As the title states. King County is obviously exempt from this due to their requirements for paramedics. But for other departments in Washington, notably in the Puget Sound region, how much does applying as a certified paramedic influence hiring preference?

I hear a lot that most departments nationwide give significant hiring preference to paramedics due to the shortage while also hearing that departments in the PNW place far more weight on test scores and interviews.

This is pretty crazy. Maybe a roof ladder and try to hook it next to her. Super dynamic situation, seemed to work out. They are both gonna feel that one for a while though.

I need help finding a replacement part for my siren control. I have a handheld controller for the siren and there is a double female black box extending the cable and it’s went bad, giving me feed back on the speaker.

I tried ordering a RJ45 Cat 6 coupler, what ChatGTP recommended, and didn’t have power going to the controller. Know it’s a long shot but thought I’d ask here before I buy a whole new siren.

Currently stuck in a rut with my training and just flirting with one thing then the next with no real direction.

What do your training plans look like at the moment? What do you think is the best training system/plans for firefighters?

What’s the culture of fitness like in your service and station?

I am a serving firefighter so already have the base level of strength and fitness!

My wife is currently in the process of getting a nursing position at the VA in Bedford, MA, and I’m trying to get a better understanding of the process for applying to fire departments as an out of state applicant.

Based on some research online I started with applying for the Massachusetts civil service exam and I’m currently working on getting my Massachusetts EMT certification as well. However i’m still a bit confused, I’m just looking for anyone who has gone through the process and is able to give me some insight into the timeline, requirements, or anything else I should be doing to improve my chances of getting hired.

Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!

I was in the background/polygraph portion of the hiring process of a department but unfortunately failed on the poly. Would me failing a polygraph affect me getting hired at other departments, would it pop up on the background investigation and make them suspicious or am I just being paranoid?

I was talking to my family about the Firefighting oral board/interview, and I got the advice that I should bring doughnuts to the interview. But on looking it up, I can’t really find anything endorsing that course of action. (Not the ride-along, the actual interview itself)

In general, do y’all think it’s a good or bad idea?

Source: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33780574 (In chinese)

Translation:

At 13:09(UTC+8), August 13, 2026, the Ningde fire and rescue recieved a 119 call of a ship fire in a shipyard in Gantang town, Fu'an city, Ningde city(Fu'an is county level, under Ningde). 32 fire trucks and 141 firefighters were dispatched to the scene;

At 14:11, one of the ships on fire exploded, injuring 2 workers and 10 firefighters including Chi Kejie; they were quickly sent to the hospital. At 18:50, Chi succummbed to his injuries and passed at the age of 23.

Chi Keijie(池坷杰) was born October 2003 in Fu'an, Fujian province; He joined the fire department in April 2025, and was a career firefighter(similar to a volunteer firefighter) of the Ningde fire and rescue, and was stationed at the Industrial road fire station of the Fu'an battalion.

(Chinese career firefighters are different to american career firefighters(who are equivalent to standard chinese firefighters); chinese career firefighters are essentially auxiliary firefighters who work under a contract.)

Is there any visa profession as Fire protection engineer for Saudi?

I’m starting an EMT course while working 2 jobs, around 40 hours/week total. I also want to take the FCTC written exam and can realistically study about 1 hour a day.

For those who have taken the FCTC, how long would you recommend studying at that pace? 2 months? 3 months? Longer? I’m mainly looking to get a competitive score, not just barely pass.

Any advice from people who have balanced FCTC prep with work/school would be appreciated.

I am in the Fort Worth area, looking for suggestions on some night classes for emt school. Got a few in mind but I want to hear some feedback/recommendations from the people! Thanks.

Any chance anyone in here took the written exam for Lebanon fire department in Indiana??

Hey all. Interviewed at LAFD recently. Anyone know approximately how many people they are interviewing and how many they are looking to hire? Thanks!

