If you are someone who doesn't want to do a typical nine to five job sitting at a desk, you want some action, you want to help people firefighting might just be for you. This article will talk about the job of firefighting, so what's a typical day, the salary, what are the risk, how to become a firefighter and more. I created this article, so more people would be able to know about being a firefighter and maybe realise that this is what they wanted to do.
A firefighter is a very difficult job as much on the physical level than the psychological level, but it is very rewarding since you are able to help many people and save many lives.
Firefighters will stop any type of fire, house fire, bush fire, stove top fire, basically all the fires you can think about. Apart from stopping fires, a firefighter will also solve any issues like car accidents, any type of medical need, and even saving your cat that is stuck in your tree.
A firefighter doesn't work every day, in Quebec they work for about 13 days in a month. On a shift, they work during a full 24 hours and then, there is a switch in the firefighters for a new group to do their 24 hours of work. They will start their day with a meeting, then they will check the equipment to make sure everything is in good condition. After that, they will do their duties in the station such as cleaning and doing the maintenance of the station and the equipment. Then, for lunch, either they do a rotation on who cooks, or some people enjoy cooking, so they cook. In the afternoon they can either do fire inspection in buildings, train or participate in community events. They will then eat dinner in the same process as lunch. They will spend their evening watching TV, doing incident report, workout, and more. All through this they will respond to a multitude of calls. They leave when the next shift arrives.
When they are not out responding to a call, they stay in the station. The station is kind of their house during their shift, it got everything they need. Apart from the station they respond to any kind of emergency they can in the same day respond to an emergency in a house, in a park, on the road, in the water, and more. Basically, firefighters will work absolutely anywhere there is an emergency no matter the risk there is at the location.
In Quebec, to become a firefighter, you have to do a formation called DEP. This training is not something you can do in a CEGEP, you got to go to a special school for that. In the region of Montreal, you can do this formation in Laval. After doing the DEP you are now able to work as a firefighter in cities of 200 000 people and more, but there is more. You can also continue your studies by doing a fire safety study, but only after doing the DEP. This formation is available only in a CEGEP, and in the region of montreal, it is available at Montmorency CEGEP. Some cities require a DEC, the formation in a CEGEP, like Montreal and Laval, but you don't have to do it to become a firefighter.
In Quebec, there is a range of type of firefighters. In 2018, in quebec, a firefighter in his first year would make a little more than $44 000 in a year. After more than 4 years and a half, it is now the highest stage of a regular firefighter, and they would make about $76 800 in a year. There is also higher grades, so you can be a lieutenant and then a captain. The lieutenant makes about $84 500 a year and a captain make a little more than $92 000 in a year.
To become a firefighter, apart from all the formations and studies, you have to do personal training on the side. It is a very hard job physically, you have to carry the equipment, which is heavy all on its own, then you have to carry people in emergencies if they can walk and that is just a little part. To be able to do that, they need to workout a lot. Apart from that there might be some conferences from time to time, but the main additional training there is to do is working out.
Being a firefighter include constantly putting yourself in danger to be able to save other people. During the career as a firefighter, they will encounter a lot of fires and even if you are well-equipped for facing fire, there is always a risk to it. If your oxygen mask is not working properly, you could have consequences due to the smoke. Also, while going in burning buildings you never know the debris that could hit you resulting in injuries.
Currently there is no chance that firefighters get replaced by robots. Being a firefighter is a very manual job and on a big scale. To be a firefighter you need the help of you peers and of big equipment, and the technology is not developed enough right now to be able to replace firefighters.
A firefighter will retire at about 55-60 years old. However, you can also be forced out of the job due to injury. Since it is a risk of the job, they can develop an injury big enough that they are not able to work anymore. Throughout all those years the firefighters will have helped their communities and saved many lives.
If you are someone that hates the routine, that love being in action and doing a physical job, you love helping people and working in team, firefighting might just be for you, and you should try it out.
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: government
Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: government
Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited