fairfax county

[nozzlenut264]

yes Im well aware of that. I am working on it.

[formerbuckeye]

yes Im well aware of that. I am working on it.

good job, see you when you get that squared away. per the last chiefs meeting in went to there are no ff/emt classes scheduled

[bsr108]

Yes, I am a Paramedic. They scheduled six events for me over a period of three days: Interview, Medical Physical, CPAT, Poly, Psych, Written Test.

My wife is a Paramedic as well, and she was encouraged to apply.

Apparently, being a Medic is the way to go.

[edpmedic]

When I was at a chief's meeting back in December, Asst Chief Caussin advised us that they want to start the 129th, an all medic class, sometime before the new fiscal year begins this July. He also advised that due to retirements, promotions and other factors, the dept will need to hire FF/EMT's as early as the first quater of 2011.

A female volunteer that I'm familiar with told me that she was testing for her medic card, and recruitment told her that she has a job with the FRD if she passes everything, and also mentioned something about March. I don't know how accurate that is, just what I was told.

Keep your PT up

http://www.firegroundfitness.com/
http://rosstraining.com/blog/
http://www.crossfitfootball.com/
http://www.lifelineusa.com/en/products/kettlebells

Don't be like some in my recruit class who vomited (really, I'm not making this up) during the first mile of a very slow run.

[wre722]

Good to see some life on this thread.

I too am a FF/EMT applicant who completed the process, and unfortunately I am now one year into the "waiting" game after getting my final completion letter from the department. I am currently in paramedic school that will be finishing in May 2011... approximately 2.5 years from my recruitment process completion date. Is there anyway my eligibility for employment will still be good? Or will I have to go through the entire process again?

Obviously I am going to be getting in touch with recruitment to find out for sure, but I was just curious if any of you guys had an idea of what I should expect to hear.

[edpmedic]

When I went through the process, recruitment told me that they hold on to your file for up to two years after successful completion. I don't know if the current policy of only hiring medics would allow extension for non medics to compensate. Check with recruitment.

[ffwhit]

Does anyone have an idea of what your chances are being an NREMT-I? Or are they strictly going to just hire paramedics? The website says both but that paramedic is preffered.
Thanks!

[edpmedic]

Does anyone have an idea of what your chances are being an NREMT-I? Or are they strictly going to just hire paramedics? The website says both but that paramedic is preffered.
Thanks!

There has been a slow movement to increase EMS educational standards on a national level. It's still up to the individual states as to what cert levels they allow, and to what scope they allow each provider to operate. The NREMT is a national organization, and they're discontinuing the original I cert in 2012, and won't recert for the I after 2015, if I remember correctly.

Don't quote me on this, but my understanding is that the FCFRD seeks to train interested employees to the EMT-I program at NVCC first. Then, they would like for any and all I's to be upgraded to P's at the same place. NVCC has a paramedic degree program. My understanding is that the FCFRD wasn't hiring any more I's, only P's and graduating I's from within. However, one would think that a shortage of qualified ALS (medic) applicants would soften that policy. I recommend calling recruitment and actually asking them if they're currently allowing I's to apply for FF/medic positions. I'm just an entry level field provider, they're the ones who can give definitive answers regarding hiring policy.

Anyway, in the event you aren't eligible to apply as ALS, I would recommend one of two things:

-Enroll and complete an EMS AAS at a community college, which is a college level paramedic program. You have to take a paramedic program to appreciate the difference in education from an I to a P, and also to appreciate the difference in a paramedic tech school, whose quality and efficiency can vary greatly, and a legit EMS AAS program. Doing the EMS AAS right now would be the wise choice if your I-card is inadequate for hiring. You get your medic, it's a degree, and degrees are necessary for career development nowadays. You'll be ahead of a lot of people with a two year degree alrerady in place. The classes, such as human bio, pharm, Eng 111 and such can be applied to any other medical degree should you choose, such as an RN degree, or EMS BA/BSN to satisfy a four year degree requirement for certain ranks.

-Enroll in a fast track 4-5 month medic program, with whatever place will result in a valid P-card. You can do this, or the above option as well, while going through the hiring process. You can stretch the process out and still have two years of eligibility after completion, plenty of time to get your EMS AAS. After the fast track P school, get hired, and then get your EMS AAS. That's what I'm doing. I went to a 15 month medic tech school in NY and graduated 4 1/2 years ago. NVCC says that they'll value my P-card at 37 out of 68 credits toward an EMS AAS. Considering that I already have college credits from back in the day, I find this the quickest way to an assosciate's, even quicker than fire science.

I plan to do fire science at some point, as it will help me in becoming a better FF, it's just that the county wants degrees for advancement, and the EMS AAS is the quickest method for me to do that at this time.

Once again, many questions on this thread are better answered by recruitment. Some of us will help where we can, so keep asking, but it's always good to get it from the horse's mouth.

