New guy here.. with a few questions

[TyD]

Hey guys,

A little background on me..

I live in Pinellas County and completed the fire academy and EMT school at St Pete College in 2005. I am starting EMT school over again in October at FMTI in Tampa and will travel to Ocala for the refresher course and retest for Fire certs eventually.

Questions-

How is the refresher course and the test in Ocala? Has anyone ever taken it? What should i expect?

I am planning on doing EMT school and then enrolling in medic school maybe before i even take care of the fire refresher course. When I went through the Fire Academy we had a guy go through that was already hired and he was a medic. Is that practice still going on? (depts hiring medics and putting them through fire academy?)

Would you reccomend i get the fire certs out of the way sooner or later?

I am sure i will have more questions come up but i wanted to introduce myself and say hello.. I read all the threads in this section and am getting excited to see what the future holds and to begin my next step..

[gigafire]

get as much time between that DUI and you as you can. DUIs will sink your chances of getting hired dramatically. i'm not trying to discourage you but in Florida there are a TON of qualified applicants with clean records competing for only a handful of positions.

[TyD]

get as much time between that DUI and you as you can. DUIs will sink your chances of getting hired dramatically. i'm not trying to discourage you but in Florida there are a TON of qualified applicants with clean records competing for only a handful of positions.

totally understand Gigafire.. its been five years and i am a much different guy. I am now married with two kids, have my own home.. it was a big mistake that taught me alot.

thanks!

[Nginear]

The actual test is different than when you went through it 5 years ago. You now have to crawl around on air, take a ladder of brackets and pull an uncharged hoseline or something (not sure what each requires, took the old standards as well). Everything I've heard about Ocala's refresher course is extremely positive. One of the instructors told me if you take the class they have a 90% re-pass rate or higher; those that don't have a much lower pass rate. It would be to your benefit to take the class - especially with the new test.

If you do apply somewhere and when DUI story comes up (it will), your best chance is a sincere "moral of the story" lesson.

[gigafire]

totally understand Gigafire.. its been five years and i am a much different guy. I am now married with two kids, have my own home.. it was a big mistake that taught me alot.

thanks!

hey bro- i didn't know that DUI is 5 yrs old. that should be enough time and like mentioned above, you can actually use that incident as a learning experience and explain how you have grown since then. best of luck to you buddy. its the best job in the world. =)

[Deluge059]

hey bro- i didn't know that DUI is 5 yrs old. that should be enough time and like mentioned above, you can actually use that incident as a learning experience and explain how you have grown since then. best of luck to you buddy. its the best job in the world. =)

Not to burst your bubble, but 5 years IS NOT enough time for a DUI. I have a few friends, all FF/PM certified who are still having trouble finding jobs because of a few speeding tickets from 5 years back. Most departments will require a 7 year driving record check, if not the lifetime one. Especially in Florida, where the ratio is 200 applicants for 1 job, you have a lot of tough competition and will have a very hard time getting past a panel interview.

[quickstangsvt302]

I'd have to agree with the posted above... so many candidates, so few open positions, and not many hiring dept's. If moving violations are causing problems for some people, then i'm sure the DUI will raise "red flags." I know some applications say DUI free for at least 5-7 years, but when they compare a candidate with the same qualifications agaisnt you that's never had one, I see him/her getting the offer first. Nothing against you...it's just sooo competitive all over right now. I'm not sure how old you are, but you could always look into being a firefighter in the military. Best of luck!

[gigafire]

Not to burst your bubble, but 5 years IS NOT enough time for a DUI. I have a few friends, all FF/PM certified who are still having trouble finding jobs because of a few speeding tickets from 5 years back. Most departments will require a 7 year driving record check, if not the lifetime one. Especially in Florida, where the ratio is 200 applicants for 1 job, you have a lot of tough competition and will have a very hard time getting past a panel interview.

I understand that but I know of 2 guys that DID get hired with DUIs in that time frame. It has happened before.

[TyD]

thanks for all the input guys.. I know at least one guy that got hired after a dui 3 yrs ago as a medic. I am not too worried about it. I am going to complete EMT here soon and then get into medic school. I can always go to work for the sunstar here in pinellas or hook up at a hospital and get some medic experience under my belt. all this while applying and waiting. I could also wrap up my AS in EMS or fire science and load up on credentials that may give me an edge over the fresh out of the academy guy..

we had a guy in my fire academy that was a medic and he was hired BEFORE he was fire certified..

thanks again guys..

[reebokHCFR]

we had a guy in my fire academy that was a medic and he was hired BEFORE he was fire certified..
thanks again guys..

where was he hired?

[OC1219]

most likely Orange County. I heard they hire medics then send them to fire school later

[TyD]

where was he hired?

Gulfport. Its a one station dept south of st pete. He was an older gentleman as well. probably late 40s to 50s. good dude and hard worker but it was surprising..

[reebokHCFR]

oh, yeah. one of the guys I was hired with at hillsborough got fired and went back to gulfport. well fwiw, sunstar is great experience, I think everyone should have to work on an ambulance before fire service, so I hope you do as an emt and medic. but it's definitely not a career. I spent 5 years in pinellas (3 sunstar, 2 largo), and if you want my opinion I would be looking beyond there. take a job anywhere of course but don't stop looking around and comparing benefits once you get hired. that's when you're in the best position.

[Dell205]

most likely Orange County. I heard they hire medics then send them to fire school later

Yes, they do but can't say how competitive compared to candidates already with fire and medic certifications. Proportionally speaking, there are alot more EMTs than Paramedic certified candidates in this state. With that said, candidates with medics will have a huge advantage.
OCFRD hires about 10 paramedics (no fire cert) a year. Obviously the cool thing with them, they will get the "free" fire training a year or two out from the hire date.

[TyD]

I will be jumping on the first thing that comes my for sure and put in some time then look elsewhere if need be.. I learned my lesson the last time.. i was too picky.. st pete was too big. didnt want to go to medic school. and so on..

if i have to put in time at sunstar or AMR, americare or any of the other hillsborough bls providers i will..

also looking at pasco and south of us too in manatee/sarasota. There are quite a few depts and municipalities around.. although i know these fire schools are pumping the kids out..

thanks again guys..