Any firemen on here?

alienhead

hi, just looking for some info on what it's like to be a fireman.

currently working in IT, and while the money is good, i don't feel that satisfied in my job.

it would be nice to help people.

i only have what i've seen on tv to go by, i'm sure the job is very hard, but i'd also say it's quite rewarding. so, i'd really appriciate some insight into this.

thanks.

TheNog

I am not a fireman but I did do a one week work placement with them last month in drogheda. The lads I met were real salt of the earth guys. To me they seemed to love their jobs and there was a big emphasis on community spirit and safety. I worked with them during from 9-4 Mon-Fri. It was and usually is a quiet time of the day for them. To offset this they kept busy by cleaning the fire station every day, doing drills and checking equipment.

However with every Emergency Service job there are good and bad situations. Good situations are where they help people,bad situations are where they are faced with not only death but possibly where people are badly injured or torn apart. Every fireman I spoke with relayed stories of the good times and the very bad times.

alienhead

TheNog wrote:

I am not a fireman but I did do a one week work placement with them last month in drogheda. The lads I met were real salt of the earth guys. To me they seemed to love their jobs and there was a big emphasis on community spirit and safety. I worked with them during from 9-4 Mon-Fri. It was and usually is a quiet time of the day for them. To offset this they kept busy by cleaning the fire station every day, doing drills and checking equipment.

However with every Emergency Service job there are good and bad situations. Good situations are where they help people,bad situations are where they are faced with not only death but possibly where people are badly injured or torn apart. Every fireman I spoke with relayed stories of the good times and the very bad times.

ye, i'd say there's having to deal with horific situations, not really sure how i'd handle myself. i'd say you'd have to just get on with it.

and, there's the chance you could die, or be injured......

that said, i think the pro's far outway the cons

TheNog

alienhead wrote:

ye, i'd say there's having to deal with horific situations, not really sure how i'd handle myself. i'd say you'd have to just get on with it.

and, there's the chance you could die, or be injured......

that said, i think the pro's far outway the cons

Definitely think the pros outway the cons. The lads I met talked about each bad case they experienced. It almost seemed they went step by step through every incident. This acts as a sort of therapy in being able to talk about it which is always good. Gone are the days when you got a slap on the back and told to have a few pints and you'll be grand. I know that the Gardai have welfare officers to talk to if they are having problems dealing with the aftermath of serious incidents.

timmywex

are you interested of becoming a retained firefighter(part tome) or full time

full time is mainly in waterford, cork and dublin fire brigade where you will also rotate to ambulance duties
the ambulance is very busy and you wont sit around longer than 6 mins if you happen to be on ambulance for a shift but you rotate around

DFB and waterford have recemtly advertised but for more information visit www.irishfireservices.com and click into the foums section and there is about 4 forums dedicated to employment

good luck

Jay112

My dad is an ex-fire fighter and loved every bit of it! its definately worth consideration if you enjoy the rush of Adrenaline! Like the rest of the emergency services you never know whats around the corner, and every single job is different!

Firemen themselves treat each other as a family and are very welcoming! Again you need to be mentally tough as you can see alot of death and horrific injurys at times! but as been said above ''the pros out weight the cons''

If you enjoy helping people maybe you should consider joining a Voluntary organisation, it will help develop you as a person and give you plenty of experience, and open many doors for you ! Myself iv been involved in a vol Ambo service for 4 yrs now and love every bit of it!

Jay112:)