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Originally Posted by BMW Rider
Full time firefighter for the City of Calgary. Currently working toward my Company Officer exam at the end of this month so I can make even more money for sleeping  (that trumps getting paid for doing nothing).
Although when we do have to work, it can be all out with no breaks until the job is done no matter what time of day, holidays included. It's kind of an all or nothing job. More than once I've stood out in the cold in a foot of water, half soaked, caked in ice, manning a hoseline in the wee hours of the morning (even on one memorable Christmas eve). Or the other extreme, wearing sixty pounds of fully insulated gear and working my butt off on the hottest summer day. But I love it, and wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
Best job description I heard was: we're there to un-F*** somebody else's F*** up. |
I'm a full time firefighter/training officer for the city of Kelowna. Actually I strictly train existing members of my department as well as new recruit firefighters. When I get called out to fires, rescues and haz-mat incidents now it is as a safety officer and not as a firefighter.
I completed my Fire Officer I course last year. Good luck with yours and make sure you study! It's not that hard but you do have to be prepared.
I know what you mean about loving your job. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Some days I can't believe they are actually paying me for rappelling from the side of a building or taking new recruit firefighters into a burn building or flash over simulator.
Here is a picture from inside my office. This is what it looks like inside a flash over simulator and yes it is hot in there. If you look closely you can actually see a fire demon on the right hand side in the flames.