Rochester Minnesota Fire Department

[Golzy12]

Hi, I was looking for anyone who is on the Rochester Fire department (Minnesota), I have a couple questions about your department If you could please drop me an E-mail, PM or just respond to this I'd appreciate it.

Thanks a lot

[Golzy12]

bumb- theres gotta be someone on the fourms affiliated with rochester

[FFEMTMills]

Golzy you ready for their test down there? Drop me an email if you wanna study for the exam.

[residents]

They have been approved a Safer Act grant to hire 3 more in 2006. I talked to the Chiefs secretery while I was in town and she stated this is a very good list to be on. She said they will be hiring for station 5 next year sometime. They also have a lot of retirements expected over the course of this list. I didn't make it back for this test and i am regreting it now. Rochester is my home town and I have some connections on the department. I will probably test in 07. How did you guys end up on the test? I am curious to know how the process is going. K.C.

[Golzy12]

They told us they expected to hire 10 to 12 off the list, I wonder if that includes the 3 from the safer grant and the people for the other station?

[mnfirefighter24]

if you guys have questions about rochester go ahead. i'm not on the department but am very close with the whole shift 1.

[b52turkish]

anybody heard when they are going to hire next? i heard the fall 07 sometime. i am going to be getting out of the Air Force summer 07 and really interested in joining. if anybody is on the dept there, i have some questions as well. thanks.

[mnfirefighter24]

the next test was anticipated for the fall of 2007 but with all of the lawsuits the department is going through, they are actually anticipating a hiring freeze with no hiring for a couple of years. This is as of two weeks ago when two females filed suit aganst the department, saying the were discriminated against. i'll keep you guys up to date as i am best friends with guys on the list and most of shift 1.

[b52turkish]

wait...what? what the hell is going on? fill me in. i never heard that. that sucks big time...keep me up to date cuz i was planning on applying this fall.

okay, besides all that....

i know this is a generic question and you may have some bias, but what is the dept like? what are the guys (guys and gals) like?

when they do hire guys...are they "home-grown" "family" guys? or do they hire outside people. do they like military folk? what are they looking for in a good candidate?

do you know if the written test is made by RFD or is it a generic standardized FF entrance test?

what has been your experience with RFD...any advice, suggestions, comments on how to best prepare for RFD when they do hire?

any help you can send my way is appreciated. also, keep us posted on what is going on and when they may hire again. thanks man.

-turk

[mnfirefighter24]

just wanted to check in quick and tell everyone that it is a "no go" for the building of station 5, which was going to open a lot of jobs. the city council turned down the proposal so it sounds like everyone may be screwed for getting onto the list that was supposed to be so hot.

[b52turkish]

wow, that sucks. why did they turn it down?

[rdub244]

I can't imagine why they would turn down that. They need the coverage in that part of town more than ever. It would also help station 1 since they run over half the runs in the city. That's just wild though.
Do you know why they turned it down? Money or what?

[mnfirefighter24]

update: station five is a go and now they are reviewing where to put it. it sounds like the lawsuits against the city for discrimination are getting hot as ever. sounds like the potential hiring freeze is very imminent. the staffing right now is fine and they have enough to open station 5 and still be functioning. it doesn't look good for testing as they are already looking to just keep the list they have. sorry guys and i'm just as dissappointed as you. i'll keep you posted

[rdub244]

Well that stinks, was looking forward to testing with them this fall.
Good for the city the station is approved but the lawsuits don't look good for the department.
Do you have any info what exactly the lawsuits are about? I'm sure one is about the, uh, hiring of a couple of the new firefighters. What else though?

[mnfirefighter24]

actually it didn't have to do with that. it had to do with women getting "discriminated" against in the testing process. i'm all for women firefighters but they went through the same test and actually got preference points due to the fact that they were female.....they really have no basis but as you know, the court system will have the final say

[pufftenticle]

i got a msg today from the City that directed me to a new website they have for applicants. have ya'll seen it (http://www.becomeafirefighter.org)?

[rdub244]

Wow, very impressive site. Hopefully they do test this fall as is "anticipated."

[pufftenticle]

right !

has anybody heard about the number they will hire ? or is it still like above where they have the staff ?

[mnfirefighter24]

good job with the site but the funny part is two of the four guys with pictures on the site arent even rochester firefighters. they're just random firefighters from elsewhere in the world. i wouldn't get your anticipation up as the hiring freeze is still going into effect. all we can do is hope and pray the courtcases against the city go fast and it will be over by fall but its not anticipated to even make it to trial until august......not looking hot

[mnfirefighter24]

clarification. they can hire off the list they have but cannot retest. they are hiring a bunch off the present list and with that they will be fully staffed and ready to staff station five......things don't like they're looking up for those wanting to join or test there, including myself

[pufftenticle]

well, poop.

how bout the other towns ?

[mnfirefighter24]

well right now iowa has been having a lot of tests....i was just down in bettendorf and fort dodge testing. pretty much i'm just going somewhere else until i can get to where i want to be. i know theres some cities in the metro hiring

[pufftenticle]

i heard about Vadnais Heights; anybody else ?

[acwmn3]

Yes Vadnias is hiring one fire Techinician.

[acwmn3]

Just to let everyone know. Roseville is hiring part timers. We only have 3 full time firefighters but there is always the posibility of going full time if we get more approved in the future. Do a great job as a part timer and your odds are better. Just have to live within 10 mins of one of the three stations. Message me if anyone has questions.