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/SonOfAmer Apr 22 '25

Transitioned from firefighter to fire inspector within 2 years at my first department, get paid to support a family on one wage and get a take home vehicle. Just finished my degree so I’ll be here until it doesn’t benefit the family.

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u/iheartMGs FF/EMT/Hazmat Tech Apr 22 '25

Wow 2 years and already promoted? Crazy work my friend. Cannot beat that. Do you miss ops? Enjoy doing inspections?

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u/SonOfAmer Apr 22 '25

We do not have many fires a year and I was not in it long enough to miss much. If anything I miss the interactions I had with crew members but there is a huge disconnect with ops and admin staff.

I enjoy doing inspections to see the buildings in our city and the fire marshal lets me be fairly autonomous so I can’t complain. In addition I get to have fantastic interactions with the community, I just hope I will be allowed to work on CRR projects in the future outside of just inspections.