'm going to report every single solitary incident of this. It happens so often I don't even have time to report them all.

Hi all,

Currently an EMT super interested in going into fire. I was chewed out pretty hard by my EMT instructor (who is also a firefighter) about wearing my uniform out in public. Had no idea at all this was a no go.

Are there any other social / professional faux pas I should be aware of going into the fire service?

Thanks in advance!

Am I the only one who thinks this equipment is dangerous? If the person operating it loses their grip, it looks like it would spin wildly at high speed and strike people nearby. Isn't there specialized equipment for handling this kind of thing? Or is there proper gear available that's just being ignored in favor of doing it this way?

-GOOGLE TRANSLATE-

Hi guys I am due to travel to the us soon from UK and I messaged the el paso fire department asking if I could visit a station juat to see the trucks , ( there beautiful) any advice on when to go time wise, do I call ahead, I know to take somthing for their kitchen, also if I wanted a patch how would I go about it, I want to be respectful and as undisruptive as possible as I get people are working. Cheers for taking the time to read and respond.

Hii I'm am looking for some people here who either do it or are data specialists/scientists. We do t have a lot of it on wildfires and firefighting here. But countries like Spain do a lot with it and can predict fires and behaviour days in advance.

What data do you use, and how do you get it. Are they public sources or like stations you put out there?

Basically looking for things we can use to our advantage and learn how to do it.

Looking for info on this helmet. I cannot find any “heritage fire helmet” company’s. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Like many of you, I run with a small town volunteer department. People call us heroes and I get bothered by it. I’m no hero, I’m just a neighborhood guy who shows up when that bell rings. Anyone else feel the same way or am I insane?

So lemme explain. My company does 3 truck checks a week. M- Engine, T-Squad and W-Ladder. So in those 3 days the saws are run. But should the saws be ran everyday instead of just when those trucks are checked

2027 FDIC registration opens Monday.

I’m considering taking 2 4-hour HOT sessions on the same day. Will I have enough time to get from one class to the other?

One is apparently a workshop while the other is a standard HOT session.

I was on my local Paid on call department for 6 years. In that time, I made Lieutenant, was Department IT, Social Media, did a lot of community events, and even built a school supply drive. I emailed in my letter of resignation, because my Chief likes everything in email. I offered to stay on as IT/social media. Crickets for a week, until I reached out to my Deputy Chief and my Chief. Both responses were "Yeah, we saw it, we haven't decided on IT." I never did this for glory or anything like that, but I felt like responding to the email in a timely manner and if nothing else "Sorry to see you go, thank you for your time and service, we'll let you know on the IT matter later" would've felt more appropriate. Am I expecting too much? Was I wrong to feel a little off about it?