r/Firefighting • u/iheartMGs FF/EMT/Hazmat Tech • Apr 21 '25
Ask A Firefighter Are you at your forever department?
EDIT: I really appreciate all the feedback from everyone! Pretty cool to hear all the different responses! Stay safe brothers/sisters and wish everyone the best of luck throughout your careers!
Title says it all. Curious how many members have found their forever depts and why you made it your home for the rest of your career. The culture at my department is simply amazing. The chiefs know every member by first name and your put into a leadership role pretty early on if you’ve earned the trust of the officers. They will send you to virtually any training, deploy you across the nation, etc. Let’s hear what you have.
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u/LunarMoon2001 Apr 21 '25
Worked for large city for 3/4 of my expected career. Switched to smaller township nearby.
The larger city dept would’ve been my forever dept due to the massive opportunities on the street and in supporting divisions, but the city is letting it crumble and the union bent the knee. They allowed the city to wreck them in contract negotiations while people involved in the union got suspicious promotions.
They continue to let the city underfund the department to the point that it will get a firefighter killed in the next 5 years.
They do nothing about staunching the flow of bullshit calls. Stubbed your toe and have 3 adults that live there also, all with cars, and 1/2 mile from the hospital? Guess we are taking you because we can’t refuse any transport. They have medics that essentially don’t see their station for entire shifts. Refuse to build new stations. Will make 15 staffing moves just to avoid brining in one guy for 4 hours overtime. Trucks that are older than a good chunk of firefighters.
Now at an adjacent township department that is actually decently funded, is decently busy, respected by council, and chiefs have common sense. We get to exclude ourselves from the dumb out of district runs, and have at least a minimal ability to refuse transport.