Texas Fire EMS

[mdcross]

I am in the process of relocating to the Dallas metroplex area from Georgia. I am a nationally registered EMT-I with about a years expierence working for a county fire department. I am interested in working EMS and fire however I am finding out that that is impossible to do without your Texas certification in fire. It doesn't seem that you can even apply without your Texas cert. Is there such a thing as getting on with a fire department that will send you to the fire academy or at least offer an in house fire school like they do here in Georgia. I have found that alot of the fire departments in the metroplex area have a 35 year old age limit (I am 37). If this is the case does anybody have any reccomendations as to some private ambulance companies in the DFW area that might be needing EMT's with plans of moving on to the paramedic level. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[medicbear14]

hey man, i hope the move goes well. As for employment once you get there...a little different. I am not even sure that there is one single department that will let you on at 37. I am more than sure that it is standard anywhere that i have researched that 35 is the cut-off. sorry man, but as for private ambulance services; that is another story. the only cities in Texas that are not small towns that are ran by private ambulance companies are Ft. Worth (Med-Star), Amarillo (AMS), Austin (ATCEMS), Lubbock (Lubbock EMS), and Tyler (ETMC). If you don't mind being just a transfer truck...you can find any town in the metroplex to drive for and run all the "grunt-work." As far as I know, most of the transfer service trucks in the metroplex are ran by AMR (www.amr.net) and you can find employment by them all over Texas. Also, I think that AMR pays alright too, at least they do out on the west coast. anyways, if you don't have your FF I and II here in Texas the only large departments that you can test are Ft. Worth (coming up in July) and Austin ( missed it last month). Come to think about it, Desoto Fire is testing in about a month ( about 20 min south of Dallas) and you should be able to test there. Look on their website and find out. Good department even though they are small. Look into Desoto...good chance there. Good luck.

Medic Bear

[RareRamAir]

First of all welcome to Texas. Alot of departments require your TCFP cert, however I have seen some going to just paramedic certs and they send you to fire school. Basically you have three options on how to get a job here.

1. Go to a larger department that runs thier own academy. Dallas, Ft. Worth are the only two I know of in the Metroplex. Maybe Arlington.
2.Get your Paramedic and find a department willing to hire you, then send you through the academy.
3. Go to a private academy and get your cert yourself.

Good luck.

[mdcross]

It's starting to look like my best bet would be to put myself through the academy unsponsored and just volunteer for the time being. I would like to get a little more time and expierence under my belt as an EMT-I before taking the leap into Paramedic. I just received my National Registry about a month ago. Any thoughts on ETMC out of Tyler TX. Seems like a pretty decent outfit to work for. I am told that they run alot of 911 calls as compared to other private services. I don't have a problem with being involved with a transport ambulance service but I really do prefer 911 instead. I understand that Tyler TX is a good little jaunt from Denton County (where we are building our home) but ETMC's coverage area is huge stretching into the metroplex area.

I really appreciate everyones views. It really is a big help. As you probably can imagine it is kind of a tall task trying to line up a job in a brand new career in Texas when I am still In Savannah GA. However, we are REAL excited about our move. Thanks again for your help.

[RareRamAir]

One of the guys from my department works for ETMC. Doesn't have any complaints that I have heard of, and I think he is going to be going through their Medic school. They run some over towards Dallas but he told me they do 48/96 over there. Thats about all I know though, any other help I can provide let me know.

[RyanEMVFD]

ETMC has ops in Waxachie (south of Dallas and yes I can't spell it) and over by Plano in Wylie. Those ops are 24/48 I believe. Might even have a 12 hour truck. Also the City of Irving will send you through their academy as well. At least it was that way when I tested about 5 years ago.

Good Luck.