I wonder how long it took the lady to convince them that this wasn't a prank call and that she wasn't on drugs, or off her psych meds?

I love this story.

https://www.arlnow.com/2025/09/02/acfd-rescues-tiktok-famous-toucan-from-behind-pentagon-city-dishwasher/

I’ve noticed that while drilling, working, or training I am unable to stay in full bunker gear for over 30 minutes. Full bunker gear as in pants, coat, hood, helmet, gloves and a tank. While I’m working my internal body temperature rises higher and higher until the point that I can’t continue to work because the heat is unbearable. My goal is to be able to be fully bunked out, and do moderately physically taxing work for an extended period of time before tapping out. I’m in very good shape strength and stamina wise but this heat is something I can’t seem to tolerate well.

I’m in my early 30’s and just got hired as a firefighter about 5 months ago. Before that I worked as an EMT in the same city as my Department and got recruited because they saw how I handled myself on scenes. I go through the hiring process, get hired and start my rookie process. It was a learning curve, flooding the chainsaw, being slow with gearing up, not knowing what stuff was called or where it was. All that went away with time, training, and dedication to master my craft. I feel like I was making a lot of mistakes but they were genuine rookie mistakes that I corrected and didn’t make more than once. I got my Class B license, tore though my rookie book checklist, and started fitting in with my Lt. and driver.

Recently I learned my chief had told the capt. and Lt’s to never hire someone from the ambulance again. I felt like that was a major dig at me, even though I was progressing very well according to my Lt. Ever since I heard that 2 weeks ago, I felt a shift in the air. My capt has been on my ass socially, trying to get a rise out of me, my Lt. has begun getting on to me very aggressively over tiny things (like doing a report for someone when it wasn’t my report to do) and my Chief, who never really talked to me to begin with, has felt colder.

Being a new firefighter, trying to learn the job on top of finishing paramedic school, has been hell to begin with and now it feels like I’ve got a target on me and I genuinely don’t know why. I still get joked around with so there’s not any indifference or apathy to me, it just feels like I’m being judged for not being an expert at this yet and for working an ambulance before getting hired, especially after chiefs comment about new hiring criteria.

I’m still young enough to jump to another department after I finish medic school but lately I’ve been feeling a hell of a lot of imposter syndrome. Like maybe I don’t fit in to the fire service. I worked 6 years to get hired somewhere, put myself through EMT, Fire academy and medic school, all while working full time, in order to be here and I want to keep on keeping on but it’s starting to wear me down. Anybody else feel like this? Or have any advice?

I’ve been on the job for about 7 years now. Within the past year or so I’ve been having extremely vivid night terrors, sometimes waking up my bunkmate from jolting awake yelling or talking in my sleep. Generally I’m not bothered by calls or have trouble sleeping, but these dreams can be wild and terrifying. I’ve never experienced sleep paralysis and I’ve only had a couple of nightmares at home that reach “night terror” levels. Is this common after being on the job for a while? I would love to hear some feedback from anyone that experiences these types of dreams.

Creativity is super important for mental health! Does anyone else have any cool creative hobbies off the job? I think it’d be cool to see what others do as I’m always looking for ways to engage my creative brain.

got the offer from seattle! pretty stoked considering my love for my city and the hard work I put into this.

I am extremely grateful for the help I got along the way. looking to give back to my fellow redditors who are also trying to get hired. specifically people from this community who would be happy to make a career out of serving this diverse community. please be lgbtq friendly etc etc. no I will not give you the questions for oral board or chief’s, but I will tell you what worked for me.

I know this sub is a lot of men… looking at a really small niche group in the fire service here….
Looking to see what you do with feeding/pumping post fire (training or real). I’ve pumped and separated my milk at my pediatricians recommendation.
I’m hoping maybe I can send it in for a study somewhere to see if there is any transfer of carcinogens? I can’t seem to find it online. Not much literature on it.

