I can help you with some of your questions. I am an Engineer with CDF. As far as the hiring standards for seasonal's, it depends on where you will work. I work in San Luis Obispo and it is a little harder to get hired here than some other places because we don't have as many positions to fill. If you go to monterey, or riverside it is a little easier due to the fact they have numerous positions. But over all it is easier to get hired with CDF that other deparments. But you get layed off in the winter. You can work up to nine months as a seasonal firefighter. If you plan on making a career in the fire service, I reccomend going to a CDF unit that offers a schedual "A" program (contract with local county or city to provide all fire protection and emergency response). San Luis, Riverside, Monterey and Madera are a few. Places like San Diego and San Bernadino, for the most part, do not have this program so all you will do is wildland firefighting.

As far as the B/A dergree in bus. admin. this will definitly help you. Especially later in you career when you want to promote to Chief. I currently have a A/S in fire tech and I am going to start my B/S in Bus Admin. Feel free to email me with any question. I reccomend you copy and paste this in the Open Forum for a better responce. Good Luck and good choice to change careers.

Thanks for the response fireman.

As far as the CDF, I don't really mind taking up seasonal employment just to get my foot in the door and I am open to working anywhere in the state for a couple of seasons or more.

Do city/county departments regard wildland fire experience in high esteem or do they look for more urban experience?

What sort of qualifications did you have when you first became a CDF employee? Did you start out on seasonal status and move into a permanent position? What sort of education did you have? Did you complete a fire academy prior to applying to CDF for the first time?

Is it neccessary to complete Paramedic school for a decent shot at a CDF position? Seems more and more that it's becoming a prerequisite for employment in any fire department.

Thanks again for your help.

-Ryan

Fireguy,

I see you are in Orange County, you should look into becoming a Reserve Firefighter there. It would allow you to gain experience and not tie you up for 96+ hours a week like being a CDF seasonal would. CDF is not a bad place to work, and it is not just wildland (depending on where you work). You don't need to be a medic to get hired on as a seasonal (Firefighter I officially) since there are no seasonal paramedic positions, but to get on with CDF permanently it is VERY much to your advantage. In fact if you become a seasonal and then go to paramedic school you would be nearly assured landing a permanent firefighter paramedic job with CDF.

Good Luck

Fireguy,
like firemedic said, being a medic really will not help you become a firefighter I for CDF. It will however help you move into a perm. position. We have many firefighter I's and Limited Term Engineers leaving CDF for a season to become a medic. If your want to work. then I reccomend going to medic school in the winter and working for CDF in the summer. But make medic school your TOP priority. Medics are in great demand in all deparments. There is a extreme shortage in CDF of medics. In San Luis, we just went to medic/engineers and we are having trouble filling due to list depleation.
As far as the requiments and desires of a firefighter I. They are minimal. When I applied in 1998, there was about a 5-10% chance of getting hired. Now the chances have increase dramatically to too mass movment though the ranks. We are hiring people with very little to no experince or training. So I reccomend you fill out an app. (I think they come out in February). In the meantime look into medic school, become a reserve firefighter somewhere, take HazMat FRO, CPR and EMT or first responder medical, and if possible take the CDF 80 hr wildland academy if you can find one (riverside would be a good place to check). These three are the minimum req. for a seasonal. Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

I am currently planning to enroll in Santa Ana College's A.S. Fire Tech program and go through their academy, beginning in spring of 2003. I figured once I did that, then I can look at medic school, since everywhere I look required at least 6 mos. of EMT full time work experience prior to application to medic school. Figured I would work for AMR, etc. for several months, then go to medic school. Then, finally, I could apply to city depts and in the meantime work for CDF on seasonal term to get myself at least some experience.

Does that make sense, or would it be more beneficial to just go work this coming season for CDF, then go to medic school next winter? I can get the EMT cert in a few weeks prior to CDF seasonal work, but would that constitute full time work as EMT? In other words, would a full season of work with CDF give me the minimum EMT exp. req'd by medic schools?

