Cris:

Drop the term fireman/firemen from your vocabulary. Firefighter is the name of the position and the title of the job you will be applying for.

You say that it has been your dream to become a firefighter. That's what many others have said too. But in an interview when you are asked "Why do you want to be a firefighter?," you will sound like a clone if you respond with that answer.

So learn how to take a firefighter interview.

You can not apply for firefighter jobs if you don't know who is recruiting/testing. Sign up for the testing notification service that PFC offers.

Hopefully, the more firefighter tests you take, the better you get at taking tests and the higher your final score will be.

You need to be doing some kind of non-fire service volunteering-community service now and you need to be consistant about it.

West Los Angeles College has a Fire Science program. Most community colleges offer an EMT program. You need to be working towards an *ssociate degree in fire science and that includes all the general education cl*sses too. Ask your academic course questions to the counselors (that is what they are there for) and make use of the program instructors as sources of information about the fire service.

While your near goal is to obtain a fire AS/AA degree at the community college level, it's never too soon to line yourself out for a four year college degree. You need the AS degree to be a competitive entry-level firefighter candidate but you'll need that four year degree to promote. And it's always much harder to work on a four year degree when you are a firefighter doing shift work.

No one and no department owes you anything. Just because you do the footwork and work hard doesn't mean any one department has to hire you.

What ever junior college/community college you attend, the costs run about 25 dollars a unit and most cl*sses are 3 units. You'll need around 60 units for an AS/AA fire degree (half fire and half general education. Text books cost about 125 dollars average and you may need more than one text book per cl*ss. There will be various testing requirements the college may require and there will be all kinds of fees charged of you. Try renting text books or buying used text books from Amazon or Chegg, the campus bookstore or local off campus book stores.

After you earn your EMT, go to work for a private ambulance company for experience. While 9-1-1 experience is what you desire, realize that interfacility transports pay the bills and gets you a paycheck. Even private paramedics do interfacility transports.

Consider attending paramedic school in the future.

Get lined out now for becoming a volunteer firefighter. Various departments in the metro Los Angeles area (including Orange County, San Bernardio County and Ventura County) have paid call, auxillary and straight volunteer slots. You have to do the footwork and research to find them.

Along the way, find a mentor.

Any additional questions?

E mail me.

Tomdeltazulu@hotmail.com
This message was edited by tomdeltazulu on 3-13-10 @ 5:35 AM

How do you obtain a mentor? Is this someone that you randomly come across in your networking or are there particulars that mentor? I have allot of different Firefighters/Captains/ Engineers who help me. Can one have many Mentors or do you have to work with one? Thank you for your time and help!
This message was edited by Joanna on 4-16-10 @ 5:13 PM