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Where are all the vollunteer programs?

Hello..currently I am enrolled in all the Fire Tech course's in Orange County California and these courses need to be completed prior to the accadamy. Well I can not seem to find any dept.'s that are accepting vollunteer's or just any program to get some face time with other firefighters and dept.'s! I have so much spare time that I wish there was someone out there that can use some help or had some info for me on what I can do! Thank you! :confuse:


Check with riverside county if you haven't already. Go to www.volunteerfire.net and you can some information there on to become a volunteer firefighter with riverside county. Hope this help!



Hey....thank you much for the website! Before I send an application in, do you know the process such as after the review of application and into the accdamy? Do yoiu recieve your emt through this particular accadamy? Like I said, I;m currently in a fire tech program in line for an accadamy but just know volunteer work available! Just want to know if it will hurt me to apply with where I'm at now in this program. Your help has been appreciated! :)



The best thing you can do is take your EMT now, before you enter the academy. If you are planning to take it in the academy you will be sorry for two different reasons:

First of all EMT is a 110 hour course usually held over the length of a semester. If you take it in the academy they squeeze the same 110 hours into a condensed course of 3 weeks. The workload is tremendous, for some it is too much to handle. As a result they are let go from the academy before they even see a fire hose or ladder.

The second reason is also very important. 90% (plus or minus) of the calls we go on are EMS related. If you learned your EMT in a three week crash course you will not be nearly as comfortable (or capable) as if you had done it over a semester. There is simply much more time to digest and learn the material over a semester versus 3 weeks.

Since the majority of the calls you will be responding to when you get a full time job are EMS related it stands to reason that you want to be very competent with your EMT skills.

Lastly, if you are in Orange County you are probably looking to attend one certain academy (in the center of OC). Do yourself a favor and look at some of the other academies. Not all have a long prerequisite list of classes. You would be surprised to learn that you may already qualify for one of them.

Lastly, It does not matter which academy you attend as long as IT IS CERTIFIED BY THE STATE.
Good luck!

Paul Lepore, Captain
Author of "Smoke Your Firefighter Interview"
www.smokeyourffinterview.com
This message was edited by Paul on 10-4-03 @ 7:26 PM



Just a bit of clarification to Captain Lepore's response. It may very well be that the academy you both are referring to in Orange County only offers their EMT as a condensed 3-week crash course within the regular course curriculum. Be aware that there are other academies which offer the EMT course over the duration of the fire academy, i.e. over 15 weeks. While it may be true that the oral board doesn't give a hoot which academy you attended, wouldn't you see it as a positive experience going through one of the toughest in the state? Does the academy you plan on attending have a reputable history? Good luck in your pursuit.



Captain Lepore,
Thanks for the words of wisdom and appreciate the comment back.



I don't know if you are still looking, but check out La Habra Heights as well. I had a few friends that went there back when I went through an academy and they got a lot of valuable experience from it.