Hse Or Firemaster

[fireslayer1]

Which Company Is The Best To Work For Hse Or Firemaster?

[bullfighter199]

Hey man I work for Firemaster and we are 5 times busier than HSE is right now so if you want a good job that pays well and has good equipment, apply today. I only waited 3 days from the time I applied to the day they hired me. Also if you already have your 3Q and 1081/1001 you're almost garunteed a job.

[OzzyOsmond]

They still hiring? Our entire department was just outsourced to contractors. Looking for work now. Got 21 years of F/F experience.

[firemaster]

Doesn't hurt to send in a resume. Go to firemaster.ca for the information.
Plenty of opportunity, plenty of money to be made. The safety industry is blowing up in Alberta right now. Might just have a little bit to do with the oil patch maybe?

[hoss15]

HSE is way better than firemaster..u may be busier right now.but thats jsut cuz we charge more cuz we get the job done right.

[Shilts]

I sent a Resume off to HSE last week (First one i've done for a long time) Have you heard of them taking international applicants before ? Any idea what the usual ime for a reply to resumes is?

[OzzyOsmond]

I sent off resumes to both HSE & Firemaster. Heard nothing back.

I have heard that HSE might be buying out Firemaster though.

[Shilts]

how long ago ?

[bullfighter199]

Dude i work for Firemaster and there is no chance that HSE is buying us. They put a bid in years ago and got laughed at. there is no way we would sell to them!!!! Doesn't HSE stand for "hire someone else" or " HOLY SHIT EVACUATE".

[neway]

i work in cen. ab and we had a sales man for a new oilfield fire fighting company stop by. they are building some top of the line trucks and they will be looking for guys.sounds like they will be ready to go soon.

[neway]

if anyone is looking for work you can email me and i can tell you how to get ahold of them.
stambaugh77@hotmail.com

[OzzyOsmond]

Drop me a line through the private message section here dude.

I'm interested.

I have 1001 Level II & the complete 1081 (incipient/interior structural/advanced exterior & fire brigade leader)

Not sure where I heard the HSE/Firemaster rumor.........funny how the grapevine works huh? I submitted resumes to both of them 3-4 months ago. Heard nothing.

[firesafetystar]

All companies have their own strengths and weaknesses. It a matter of personal preference and it boils down to the quality of the crew on the truck, not the company. I work at Scott Safety and I can tell you our guys are just as professional as anyone out there. That guy hoss is a rookie, you can tell by the way he leads the cheerleading section for HSE. Getting the job done right means not letting the fire happen in the first place.
If you want work, contact Scott Safety in Whitecourt, but expect to be treated as a professional. Your bosses are all firefighters first, not the cheer squad.

[firemaster]

holy crap... where do i begin on this one?

I worked for firemaster for nearly two years. It was probably the best thing I could have ever done for myself to develop my career (and resume). I worked out of the Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Medicine Hat Stations. During my time there i did hundreds of frac's, drove for miles and miles and had some of the funnest times of my life. My experience there gave me the opportunity to gain more life experience such as:

- working with floyd ray. The best oilfield firefighter in the history of alberta, maybe the world

- the responsibility of driving a 15 ton firetruck nearly 100,000 km's through mother natures worst conditions and alberta's completed retarded drivers

- scheduled maintenance on every piece of equipment (sometimes unscheduled in the middle of no where)

- getting to see some of the nicest country on the planet and becoming pretty good at your alberta geography

- public speaking at safety meetings (sometimes 60 plus people)

- dealing with pissed off oil company consultants and just being able to work with all types of people

- a bit of training here and there (annual first aid training, whmis, tdg, company directed firefighting courses)

- developing a knowledge of hazardous materials and getting to the know the in's and out's of the safety industry in general (many rules and regulations to follow)

- making decent enough money to pay off my educational debt from fire and paramedic school.


However things weren't always so creamy and delicious. Here is why:

- At times the working hours were completely ridiculous. When winter hits full swing, things get very busy. I had 120 hour workweeks. (Yes that is the normal workweek multiplied by 3) You must be thinking to yourself, wow, he must have made killer overtime, NOPE. Which to this day, i don't understand how they get away with it. Firemaster only pays you a flat bonus for the time you are on location, then after 12 hours, you might get $10 an hour extra. Driving time (which is usually half your day) is looped under your monthly salary, which is usually $2600 a month or so. I remember hearing of rumours about Firepower and how some of their senior guys made $10,000 a month because they got paid by the hour.

- To address the 120 hour workweek, most oilfield safety companies have a unique exemption from transport canada that allows them to run whatever hours they want to. Because firemaster was one of those companies they were classified as an "emegency service" for oil rig emegencies. So our dispatch could tell us to go wherever they wanted us and we had to comply unless we were too tired. However, i think they have lost that status and now have to run logbooks.... (I remember my last month on the job, driving from the manitoba border to strathmore alberta, because they needed a fire truck for a frac. This was after already working 12 hours).

- I had the opportunity to go to a few well controls while working for the company.(Not like kuwait) But Pretty cool stuff and great money (usually 500 a day minimum). However the concept of "incident command" at an oilfield emergency is a far stretch from any municipal department. Certain members of our company who responded to a fairly non threatening emergency, had been up for almost 40 hours. Not a safe practice in my books, especially with almost 30 firefighters on scene.

