General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 30 Percent of California's Forest Firefighters Are Prisoners [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)if you apply for the Los Angeles or San Diego fire department, both large urban departments, they recruit classes every so often... you'd better have a resume with at least Fire Fighting explorer in your resume... preferably with saith department.
Will some people get in without these? Sure. but most people who want to become professional fire fighters have served first as reserves and volunteers. It is the way it is,. By the way, if any of these guys gets a fire science degree, which your friend should be working towards if he is serious about it... they will also be considered and the character references from their Fire Captains, like characters references from people working for the reserves or a volunteer department, will weigh heavily in their favor.
So if your friend is serious... I just told you. Get a fire science degree, go though a local academy, and join a department to get your feet wet. Some credentials that will make it easier,. EMT and EMT-P... yeah, yeah, the department should send you to school, but in reality people get their certs before they apply and many work for ambulance companies before they get hired on by departments. In fact, many departments do not hire without those certs.
Here
http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/sdcfa/volunteer-program/volunteer-positions/volunteer-firefighter.html
The San Diego County Fire authority is a good example, and most local firefighters understand that after a year or two of doing this, they can move to Heartland, San Diego, Chula Vista, CAL FIRE... et al. There are exceptions to this... like the NYFD, but even New York, has it's issues. They still try to recruit from the same places they have for generations. And the more rural area you live, the more this applies.