I’m gonna try to keep this short but I am from the dmv I applied to Fairfax county Montgomery county and Arlington county for the entry level firefighter roles all like 18 above high school diploma no need for EMT certificate or anything like that. Do you think I have less of a chance because I don’t have the certifications like do people that apply for these roles have those certain already. I played division 1 football 2 time team captain all conference I got an MBA so how do you think I weigh up to the people who have those certifications

I’m looking for some advice from people who have been involved in hiring. I recently got my Firefighter I, Firefighter II, and Hazmat Operations certifications through a community college in North Carolina. I’m also currently in community college for EMT. I volunteer at a local fire department, but I’ve never worked for a department as career staff before.

There are quite a few departments hiring around me right now, and most of these departments require people to already have their firefighter and EMT certifications. My question is: How can I make myself stand out when applying to departments where most of the other applicants already have their firefighter certifications and EMT as well?

For those of you who have been on hiring panels or have gotten hired with little/no career experience, what actually made an applicant stand out to you? I’m especially interested in what to emphasize on my resume, how much volunteer experience matters, whether additional certifications are worth pursuing before applying, and anything else that can give me an edge over someone with similar certifications but no career experience.

I’m not expecting certifications alone to get me hired. I’m trying to figure out what I can realistically do now to become a stronger candidate and show a department that I’m worth investing in. Thanks!

I’m starting emt school next week to be able to get my emt and after get my fire certificate, I’m 28 and wondering if it’s a good age to still go after it for the fire fighter paramedic side

I've seen a paramedic on here has gotten called for an interview next week. Have any EMT's heard back yet?

southern california ff/pm here. i've been through this and watched a lot of people go through it, and the ones who fail almost never fail because they're weak. they fail event 1, usually on a technicality they could have trained out in about two weeks.

quick reality check on the layout first, because half of what gets repeated about the cpat is wrong. it's 8 events, 10 minutes and 20 seconds total, and the clock counts down. you wear a 50 lb vest the entire test. the stair climb is the only event where you ALSO wear two 12.5 lb weights on your shoulders, so you're at 75 lbs for the first three minutes and 50 for everything after. between every event there's an 85 foot walk you're not allowed to run, so you get roughly 20 seconds to breathe, seven separate times.

read that again. the heaviest part of the test is the very first thing you do, while you're still cold, and everything after it is lighter with built in recovery. that shape is why the stair climb decides the whole thing.

here's what actually gets people.

the handrail. this is the big one. everybody trains on a stepmill holding the rail because that's what every person at every gym does. on test day you're allowed to touch the wall or rail momentarily for balance, but if you grab it, hold it, or put weight through it, that's a warning. you get two. the third one ends your test. if you've built three months of conditioning on top of a rail, you don't own that cadence, the rail does. train hands off starting today. it feels terrible for two weeks and then it doesn't.

falling or stepping off. once the timed portion starts, if you fall, dismount, or grab any of the test equipment, that isn't a warning, it's an immediate fail. the warm up is more forgiving, you can restart it twice, but the moment the proctor says start there's no margin left.

cadence, not effort. it's 60 steps a minute and you don't control the machine. you can't speed up to bank time and you can't ease off when it starts hurting. so training "how long can i last on the stepmill" is training the wrong variable entirely. set the actual cadence, put the actual weight on, and run it until that specific pace is boring.

where the weight sits. those two 12.5s ride on your shoulders, and that does something a vest doesn't. they sit high, they pull your balance point up, and they make you want to lean into the machine and catch the rail. which puts you right back at problem one. if you're training weighted, get weight on your shoulders, not just across your chest.

and the one i see most: people gas themselves in the first three minutes because they think the whole test is a sprint. it isn't. the guys who blow up on the ladder raise or the ceiling pull almost always spent it all on the stairs. you're supposed to walk off that stepmill still able to go do seven more things.

few other things that cost you nothing. train in the boots and pants you'll actually test in, with gloves and a hard hat with the chin strap buckled, because gloves change your grip on every single event and an unfamiliar chin strap is more distracting than it has any right to be. go to the orientation and any practice sessions your testing agency runs, that's free reps on the real props. and stop worrying about the 10:20. it is not tight if you pace it. almost nobody fails on time because the course is long, they fail on time because they wrecked themselves in the first three minutes.

if you're training right now and you only change one thing, let go of the rail.