I am 34 and I work for an almost west coast fire department. I work 24 hour shifts 10 or 11 days a month. 7am-7am. I live about 25 min from LAS. I work a day then off a day 5 times, then I get 6 days off in a row. My shift calendar is posted on the next comment. I know my schedule at least a year in advance and I can trade shifts around pretty easily with the exceptions of major holidays. (Christmas, Thanksgiving, NYE, and 4th of July)

I have a defined benefit pension that I can draw on at age 50 with 20 years credit. I have a little over 7 years in so far. I absolutely need to work another 8 for a total of 15 years and I can buy 5 years credit to make it 20. I make 92k base and 120k with overtime (2 extra shifts a month)

For the past two years I have been pursuing my ratings. I have CMEL and CFI/CFII. I am teaching on my days off from the fire dept and I have about 525tt as of 10/2019. I qualify for the R-ATP through Liberty University at 1000 hours. I have two bachelor's degrees and 60k in student loans that I need to pay off by working both jobs for at least a year or two.

I also have enough vacation saved up to make it about 3-4 months to make it through regional training and IOE. I can also work a bunch of trades prior to going to an airline on the front end so I can be off for longer.

I figure I need to be based in LAX, SFO, PHX, possibly SEA or DEN if I go to a regional. I have a wife and two kids. QOL is definitely most important when it comes to scheduling.

I would obviously leave the fire dept for a job at a legacy, but I don't really see myself leaving for a regional or LCC, even if I make it to the left seat.

My original plan was to try and get a spot at allegiant and make it to the LAS base and merge the schedules and work both jobs. I am looking at all my options for the next step- corporate, cargo, 135, etc

Anyone have any advice?