Also, how would it affect my hiring in a city dept if I have say a season at CDF and medic cert only vs. A.S. Fire Tech degree and completed fire academy?

Please excuse all the questions, but I'm trying to understand how all of these different components work.

Oh yea, I talked to Orange County Fire and city of Orange Fire and they both have volunteer/reserve programs that I am applying to now.




This message was edited by fireguy on 10-2-02 @ 8:11 AM

Fireguy,

OK, what I'm gathering is that you want to work for a city fire department, but you're not sure whether or not you want to go to medic school, right? Here's my advice:

First of all, don't get too fixated on becoming a seasonal for CDF. Yeah it's good experience, and can look good on a resume, but it is definitely not for everyone.

Second, prior to making any decisions about paramedic school you'd be wise to do some serious soul searching about whether or not that's something you want to do. Way too many people are going to paramedic school for the sole purpose of getting on as a firefighter, and then they get all bitter about having to work as a paramedic once they get hired. Remember, departments that hire you because of that paramedic license WILL EXPECT that you will use it.

Third, a fire academy is a no brainer, an AS in Fire Tech. is nice but not always necessary (your existing BS will make the GE's for the AS a snap) but remember that guys with fire tech degrees and academies are a dime a dozen. Get them but don't think they are in any way a guarantee of anything other than admitting you to a testing opportunity.

You are on the right track, get your EMT. Get a job as an EMT and see if you can stomach the grunt work of EMS (and I'm not talking about blood and guts). Then you can make an informed decision about paramedic school. Try to become a reserve or volunteer. Take all the fire classes you can (they're easy) and get exposure to as many people in the business as you can. This builds up a resume, and helps you figure out what you want in a career.

Good Luck,

P.S. any other questions feel free to post back.

Hi,
I'm 18yrs old. I work full time, as a EMT and for a all PCF county department, that has a contract with CDF. The department is gonna try and get us on as seasonals with Monterey/San Benito unit. We start our 67 hour class next week.thats all we have left to get. But what I was wondering was, what is a 80 hour wildland cert. that you mentioned earlier in the discussion?
thanks!


This message was edited by jordan_ace33 on 1-23-03 @ 7:45 AM

Fireguy:

Let me respond to whether your B.S. is an advantage and whether the choices you are thinking about are correct. Anything in your background can be an advantage or disadvantage. It all comes down to how you sell it in your oral interview. If you come across like a snotty college brat that will change the world, guess what - you probably won't score that high. If you sell it as something you accomplished, and don't "oversell" it, you should be fine. The oral interview is what usually gets you hired. People without education are getting hired. Why? Because they do well on the oral interview.

The bottom line is that any experience and education is what you make of it. Period. I would suggest doing the first option you suggested - getting into the academy, getting your EMT, and then looking into Paramedic school once you get some EMT experience. I think CDF can be valuable experience, but it is not for everyone. Once again, the experience gained can be valuable, but is it looked upon better than something else? It doesn't matter. Remember that every person on the oral board has their own opinions and biases. If you were trying for a rural department, yeah the CDF experience might be of value (but once again, it all matters to how you sell it - or don't sell it in the interview).

Take it a step further - many people think that having paid full-time firefighter experience should be really beneficial in getting another full-time job. Well, I know many firefighters that can't get other fire department jobs because of their lack of oral interview skills.

Also, if you're working as a CDF seasonal, doing 96 hour shifts, that doesn't leave much time for testing or taking classes. Talk to most CDF seasonals and you'll find out that many times during the summer, they're working for 21 days straight because of responding throughout the state on fires. Great experience, but it takes away any chance for continuing education or taking fire tests for full-time departments. Just something to think about.

Hope that helped, good luck!

jordan_ace33,

...take HazMat FRO, CPR and EMT or first responder medical, and if possible take the CDF 80 hr wildland academy...

I believe fireman2035 got confused with CDF's Basic 67 hour training course or maybe with the U.S. Forests Service's 80 hour training course.