[edpmedic]

Hey firefighters, here's your chance. The FRD's site says that they're opening up the process in June.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fr/recruitment/

Get on it! Also, properly prepare yourselves for the CPAT. A colleague of mine proctored one CPAT, and he said that 39 out of 40 failed. It's like everyone just showed up for a goof, not being the least bit serious about wanting the job. Just sayin'. As mentioned earlier, a class in the first quarter of 2011 that's not exclusive to medics is my understanding after having attended a chief's meeting at a fire station. Things are always subject to change, of course. Recruitment will always have the most accurate information.

[FFEMTlieut804]

thank god been waiting since the last the last time i was down and when though the process, hopefully this will be a good chance to get my dream job in the place that i always wanted to work. im souped for this, CANT WAIT!!

[edpmedic]

As per a recent all station teleconference, there will be a recruit school, the 129th, beginning on 5/29. 14 medics will be in the class. If you're ALS and haven't be called, now would be the time to make some noise.

As far as basic FF's, there's a lot of FF callback (voluntary OT) out there right now. We were also told that the current budget issues are precluding the dept from hiring as frequently as in the past, where there were up to four recruit schools per year, with class size in the mid 20's give or take. This is a great improvement from a year ago when we were facing an 89 member RIF (layoffs). There were RIF procedure advisories, frequent RIF updates, real concern for our jobs. We also stood in support behind our Union President last year in March when he spoke to the Board of Supervisors regarding said RIF's. This year, it was like 30 jobs, and we haven't heard anything regarding RIF's, and we have been hiring medics at least.

That, along with the increased FF callback tells me that we'll be under headcount shortly if we aren't already. As it stands, we frequently have LT's riding bucket spots that would normally be occupied by FF's. Keep in shape (get in shape), they should be hiring FF's in the not to distant future, in the FY '11 (7/10 - 7/11) as was mentioned in an earlier post.

At least we're not dealing with the same level of drama that departments such as FDNY are. Having lived in NYC and a few other areas, my impression is that the local politicians here are held comparitively more accountable for their actions and policies. It helps that the county is rather affluent as well.

[FFEMTlieut804]

edpmedic-

thats good news as far as the poss. hiring of FF. I take to Capt. Hemmingway a couple weeks ago and she pretty much told me the same thing. So illl be putting my app. in again cause FXco. is where i really want to be, make my career at. I know i should get the ALS, but with having a son on the way, well its alittle hard. Thanks for the update and info.

[james077]

I Have been in the hiring process since July of 2007 and just finally completed my phych sp now i am done with the entire process. So I would hope that they are going to start some FF/EMT recruit classes.

[edpmedic]

I Have been in the hiring process since July of 2007 and just finally completed my phych sp now i am done with the entire process. So I would hope that they are going to start some FF/EMT recruit classes.

That's good, because you're ppw is supposed to stay active for two years after completion of the process. The 129th starts on May 10, I've heard, not May 29th as I've heard previously. These are 14 medics. My ALS intern process lasted from 4/28/08 until around 10/06/08 if I remember correctly, with 16 weeks of suppression training coming afterward. The FF/EMT's started on 8/19/08 or thereabouts. So, if there were to be FF/EMT's added to the 129th, they would start in sometime in late August or early September. The FF/EMT's will do maybe six or seven weeks of admin and EMT training before starting suppression with the medics.

Also, I've heard that the FRD no longer wants to run concurrent academies. In the past, there would be up to four schools a year. Since each one lasts around 22 weeks, there's overlap. One class is getting toward the end while another is just starting. I'm guessing that the decision not to have overlapping academies is that you need to assign extra basic training staff to run two classes at the same time. If that's the case, then the 130th wouldn't start until sometime in February at the earliest. My class ran nine months for the medics in total. Using that as a guide, a May 10th start date would result in a graduation in Feb.

They need to hire FF/EMT's. In places like NYC the mayor wants to downstaff companies by taking the fifth man off their engine, rather than close firehouses, brownouts and such. This is slick. The public won't know that the engine has one less person, just that someone's there to respond. The city looks good since they aren't cutting services in regards to response times. Good luck getting that fifth man back, though. The union will need to give back a lot to ever regain that fifth man, I'm sure. Real slick. I haven't seen our county try to screw us with going after our fourth on the engine, thank goodness. No firehouse closings or brownouts, either. The only proposed reduction in service thus far is turning our four 24 hour BLS ambulances into daytime units, but that's about it.

[nozzlenut264]

I had talked to Capt Hemmingway about a month ago and she told me that the dept wasnt looking to hire FF/EMT till sometime 2011. My status is up in june i have been on the list of firefighter emt for 2 years, just at the wrong place and the wrong time with out the medic cert. This is good news for those still trying. I was just hired by Loudoun county and will be starting on the 29th of April. It seems like the area as a whole is moving forward. For those on the list good luck!