Fire Fighting Information Needed Please!!

[laws31]

Hey There,

I would like to first say that I am proud to be in your company. My name is Todd McKenzie, I reside in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I am 24 years old and I am working at a law firm downtown. I went to Humber College and graduated with a law clerk diploma in 2003. Since graduation I have been working in the corporate law field. In all honesty I know that this is not for me. My heart is one filled with compassion and determination and I would love to obtain a job that I am able to provide a public service. I am know seriously looking into Firefighting. I have the unconditional support of my parents and my girlfriend to pursue my dreams and aspirations. What my questions is, do any of you have any advice for me? I know that it is very competitive to get into, but I know that I have what it takes. I am not some 17 or 18 year old kid right out of highschool that is confused, I am sure of what I want and I will DIE trying to get there! My motivation and expectations have not been met yet, and it is up to me to obtain them.

I am looking into the pre-service firefighting courses that are available at many colleges in Ontario. I am also looking into information sessions etc. I am 6 foot 1 appx. 188 pounds (Athletic build). I am looking to put on appx. 20 more pounds, anyone have any exercises or nutrition plans to point me to. I am currently on protein and multi-vitamins, on top of my 6-7 meals portions a day with a shit load of water!:) Do you recommend creatine or no-2 at all?

I would appreciate any feedback...so one day when I am 40 years old and I read a post from an enthusiastic kid, I will be more then happy to help out.

Thank you all
God Bless you!

[Raker]

Hi Todd..welcome to the forum. First of all I'd like to congratulate you on focusing on a career that is as great as firefighting. Like you, I was working in a career that I was unhappy in. I was 28 and started the road pursuing my dream of becoming a firefighter. I am 35 now and have 7 years experience, 3 as a paid professional. There is alot of information in the pages of this site. I can't tell you exactly what you should do other than to research any departments that you are interested in and find out their pre-requisites. Once you know what it is you need then get busy at it.

Going to one of the fire academies and getting your 1001 certification would be a start. It will run you a few thousand dollars and about 3 months of your time. Any medical training or experience would be a bonus. Experience as a volunteer firefighter could be beneficial. There are many things. When I applied in Calgary in 2001, one of the sections on the application had a spot for Olympic Medals.

The fire service is very competitive. There are alot of trained firefighters looking for work. There are also alot of openings and there should be many more over the coming years in major centres. Keep focused and work hard you acheive your goals. Stay in shape and be ready for your opportunity, it will come. Most importantly though is to get as much under your belt as you can. Get excited about learning. There is alot of information out there.

[five_alarm]

Hello Todd,

Welcome to Firehall.com

On our site in the left menu you will find Institutes (http://www.firehall.com/listlink.php?list=institute) this is a list of links to the major training facilities in Canada. On these sites is all the information needed to prepare for and begin a career In Firefighting.

Read through Our Forum the whole thing great but look here
Recruitment (http://www.firehall.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=43) and Education & Training (http://www.firehall.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14)Start with Future Firefighters!! (http://firehall.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1685)

As to which route is best, well... You can not beat experience.

Good Luck
F_A

[ABFF37]

First of all welcome, and good for you on your choice of a career in the fire service. You couldn't have picked a better forum to become involved in, I've seen more information and support on here than any other place on the web.

Right off the bat I'd say you have a lot of questions, and you sound very keen to learn and work towards this career, and right now that's probably the best thing you have going for you. It can be a long road to get into a job, so try to always maintain that positive attitude, it will serve you well.

I will give you a few pointers that I can think of off the top of my head here to begin. Spend an afternoon when you're free just looking through the firehall forums here on recruitment, hiring, that kind of thing. You'll see a lot of questions to recruitment and training in general, as well as specific discussions of perticular departments and their hiring processes.

As far as what you can do...well a pre-service program is definately an asset. Look into those as much as possible. I'm not too up on them, so I'll leave someone else to give you the 411 on that. Volunteer work is something that is held in very high regard, so I'd recommend that you invest in some volunteer experiences if you haven't already. There are tons of options out there, some are even in a related field. For example, the red cross disaster services, or search and rescue organizations. I had two years of involvement with my local search and rescue organization prior to being hired, and it was a blast...plus it counted big time on my fire application. Of course there is always being a volunteer/POC firefighter, again I don't know as much about the Ontario scene, I'm sure others could point you in the right direction.

One last thing I'll say for now...if a department near you is running a recruitment campaign, go and give it a shot. You have nothing to lose, and very valuable experience to gain. I started applying to departments and writing exams the day I turned 18. At the time I didn't have a chance, but I got a lot of good experience getting my application together, as well as doing the apptitude exams, so when I was a serious contender a few years later I had been through some of it before. I attribute this as one of the reasons I was lucky to be hired at a young age. Go get a book or two on firefighter exams, Barrons has one of the better ones, and start reading through that.

You'll see once you start on a few of these things that a path will emerge for you to follow, then it becomes a matter of working hard and putting in the time to get where you want to be. Hope that helps for a start.

AB:)