- Not a big issue, but sometimes you would work with "fire fanatics". I'm sure everyone on this board knows what i'm talking about. Guys that live and breathe firefighting. Which is no big deal. But when a guy talks for the entire 7 hour drive from red deer to grande prairie about how he put out fires on the moon and is a shoe-in for calgarys process, you gotta bite your lip. And then tells ya about the garbage fire he put out with his volunteer department 30 times in 5 days!

- Another issue, the lack of real firefighting. I went for two years without any fires on location whatsoever. You lose some skills for sure

- The lack of training.

- Lack of a training program. When i started in oilfield, I had just graduated from my 1001 and was looking for a job anywhere in the fire industry. I remember being sent to an oilrig with a senior guy who hardly knew more than i did. I was scared to death, there were so many new things that I was pretty intimidated. I thought it was bad that i learned more from the crews we worked with at the rig, than my "senior" partner.

- Equipment was past service dates fairly often. Could have been a liablilty in an emergency situation.

- I remember hearing someone mention in a post on this site about how firemaster hires truck drivers instead of 1001 grads. It is true. I remember this time at a rig when we were setting up our truck, and a member of the rig crew came up to me and my truck driver partner and asked what level of training we had. I rambled off my experience and training... my partner said "1A". That rig guy lost a lot of confidence in us i think, and i wasn't confident in him knowing what to do if anything ever happened. "Hey trucker fire up that pump and back me up with that handline" I don't think so

- typical politics which you find at any job

- so hard to stay in shape. so hard. The edmonton process killed me, two years in a row. Guns don't kill people, gas stations open at 4am in Ft. St. John kill people

- If you have a relationship you are dying to get out of, oilfield firefighting is a good way to do it. I found it tough keep up with family and friends, having a girlfriend was not an option.

-working the usual 15 days on, 5 days off.

- working in the shop doing things that aren't in your best interest. Not only was i a firefighter i was also a painter, metal fabricator, heavy duty mechanic, taxi driver, car washer, secretary and the record holder for the most 2 hour sleeps before another 22 hour work day.


(i'll stop whining now)



Conclusion: I know i started pretty optimistic and ended negative but I must say that without working at firemaster there is no way i would have had the experience and skills to get hired on a municipal department. Which i did. Yay for me. The job is even better than i imagined it to be, and so worth jumping through all the hoops guys.

However, times are changing. Things have gotten a lot better. I still have several friends working for firemaster and HSE. The hours of work are declining, and the life/work balance is improving. The pay is going way up and the training is getting better. I have a friend working at HSE right now who is making $4000 a month salary and ~$250 bonus a day when he goes to work. That is great money. My best month at firemaster was $5000 take home.

My tip for guys getting into it, SELL YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That starting salary can count for so much. Negotiate the best deal you can with your manager. Good people are in shortage. Every alberta safety company is hiring, those reasons i listed above are the reasons why. Having a 3A REALLY helps too.

I hope this clears up some confusion. This question seems to come up all the time on this message board.



- anyone on here from firemaster?

[bullfighter199]

yep i am with firemaster and i agree 100% with what you say. this job isn't for everyone but for those that enjoy thier job, it is a chance of a lifetime. once again firemaster, you were one of the best guys to work with in the company, and once again congrats on gettin on with Regina and fulfilling your goal, stay safe brother

[WFD999]

At times the working hours were completely ridiculous. When winter hits full swing, things get very busy. I had 120 hour workweeks. (Yes that is the normal workweek multiplied by 3)


Firemaster: you didnt talk to the DOT much eh. 120hrs per week. How many sets of log books????

[West_is_best9]

Dude i work for Firemaster and there is no chance that HSE is buying us. They put a bid in years ago and got laughed at. there is no way we would sell to them!!!! Doesn't HSE stand for "hire someone else" or " HOLY SHIT EVACUATE".

Does anyone know how many years of truck driving experience you need to get on either company? I feel over qualified with my class 1 and I have no fire experience, so would I pretty much be a captain?
Thanks for your advice.

[fireguy87]

I moved to alberta in search of work in the industrial firefighting sector about a month ago. since my arrival i have applied to and called all of the major players and most of the smaller ones. i have more than enough qualifications for the advertised positions and can't seem to get a call back. Does anyone know when the firefighting companies get the busiest and start hiring.

[keg08]

What is the name of the company?

KEG08

[Ronbo]

I moved to alberta in search of work in the industrial firefighting sector about a month ago. since my arrival i have applied to and called all of the major players and most of the smaller ones. i have more than enough qualifications for the advertised positions and can't seem to get a call back. Does anyone know when the firefighting companies get the busiest and start hiring.

The patch in Alberta gets the busiest when the big freeze up happens. This is usually December/January. Many projects can only operate after the ground is sufficiently frozen to allow larger vehicles on the lease site. The patch has slowed down in the natural gas sector quite a bit over the last two years.

[offshoreonshore]

firemaster, you owe me a new keyboard, I've got coffee all over mine!

Well said. It's all true and it comes with the slant that only someone who's done the job for a while could possibly give to it.

WFD...er, no driver ever carries more than one log book...(where's that rolling eyes smiley?)

I've been at this racket for seven years now and it's taken me many places. The money has steadily gotten better as has the quality of life. I have no plans on leaving for at least another five years because I just plain have it too good where I am at. But I worked my hole off to get here and it wasn't always rosy.

Moral: Work and keep your yap shut and you'll do fine. Don't expect anything handed to you and don't go in there thinking you know it all or are owed anything. Oh, and lay off the dope, sunshine, bad pee equals PFO letter.

[mike_k28]

i was just wondering what the starting salary is ?