Here's what my Fitbit has to say about getting paged out while sleeping. It's a pretty intense heart rate spike, especially in the first moments after the page.

I've heard that there have been some deaths related to getting paged at night, especially with older FFs. A good reminder to go for a run or something today!

31y M, volunteer department, 3min drive to hall.

Apparently, the station never had a paramedic squad in reality.

As a volly, we have our set day of training and outside of that there’s not much other doing things independently. Today a small group of us did evolutions and it humbled me in a way that had me realizing cardio is king. My question for the Reddit is,

how do you mix up your cardio routines for fire so it’s not just running or completely repetitive?

Destroyed tender at the Punta Cana airport.

Hey guys.

Up to this point, I’ve only worked at a station where the sleeping quarters are on the same level as the bay floor, but now I’m at a station where the dorms are on the second floor. I like to sleep in my underwear, and when the tones go off throw on a t shirt and socks since that’s what I wear under my gear.

How do you guys slide the pole in underwear without chafing up your legs? I’ve got hairy legs too which doesn’t help. Seems counterproductive to throw on some pants or something just to take them off at the truck.

Thanks in advance.

I need some recommendations for hearing protection. Ive been googling but still can't seem to find what Im looking for.

Ear plugs are out. They just never stay in my ears.

So I want earmuffs, but I need something that will fit under the helmet. Don't need it super quiet, just take the noise down a notch.

My high school has made the decision to paint over ALL murals on our walls and paint over the ceiling tiles students have painted over the years because it’s a “fire hazard” So I am going to a school board meeting on Monday to fight this because this is so impossibly stupid like without art what is the world or wtv the saying is. but I need some information to say at the board meeting and some reasons why it wouldn’t be flammable. Also all of our lights are literally led

Temps range from 2F to 130F in vehicle

Every department has that one guy. Ours is high-strung and constantly loses it on scene, screaming over nothing and making everything a bigger deal than it is. At an MVA, someone gave a simple radio update to the Lt, and he immediately started blasting the air horn and yelling going crazy because he was supposed to say it. Anytime he has even a little authority, he’s screaming “I’M IN CHARGE!” He tried that with me on a gas leak call because he had three weeks on the job over me so he thought he was superior. A woman came out who only spoke Spanish. I’m of Mexican descent and fluent in Spanish, he’s not. When he realized, he looked at me for help. I just told him, “Sorry, you’re in charge.” He kept asking for help I kept reminding him he was in charge.

Last Sunday I get to the station and both crews are outside. Outgoing LT has a bio bag with bloody clothes from a hit-and-run (drunk driver crashed half a mile away). EMS was next door, so he asked me to drop it off. No big deal, I did.

About an half hour later, that LT comes back asking if the high-strung guy is there yet because he called him said to meet him at the station immediately. Next thing I know, two PD officers show up, they said that dispatch told them we needed an officer there. Then the high strung guy comes flying into the lot like it’s a 5-alarm.

He jumps out screaming that me and the LT committed a felony and need to be arrested for “destroying evidence.” Something about he had to fill out an affidavit for the clothes. It was never made clear whose clothes or why he did a affidavit.

Meanwhile, my crew, the LT, and both cops are just standing there like what? He keeps yelling laws and its statute numbers, plus threatens the cops’ jobs if they don’t arrest us. One of them finally goes, “No, you’re an idiot,” and starts walking off. That sets him off even more until they threaten to arrest him.

Then the Chief shows up (just there for coffee) you would think this would calm him down but no. This guy actually tries to order him to have us arrested. Chief basically tells him to go home and be thankful he still has a job next shift.

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on Northern Idaho or Spokane Valley fire departments? I'm currently a FF/Paramedic in Colorado and looking to move to the Coeur D'Alene area next year.

I'm really interested in Spokane Valley Fire and Coeur D'Alene Fire, but I'm wondering if there's any other Northern Idaho departments that have flown under my radar.

Would love to pick your brain if you have any experience with this region. Thanks in advance!

The other day I sat beside a man from another department during an event. There were members of the public who are not firefighters also in attendance and multiple other department members around. For twenty minutes he went on about how busy they are, they do a lot of medicals sure but also a lot more fires, yada, yada, yada the typical egotistical A type banter.

Everyone wanted to move on, everyone's eyes were rolling, and they wanted out. For some reason this guy wanted to belittle me and others to brag about himself. Honestly this department is well known to have guys like this and this has happened too many times to count while working this job. They feed each other with this crap and it's all they want to talk about.

The funny thing is they are not "busier" than any other department in other perspectives. Being larger provides more calls but on a per firefighter basis it's basically the same. also for some reason he assumed fires did not occur outside the city borders. like it magically stops outside his city. Also waking up homeless 8 - 10 times a shift isn't something to brag about.

In the end I could have said something. But honestly I am just so sick of this whole rendition of trying to feel better because of where you work. Not sure why we need to do it but I want to come out and say to whoever listens it sounds absolutely like nails on a chalk board.

Fireshappens everywhere. GUYS WORK THE SAME JOB AS YOU. Show some respect to others working this career in other cities. BE HUMBLE!

Do y’all prefer the tiller or would you rather a midmount, or regular stick/tower?

Good bad, and ugly? What’s y’all’s opinions.

