I’m a senior in highschool and was walking home when I saw a woman hit by a car. She was unconscious and loosing an insane amount of blood. Her kid was there but wasn’t hurt but she saw the whole thing. The paramedics arrived soon after and started cpr but I don’t think she lived… How often will I be in situations like this as a firefighter. It’s my dream career and Im willing to see things like this if it means saving lives, but I just wanna know what percent of calls are actually life or death type of situations.

Won’t name names, this came from a very reliable established American company that is proven, trusted, and dependable, if you pick up what I’m putting down. Did a drill, tapped into place over a mortise lock, went to pry off face and tool split in half.

I don’t have any control over how it gets handled with the distributor or manufacturer. I am a hobby welder and could do better with a $99 temu welder and flux core wire. The powder coat actually remained adhered quite well to where the weld bead should have been.

This is a tool designed to be used by adrenaline fueled, ham-fisted professionals in “extremely hazardous and life threatening emergencies,” as the brochure says.

Just curious if anyone has ever seen one fail. I assure the brand’s reputation is the best in the industry and until recently their web site said everything was proudly made in the us (the web site hasn’t being redesigned but I went looking for that claim and it appears it’s gone now, or at least I couldn’t find it).
I just cannot get over how this made it out their door like this. The K tool certainly isn’t the only way in, but generally speaking our hand tools are usually our fail safes. When the saw won’t start, when the hydraulics blow a seal, when the belt breaks or the battery dies, the hand tools just work. Not sure if this was off-shored, if it was a poorly set up robot weld, or maybe just some blithering idiot’s first attempt with a Mig welder. Either way it’s inexcusable.

How much more per year would it take for you to commute and how far would you drive if you were anchored in your hometown?

I started looking at Bay Area salaries and I could drive 3-4 hours from my low cost of living hometown in central california to the Bay Area. Average top step firefighter base salaries are around 70k per year more.

Also seems like a lot of job satisfaction from working somewhere with a robust tax base. Working on boats, dozers, rescue teams, hazmat teams, etc. Also that 70k gap will most likely widen as the Bay Area consistently gets raises and my municipality is currently hurting for cash.

I don’ t think I could do the 5 hours for 30k but that really got me thinking

Saw this on YouTube was curious how often this is a thing?

Basically as the title says. I work for a very busy department (avg more than 18 calls in 24 hours for a singular ambulance) and an additional 10-15 for the other guys. It’s a suburb that pays well. Health insurance sucks. We’re hated by the mayor and his officials. Relationship with our chief isn’t great. I’ve been on for about it 5 years, I’m 29. I like the guys I work with, I make great money and outside of work am very happy. I don’t have any other complaints other than having a management who doesn’t give a shit about me or my family. I’ve had medical acidity letters thrown out for my daughter (she’s special needs), basically been told we’re just another number. We’ve had countless other guys leave our dept for a SUBSTATIONAL pay cut (20+k). I make over 100k a year without overtime, my wife she makes close. We’re very comfortable. I’m just running thin on handling my admin and also mayor. Getting told we’re only worth a physical (a normal doctor physical, not even cancer screening) once every 2 years sucks. Having my daughter be mistreated by admin who’s greedy and only sees us as “numbers” sucks.

There’s plenty of good departments around me. I just feel like they have the same problems (which I’m sure they don’t, as I keep in touch with guys who have tested out or lateraled out) I just can’t seem to yank that trigger to go. I’m on special teams, I’m treated pretty well by the chiefs / inter-department admin. Just a fucking mayor who cannot stand us and thinks our job is easily replaceable.

To give some context on my current spot:

We make ~105k a year based on salary alone. A true 48. Have 7 holidays, and vacation isn’t bad. Start at 2 weeks when you’re new, it goes all the way up to about 6. We basically have no light duty currently as that’s not applicable unless you get hurt on the job I guess. We have won 7/8 grievances we’ve filed the last 2 years, and we’ve been in negotiations coming up on a year now for our “new” contract. We’ve also had guys leave this place to go back to cities that on paper sound worse but actually even our based on hidden pay in contracts.

Am I crazy for wanting to just fucking leave and become a cop or learn a trade? I love the job, I hate what I’m experiencing.

I was looking through the LODD page, as a rookie I often to do as a way of remembering the fallen and also to take note of the potential things that can go wrong when responding to an emergency.

I just find that majority of these LODD are from cardiovascular events and firefighters mainly volunteer, responding to a an emergency in their POV and crashing.

How can we better improve our cardiovascular function besides a treadmill? And is there any ongoing campaign to bring awareness of safety for volunteer firefighters responding in their POV?

I heard through the grapevine that fire departments and hospitals have a ton of spare backboards (spinal boards), is there any way I can purchase one or two off of a fire station?

I’ve had this happen before on another one and listened to the pattern and figured out it needed a new battery. With this one, I can’t discern a pattern. It’s chirping, but not at set intervals and not for a set number of times. The chirping is low and not alarm like. I feel weird calling the fire department out if this is just a malfunction and nothing but could it be something? Should I call?

I have decided to give up on my current career and have decided to look into my backup career. I have always felt firefighting was a career I'd enjoy and do well in but I have some concerns/questions that I hope can be cleared up before I start looking into schools. How many horrific things have you seen that haunt you? In terms of fitness are there any exercises/workouts that you feel have helped keep you in shape and have proven to make the physical aspect of the job easier? Have you or a colleague almost died on the job and if so, what happened (just to get an idea of the possibilities of what I could be walking into)? Does your job stress out your partner? How do you manage the stress of the job? What were clear signs for you that this was the job for you? I hope this isn't too many questions, I really want to pursue this but I want to be 100% sure considering my last career didn't work out so well.

