BUMP
I’ve applied for an academy down here in San Diego and am scheduled to do the Physical Ability Test (PAT) on Thursday. Really anxious to get out there and smoke that test. If anyone is interested I’ll throw some updates in here about the application process… if not they’ll be in my log lol
From what I’ve gathered there are a couple hundred applicants and they take the top 40.
wow that is a lot of hiring for FFers! Chicago people who want to be CFD are fucked for years.
I had a recent experience becoming a cop here. There was about 300ish or so in the running, and they only took 9. I made it to the final interview but never got the call. :[
Greg I would love updates. good luck with the academy. is this an out of pocket academy or were you hired on and going to the academy as a FF?
PB- im assuming that was a suburb given the number of apps. did you get your name on the list for the city?
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
Greg I would love updates. good luck with the academy. is this an out of pocket academy or were you hired on and going to the academy as a FF?
[/quote]
out of pocket (unfortunately)
but I’ll finish with my FF1 cert among other things (if I get in) which will help me while applying for a FF job. Test is tomorrow morning so we’ll see how it goes.
good luck man. then will you have to do another academy to get your FF2 or this that part of this academy?
also if you dont mind me asking, money wise what are you paying for it? out here its tough to go to an academy without being sponsored but my mom sold some kitchen appliance to a guy who said he could get me in theirs but itd be out of pocket, somewhere between $1,000-$2,000 but that would get me FF1 and FF2
also just curious, i think ive asked before but dont remember, sorry. are you a medic?
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
good luck man. then will you have to do another academy to get your FF2 or this that part of this academy?
also if you dont mind me asking, money wise what are you paying for it? out here its tough to go to an academy without being sponsored but my mom sold some kitchen appliance to a guy who said he could get me in theirs but itd be out of pocket, somewhere between $1,000-$2,000 but that would get me FF1 and FF2
also just curious, i think ive asked before but dont remember, sorry. are you a medic? [/quote]
You dont get your FF2 out of this academy. Once you have the FF1 you can do the regional testing and hopefully get hired (no chance without FF1)
The Academy is expensive. its 19 college units so you have to pay for the course units plus your own gear. cost is between $1,200-$2,000 according to the website.
Not a medic, just an EMT. Hoping not to have to go to medic school, was planning on it originally but from talking to guys in the area there are already too many Medics down here and they will be looking to hire just FFs soon (apparently)
That sucks. The academy down here include FF1, FF2 and EVOC. Costs right around $2,000. Most of the stations down this way are only hiring FF/Medics.
cool, good stuff. good luck getting hired. cali seems to still be hiring which is cool, my step sister lives out there and i may apply to some places. i didnt really want to be a medic either, but you dont have a choice in illinois and im in class now and love it. its really cool so if it comes to it and you have to do it, i think youll enjoy it more than you think.
rhino- the state of florida sucks for anyone wanting to become a FF, period. You have to have your medic, which is becoming the norm but you also have to have taken your FF1&2 in Fl, so I hear. word is its one of the toughest states to get hired in.
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
cool, good stuff. good luck getting hired. cali seems to still be hiring which is cool, my step sister lives out there and i may apply to some places. i didnt really want to be a medic either, but you dont have a choice in illinois and im in class now and love it. its really cool so if it comes to it and you have to do it, i think youll enjoy it more than you think.[/quote]
Yeah, I wouldnt really mind going the medic route (have lots of medical experience when I was in the military)
From what all of my fire protection instructors have said, its not necessary anymore. They’ve only been hiring fire medics down here for so long that they’ve already got way more than enough medics. Soon they’re going to start hiring just FF’s (or so they teachers have said)
They havent really hired much down here lately but the DROP program is up for review soon and its kinda expected that it will be overturned or whatever… if that happens they’ll have a lot of guys to replace soon, which would work out good for me (hopefully)
But we’ll just have to see how it goes. I’m just ready to smash the PAT tomorrow
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
PB- im assuming that was a suburb given the number of apps. did you get your name on the list for the city? [/quote]
No actually, it was for UIC PD. I’ve heard nothing but good things. They are considered equivalent to state troopers, except they are police for UIC and the 12th district downtown. Hell, they even get paid more than Chicago PD officers, so I really wanted the job.
Anyways, yes I’m waiting for the POWER test for CPD. I passed the written obviously, I’m number 2,500ish out of 6,500ish applicants in the running. I’m not sure if they call in order of lottery number or not. Anyways, they want each academy to be 20% veterans, so I have a good shot.
