Should a person volunteer at a department before trying to apply for positions

[Alberta_Fire]

I am 22 years old and wondering about a career in Firefighting. I am considering taking the course at Lakeland college. Should a person volunteer at a department before trying to apply for positions. If so is there a list of volunteer fire departments. I currently reside in Edmonton and looking to be placed in an edmonton based position. Please help

[fire_code]

I am 22 years old and wondering about a career in Firefighting. I am considering taking the course at Lakeland college. Should a person volunteer at a department before trying to apply for positions. If so is there a list of volunteer fire departments. I currently reside in Edmonton and looking to be placed in an edmonton based position. Please help Well you get credit for posting this in the right place.

http://www.firehall.com/departments.php (or "Departments" on the left side menu) gives you a list of all departments with websites, broken down by provice. It doesn't specify if it is volunteer or not (which we will probably add eventually), but it wouldn't take long to go through the list of departments in your area.

Regarding your other question, go to the "Recruitment & Career Questions (http://www.firehall.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=46)" topic; on the top right of the list of threads there is a "Search this Forum". Type "volunteer" or "volunteering" and you will see many threads regarding volunteering before applying (make sure to use the "Search this Forum" option under that specific topic; using the "Search Forums" at the top center of the page will return results from the entire site instead of scoping it down to recruitment and career questions)

[LFD_FF17]

Volunteering certainly doesn’t hinder you in applying for a job. It is not required but it helps for sure. Around Edmonton there are various volunteer depts. However you must live and/or work in that community because you need to be close in order to respond. Strathcona County has volunteers in Ardrosson and South Cooking Lake. Gibbons is volunteer, Parkland County, Stony Plain, Sturgeon County are volunteer as is Leduc County. However if you are going to move to become a volunteer you might want to look out side the metro Edmonton area, I did and I found a great department here in Lacombe.

Also if you are looking into getting your 1001 look at Emergency Services Academy in Sherwood Park, the tuition is a little more then Vermillion (Lakeland College) but you can still live at home and don’t need to find a place to stay or stay in a dorm for 12 weeks in Vermillion.

[FLASHOVER05]

I've been told that volunteering can be one of the most challenging tasks out there... but rewarding none the less, you'll get hands on experience into a possible career and learn something along the way... consider it like learning a trade (Electrician,carpentry, etc.) it'll take a while before you are even considered to be a pro.

Good luck,

Alex

[Josh00]

Well it's not a must. But it would be of great benefit to you to get some experience in emergency operations and exposure to what you'll have to deal with before-hand. It's ALWAYS good to be able to put field related work experience such as being a volunteer/part time firefighter on a resume, but even better before going in to a city such as edmonton.

This will also give you the opportunity to hopefully take some NFPA 1001 (professional firefighter qualifications) courses (which edmonton is starting to recognize) through the alberta regional training grants that each alberta fire department gets.

[Tiny3]

I am 22 years old and wondering about a career in Firefighting. I am considering taking the course at Lakeland college. Should a person volunteer at a department before trying to apply for positions. If so is there a list of volunteer fire departments. I currently reside in Edmonton and looking to be placed in an edmonton based position. Please help
Volunteering will help you realize if you really want to be a firefighter full time. It is a good way to see how you react to emergency and stressfull situations. There is usually a waiting period before you get accepted in to a fire dept. and volunteering is one way to show you are serious about firefighting.

[irsqyu]

Volunteering does not only mean in the fire service, any type of community volunteering is a definite asset. This could be at the local hospital, animal aid, blood donor clinic or any of these types of activities! ;)

[nixon]

I just got on a volunteer fd and I think its the way to go, there is a probation period but it pays off. i just found out that when i go to school in vermillion for the 1001 a fraction of the cost of schooling is payed by the municipal district.

[HalifaxHooligan]

While a stint at a volunteer deptartment would look awesome on your resume, but you don't have to volunteer at a fire department prior to applying for career.

As previously mentioned, almost any volunteer experience looks great on a resume - be it volunteer hockey coaching or volunteer Search and Rescue. Keep in mind anything that you volunteer for where you get additional training (S&R for instance) will probably be benefical down the road...

Obviously you have to find something that you enjoy though, so if you don't enjoy hiking through the woods in a pissing rain storm, S&R may not be the best option...

The other thing is don't do it simply because it looks good on a resume...do it because you actually WANT to do it (even after you're hired on full-time).

[firecowboy]

Any exposure is better than no exposure. The common response from others including mine is this, any training you will be exposed to in a volunteer dept will be an asset to you even in time if you decide that FF is not for you. Hopefully you will experince what most of us do and realize that it is a rewarding career and no other job/career/lifestyle can compare to the personal satisfaction and achievements that will cross your path and will remain memories. Good or bad. Good Luck

[Roadwarrior]

Lets be clear about this...volunteering at a firehall does not mean becoming a volunteer firefighter.
We have a couple of volunteers at our hall; they help with training, paperwork, fire prevention, cleanup and so on. They do not respond to calls or work on the fireground.
Becoming a volunteer (I hate that term) means applying for the position, going through an interview process and, if successful, training and eventually firefighting.