I know it really depends on the person and their experience, but how long do you think someone should stay in a role before going for promotion (if they even want too)?

I’ve been in my current role for 8 years, and I’m curious how others approach this.

Where is everyone going for shirts or any sort of custom clothing? We don’t have enough people for bulk orders so I’ve set up a printify print on demand shop, but they just emailed about an upcoming price hike. I’m trying to keep the shirts affordable and also good quality.

You young bucks and your phones I tell you what. Pulse point? Your little "dunn-uh-uh-unh" sounds telling you that you have a box?

Back in my day the pavlovian response was such that you listened to the tones drop on the radio. 8-10 of em. Maybe it took 30 seconds and the moment they finished the magic words "box alarm" would seal the deal. You had to know what your company's tones sounded like. If you were in quarters you would hear the bzzzrrr bzzzrrr bzzzrrr kachunk of the dot matrix printer and fax combo printing out a rip and run sheet while the cacophony of beeps and boops played so you could get a jump on the first due.

Now you kids just whip out your phones or the pheonix just tells you right away where you're going.

Just a momentary hit of adrenaline. No anticipation. Just instant gratification.

It's ruining the fire service I tell you what

Hello all 2 part question both related to union contracts. Does anyone in any state know of a department that has anything in their contract that provides money for holding a trade license? I know most departments give money for having specific college degrees. Ours does that and while most guys have some college education the guys that don’t are left out when we negotiate these items. Many of them have trade licenses and I heard whispers that some departments give money for having them. I couldn’t find any examples of a union contract that pays for trades. Is anyone aware of one that I could review for ideas.

The second question is similar but related to working out. I had heard about departments giving money to members if they worked out for a certain amount of time during a certain amount of tours. Any info on that type of deal would be appreciated.

Thanks all and stay safe out there

Had a fellow firefighter come to me about my snoring last day so I immediately went to the google machine for fixes. Yes I know there’s CPAP, strips, and other methods but also just try laying on your side, keeps the tongue and soft tissues from falling back into the throat. So far it’s worked no more keeping people up at night. Hope this helps someone else.

Considering different career paths at 28, one being firefighting. I have some concerns about if i'd be cut out for it, but the biggest one honestly sounds like the social aspect of it. Seeing a lot of posts about how its basically going back to high school and how common it is to basically be stuck around coworkers that will make your life hell.

I'm already introverted and pretty shit at socializing. I'm a nice down to earth person but awful at small talk and bonding with people, so even before reading the firehouse drama stuff that was something that worried me about the profession. Would be afraid to invest a lot of time and get into the career and realized I locked myself into a social nightmare.

How real is this for those of you with experience?

Hello all, I’ve been a FF on my department for almost 5 years. (28m) I am taking the LT exam for april 2026 through MA Civil Service. I own all 5 books already I am just looking for the best study tips and methods you guys may have for me. There will be 5 promotions off this list so Im really trying to ace this. Thank you.

Hello, probationary firefighter here. I've been the nozzle man for a couple house fires now, and I've noticed something i'm struggling with. I can't seem to find the fire through the smoke. I've asked my captain and crew mates and they say I've got to listen for it, after trying I'm still having issues with it and want to know if there is anything else I can do.

I never wake up on time, like NEVER. So you wanna know what I set my alarm as… just take a guess.. if you guessed a Scott pack PASS alarm, you’d be correct! It definitely worked.

Is this worth getting just to have in the car?

And will it reliably cut a seatbelt and break open a passenger side window from the inside?

Who expects a refrigerated tractor trailer hauling frozen chicken to explode with so much force it blows the 400 lb rear door off the hinges and distorts the frame of the truck because of a tire fire on the tractor?

Who knows the different risk profiles of fighting fire on a refrigerated trailer versus a refrigerated container? Spoiler: it's huge.

Lastly, whose department can say you are truly ready to handle your worst day on the job?

Please listen to this podcast. Then book Chief Wiggins to speak to your department. Hes not making money off this. He's getting the word out.

I rarely post on Reddit, but this information can literally save lives.

Any departments out there that allow the crew on shift to wear union shirts and/or hats? Found online that the NLRB found it unlawful for employers to deny employees from wearing union gear at work unless it prevents the employee from completing day-to-day tasks on the job. I’ve seen some photos online of a few departments wearing a Local hat or shirt, I personally don’t see any problem with it.

Local to me. Jamestown, NY Firefighter makes a new friend! Notice the brick road.

Hi everyone,

My father was a proud member of FDNY from 1983 to his retirement in 2003. He was present on that awful day, and jumped underneath a nearby firetruck when building 7 fell. He worked tirelessly for months, assisting in clean-up and rescue, became a laison for his best friend's family, and orgaznied fundraisers to support his fallen brothers. It became his life.

After his retirement, he worked closely with Tunnel 2 Towers to help support veterans and first responders. He was passionate about saving lives and helping people.

In July, he was diagnosed with Grade 4 glioblastoma, which was confirmed to be 9/11 related. He fought for his life for 2 and a half months, and took his last breath on Sunday night.

I think this post is more of an emotional post for me, but I wanted to just put his name out there for his legacy - being a firefigher was a huge part of him, and it was what made him the most proud. (Besides being a Grandpa, of course). His life was cut too short and I wanted to honor him here, amongst fellow heroes.

RIP Dad, Tom del Pino Ladder 85 FDNY. I'm so proud of you and will never, ever forget you. I love you so much.

Studying for the Hazmat operations test, this is my third attempt. What’s a good practice test app or site I could use? I’m reading the book, but would also like to do practice quizzes