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
Anyways, yes I’m waiting for the POWER test for CPD. I passed the written obviously, I’m number 2,500ish out of 6,500ish applicants in the running. I’m not sure if they call in order of lottery number or not. Anyways, they want each academy to be 20% veterans, so I have a good shot.[/quote]
what branch were you in?
you get extra points for being a veteran right?
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
Anyways, yes I’m waiting for the POWER test for CPD. I passed the written obviously, I’m number 2,500ish out of 6,500ish applicants in the running. I’m not sure if they call in order of lottery number or not. Anyways, they want each academy to be 20% veterans, so I have a good shot.[/quote]
what branch were you in?
you get extra points for being a veteran right?[/quote]
Army. I was a cadet at West Point for two years before I left. I don’t consider myself a veteran by any means, but I am considered one via paperwork/DD-214. Can’t complain as it helps with jobs…
Usually it’s 5 points added for things federal agencies, but for CPD, they just skip non-veterans in line until they reach 20% veterans for each academy class.
^^Really? Do 2 years at west point and then your considered a Vet? Sweeeeeeeet
hahahaha
[quote]gregron wrote:
^^Really? Do 2 years at west point and then your considered a Vet? Sweeeeeeeet
hahahaha[/quote]
that’s what I said. still feel a bit grimy about being considered a vet by any means.
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
rhino- the state of florida sucks for anyone wanting to become a FF, period. You have to have your medic, which is becoming the norm but you also have to have taken your FF1&2 in Fl, so I hear. word is its one of the toughest states to get hired in. [/quote]
Yea, getting hired down here basically means you have to:
A. Know someone important.
B. Be a female or minority.
C. Have Be FF and Paramedic Certified with an awesome PAT/MESH score.
D. Know someone important.
E. Know how to cook really well.
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
^^Really? Do 2 years at west point and then your considered a Vet? Sweeeeeeeet
hahahaha[/quote]
that’s what I said. still feel a bit grimy about being considered a vet by any means.[/quote]
Ahh whatevs. It’s not like you’re going around claiming to be a war vet with PTSD or anything. If you’re technically a vet then your a vet. I don’t see anything wrong with you using that to help get a job (especially as a public servant type position like cop/FF)
Good luck man
Little Update
Had my Physical Ability Test this morning. Not sure how many guys were out there (there were two groups, an 8:30 and a 10) I was in the 10 o’clock group.
From talking to a bunch of the other guys I found out that a lot of guys there had ran through the course before. There were a few events that I wasted some time on (shitty gloves that kept slipping on the ladder raise and bad technique on the sledge hammer part) so I know that with a few more practice runs I’ll bring my time down.
From all of the people that I talked to/heard talking about times the fastest time I heard was a 3:18 which was ran by one of my good friends. I was really hoping to break into the 2’s but ran through and finished in a 3:04. I didnt hear of anyone elses times that were close to that but there could have been in the 8:30 group? (i got there early but didnt watch all of the 8:30 guys go)
I talked to one of the guys who did the academy last year and asked him what the fastest time was out of his academy and he told me that one guy ran a 2:52 during the last week of the academy and that another guy did it that same day in 2:53.
That made me feel better knowing that on my very first time ever doing it I was 12 seconds off the fastest time out of the entire academy last year. If I make it in I guarantee that I’ll smoke that time (I’ll also try to find out what the fastest time ever at that academy is and be gunning for that)
Oral Interview is Tuesday afternoon and if I make it I should know by next Friday I think? So far thats all I got
Greg, what did your PAT consist of? Sounds a bit different than the one I took.
Nice going…a solid time, especially first time running through it.
Technique helps a lot when you get on the keiser, hitting it slightly off centre and choking up in the handle can make it faster.
Good luck.
[quote]Rhino Jockey wrote:
Greg, what did your PAT consist of? Sounds a bit different than the one I took.[/quote]
Whats up Rhino? The PAT consisted of the following events: (all were completed while wearing a turnout coat, gloves, helmet, scba)
35 foot ladder raise
Thow a 100foot bundle of hose over your shoulder for the stairs (45lbs)
Go up the 40 foot drill tower (stairs… which covered 106 feet)
hose Hoist another 100 foot bundle to the top (45lbs)
Back down the stairs
Keiser sledge hammer (160lb beam 5 feet)
1 3/4 inch charge hose line drag 100 feet
175lb dummy drag 100 feet
end of skill
[quote]timmyo wrote:
Nice going…a solid time, especially first time running through it.
Technique helps a lot when you get on the keiser, hitting it slightly off centre and choking up in the handle can make it faster.
Good luck.[/quote]
Oh yeah I wasted quite a bit of time on the Keiser sled… definitely gonna have to work on that. Thanks a lot