My older brother became a fireman when he was 19. Retired a few years back at 50 or just before. Has 2 pensions, one of which he just sticks into savings each month. Really wishing I'd become an air traffic controller right out of college.

My brother is a FF/Paramedic in Northern VA. Best job you could every have. I did it for 2 years, I loved it, but the department I worked for was small and pay was low. Bigger departments make good money and benefits. Schedules vary, on average 10 days a month.

Average day is like flying, very boring with moments of excitement. It was always fun driving a big red truck making lots of noise :D

The best part of the job is the brotherhood. You work and live with the same guys. They become a second family.

One day a fellow pilot was over at my house helping me dismantle a car so we could sell the parts on craigslist and make a little extra money. My neighbor - 50 years years old and a retired firefighter -rode by on his Harley, on his way to enjoy his day off. He stopped and laughed at us a little.

As he rode off my friend and I looked at each other, both of us covered in grease up to our elbows on what should have been our day off, and realized that we screwed up: Here we were, "professional" airline pilots having to part out cars on our days off for extra money. And even if everything in our career worked out perfectly we would have to work until we are 65, will have no pension, and probably no medical coverage.

In my town the newspaper is a little upset that the firemen will be getting a 7.5% raise this year.

Well I am currently a full time firefighter/paramedic IAFF. My second job is flying i am able to balance out my schedule to work two full time jobs. Firefighting was my first choice job and will always be my job depending on what my flying job will do. Let me tell you a little more about it. The work schedule is great I work 24 on 48 off then 24 on then 4 days off. I will have a full pension and insurance when I retire. I work on a ladder co and ambulance. I do half my month on the ladder then the other on the ambulance/rescue. I have a bachelor degree and am licenced as a paramedic. (about 3 years school time in all). I work in the big house and we have 8 guys floating around. All of them are great and would trust them with my life( and I do). There is a lot of goofing off and we all make fun of each other non stop. Out of a 24 hour shift we laugh most of it. I get paid to sleep(some times). However there are inherent dangers of the job. Unlike when I go to my second job, if I find something wrong with my plane I don't fly. When your officer orders you to do something you do it. The ambulance is probably the hardest part of the job. You deal with every thing from I have toe pain(yes this is a call I really went on once) to messy deaths. Kids die and people that you know will never breath again. However every once in a while you get to see life brought in to this world. The fire department has changed over the years as more of a problem solving department. Just when you thought you scene it all, you haven't. You have to be able to jump from a dead sleep to full dressed with 100 extra pound of gear on and expected to be as nimble as a 16 y/o gymnast. Lot of sleepless night and lost days. However the pay and bennies are great. I made 100k just with firefighting alone last year and I am only a firefighter by rank.

I'm probably showing my age by posting this. Enjoy! :D

YouTube - Emergency! Theme Song

I was pretty excited when I saw this thread.

I used to be a full-time firefighter, but decided that I wanted to be an airline pilot more (I must have been drinking that night!).

I love both of the jobs. I am still a current EMT-P. I have been out of the fire service for about 9 years. I still have the helmet hanging on my wall (and not washed, of course!).

I, unfortunately, didn't have a whole lot of down time. Between being an Apprentice and having to work the Med Unit 2 out of every 3 shifts (avg of 16 calls in 24 hrs), it is still the greatest job in the world! When people say that all firefighters do is sit around the firehouse - sure, there are times when this happens. But when you go to a working house fire - it is probably the most labor intensive job and I wouldn't doubt it if you put in more hard work in 4 hours than most people do in a week.

Even with all the highjinks and picking on the "probee's," I can honestly say that to this day, those guys at St. #3 are still my family. There isn't anything in this world that these guys wouldn't do for you in a time of need. I remember a funeral of one firefighter's mother - we all went in our Class A uniforms to support him. Its really too bad that the same sentiments do not exist in the airlines.

Regarding competition for the jobs - when I got hired, it wasn't about who you knew. Everyone had to take the civil service exam. They were hiring 40 full-time firefighters and 3,500 took the test. You got credit for a variety of things (10% for living in the city, 10% for being a paramedic, 10% for ex-military, 10% for bacholor's degree, etc). Basically, if you didn't score at leat 105% on the test, you were not competitive. When I received my score, it was out to the 4th decimal place. Depending on where you work, it might be to your advantage to get your Basic Firefighter certificate prior to taking the test (it would be good test prep). However, most of the major full-time departments, put you through their own Fire Academy (which gets you all of your ratings). Plus, its also like boot camp. If you weren't in the military, it would be a good time to practice saying, "Yes Sir. Can I have another?"

If I can provide any more information, don't hesitate to send me a PM.

Nice informative post EE. Just out of curiosity, why did you leave the Fire department? Just information for myself and others who are looking at it. If you had to do it again would you do the same thing, or just stay at the fire department until your pension came to roost and then join the rank of those "liv'n the dream"? Thanks.

I left the FD because I was offered a job at an airline.

If I had to do it all over again - I never would have left the FD. 18 days off a month. Starting pay (in 1997) was $41,000. I would probably be a Captain and/or Battalion Commander now making about $80,000 per year.

Very, very, very secure job. I always said that as long as there are idiots out there, I will always be employed (smoking in bed, drinking and driving, marital affairs where the wife puts a slug in the husband, etc...) My biggest concern was that people would start thinking and acting responsibly.

Not to mention that I would have been able to retire with a full pension at age 52.

That's an awesome retirement right there. And you had +18 days off a month and making pretty good money? Add in the chicks dig it factor and it almost sounds like the pilot bennies at the airlines back in the 60's! LOL