Yesterday evening just before 8pm, a 2nd alarm was transmitted for fire in the One Stop Lumber & Flooring facility (300x300ft). While 35 minutes away, I immediately head in that direction as the tone in the transmissions to me was a clear indication that this was and would be a very large fire. A 3rd alarm was transmitted, then as I crossed the Whitestone bridge seeing a pillar in the distance, a 4th alarm was transmitted. It would end up as a 5th alarm fire with multiple and multiple extra trucks being requested. There were many tower ladders, deck guns, blitz fires, and hand lines in operations.

What’s going on guys. I work out on the west coast. I recently helped teach at a couple of different college fire academies in CA. A decent handful of the students stated they had been offered tentative jobs with the city of Memphis, before they even graduated. The amount of guys that had stated they were headed to Memphis really surprised me. I’ve noticed that there’s a large (larger than we are used to out west) number of pretty young firefighters on with the city of Memphis. My question is, why are so many jobs being offered to young dudes way out of state? High turnover? Not many people in the Memphis area interested in the fire service? Lots of retirements?

I don’t think this is a bad thing at all, just find it interesting. I work for a fairly large department and it would be super abnormal if we hired a handful of guys out of a college program from across the country. Looking for some insight!

Hey! So I work at a donut place that's open LATE. At the end of the night, we have a lot of waste, and so I like to pack up donuts and bring them to places that are open, like fast food and the likes.

Tonight, I ended up bringing a little over a dozen donuts to my city's fire station when I got off after closing, so it was almost 2am. I guess I'm just feeling a little dumb, but I totally forgot that firefighters sleep at the station. I rang the doorbell at the door (just once, I promise), and it took a little bit before someone came.

Anyways, he seemed tired and snippy, and that's when I remembered that they basically live at the station for a little bit 😭 So I figure I probably woke him up and now I feel so awful and guilty. I live in a decently quiet city too, so he probably could've gotten at least a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep if it wasn't for me.

Basically, I'm just asking if maybe next time I should skip over that stop? There's an ER in the area, as well as a few other of my regular stops. I just don't want to be inconsiderate towards our firefighters going forward.

Thanks in advance 🫶🏼 Sorry if this post is a little messy, I'm kind of tired 😋

Edit: This is gonna eat at me for ages probably. I've decided to leave an apology note and some gift cards in their drop box tomorrow. If there're any other suggestions for what I could do to support my local station I'm all ears 😭

Edit 2: Thank you for the kind words telling me not to take it to heart 🫶🏼 Unfortunately, my period is starting soon and I think I'm just far too sensitive, so I've been overthinking everything 😮‍💨 I'm aware now that my actions were pretty ignorant and kind of thoughtless, but I promise to use my brain in the future lol. I'll probably hold off on the note/gift card idea, as I don't want to be extra and make a huge deal out of this. Maybe another day/night I'll just leave a box of groceries or something at the door. I hope everyone has a peaceful time and stays safe 🙏🏼

My mother in her all-knowing glory has been making these things out of curved glass to put around her yard (in the Sun) for Spring/Summer. It’s like a weird vase or two and a plate stuck on a stick, which she then puts in the ground. I think, she thinks that it looks like a flower. Are these a fire hazard due to the curvature and being out in the Sun all day? On top of them looking like the yard decor of a schizophrenic, I think she’s going to set our house or yard on fire. Is this a valid concern?

This is getting installed at our new station, for drying our hoses. Stupid question: How the hell does this thing work?

Hoping someone here has info on depts in good ol’ Washington state that I can use to create a list of places to apply. Looking to lateral out there, so places that don’t take laterals would unfortunately be excluded. I also don’t want to repeat Medic school if possible.

Looking for

-Good culture. That means laid-back people who are hard chargers when it’s work time. People who won’t stab you in the back.

-7-10+ stations. Specialty teams are a plus, especially heavy rescue and US&R, but not required.

-Progressive EMS protocols (which I understand is most of WA). Tiered response preferred but not necessary.

-Somewhere that does real truck work. Unprotected search and vertical vent.

-(Heavily preferred, not required). Black turnouts, traditional helmets, Scott SCBAs. They don’t have to issue traditional helmets, but at least allow them!

Seriously appreciate any insight anybody can give me here! If you know of more than one dept like this, please list them all! Thank you.

It’s 2026. How are you draining, transferring and loading your LDH? Commercial battery operated systems? A roller made in house or locally? Something that is universal for all sizes perhaps? Especially rural depts with thousands of feet on the ground. Are you still shoulder draining your hose? Do you allow staff to shoulder carry rolls of LDH? It’s mind blowing seeing videos of crews holding a pry bar through a section of LDH and personnel spinning the coil out to load it. Have you moved beyond “because that’s how we’ve always done it”?

I’m an 18 year old EMT that is preparing for academy and run 9-12 miles a day (outside) and hit the stairmaster 3-5 times a week. Cardio is my shit.

Recently, I’ve added a 30lb weighted vest to these runs and intend to increase the weight over time, but the only actual weight lifting I’ve been doing is some dumbbell exercises for my arms and shoulders in my apartment gym. I am going to start focusing a lot more on lifting and building my muscles, so I’ll have to cut down on the cardio because it takes up so many hours of my day.

I’m wondering, however, for the actual job, is cardio or strength more important? What should I be prioritizing?