Calling all rope nerds! Today one of my supervisors told me that (using the rope in the picture as a reference) under tension, in the event of a failure, the black fibers are manufactured to break first as a sign that you done f-ed up before the whole rope fails.
I’ve tried to confirm this with some basic googling with no results. Has anyone heard of this being a feature?
I thought the tracers were meant as a reference to keep multiple ropes moving at the same pace.
TIA!

Hello, I am an EMT student here. I chose this job because I want to get my foot in the door in Public Safety. If you have both good and bad stories I’d like to hear them both. Any advice for school and the field, what to do and what’s not to do?

I’m a full time city firefighter, I have an offer at an airforce base. Just looking on Insight strictly on which pays more and what’s best for retirement. City pays high 5 at 60%
I think we start on base as a GS7. Anyone that made the swap let me know. Give me an idea on how easily it is to climb ranks and GS, plus pay for retirement. Thank you.

In process for Houston FD they gave me a projected academy date I have my NREMT and I’ll be doing my fire with HFD any tips for me or advice about the department culture etc I’ve read a bit on here but most is from a few years ago so any updates would be greatly appreciated I’m a 28 year old black male married with 2 kids under 2 years old my wife’s a full time stay at home mom. I know Houston doesn’t pay the best but I’m okay with the pay right now might be interested in HCESD12 in a few years but I’m hoping HFD can be a career department for me. thanks in advance!

A French-Canadian theater company is coming to Chicago in January. The performance is centered around an ambulance team, and they are worried their translation from French to English isn't right when it comes to radio transmissions. Can you take a look at the following bits of script and let them know what the proper Chicago FD language would be? TIA!

"Unit 3612 to the ED, ETA two minutes. Sixty-two-year-old female, foreign body in theright thorax. Suspected hemothorax, possible head trauma, multiple contusions. Patientis currently in shock and severely confused. Over.

Unit 3612 to Dispatch. Patient's condition is deteriorating. We're continuing prioritytransport to the ED. Over.

Unit 3612 to the hospital. ETA twelve minutes. Penetrating abdominal trauma, foreignbody removed. Patient is unstable. We need the trauma bay ready on arrival. Over.

Unit 3612 to the ED. Sixty-two-year-old female, high-speed MVC. Patient is dyspneic.Suspected hemothorax. ETA approximately fifteen minutes. Over.

Unit 3612 to Dispatch. Priority transport to the ED with a sixty-two-year-old female,(following a) high-speed MVC. Over.

Some questions

- Do they use ED (Emergency department) or ER (Emergency room)? Or something else.

- I think in Chicago, they don’t use the 10-code. So I wrote “priority transport”. Is it the way they say it?

- Is there a range of number for Chicago area units (vehicle #)?

- Any comments/corrections are welcome for the radio communications to be as close as possible from the Chicago paramedics."

ADDED: I'm a Chicagoan, and I have looked at the script. It's not satire or comedy, and treats the job with respect. The focus is on the care they are giving the patient. We appreciate you!

Was about to order a radio strap However, thought something produced locally would be a little cooler plus I get to support the local homies

Looking to get a clip on flashlight for my radio strap. Just looking for recommendations from those that have one and like it.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to everyone opinions on whether this is good or bad, I passed Stockton interview with a 83 percent, but my rank was in the 60s, I was wondering if I’ll get a call back or most likely not.

hey y’all, 21 male long story short I strongly dislike the fed gov and demonstrate this online. no violence, cursing, or the like. but i’m obviously not supportive of our fed gov, ICE, mass surveillance, etc.

I am considering trying to get into the FD because simply put, I love people. I want to help people for a living. I’m wondering if my comments and political stance would prohibit me from entering.

My uncle gave me one of his old firefighting jackets (roughly from the mid 2010’s if I had to guess), and I’d like to wear it to a friend’s house party. I’m not going to claim I’m a firefighter or anything I just really like the fit of the jacket. I’m a bit concerned though, because it does have my city’s fire department sigil on the shoulder and “[MY CITY] FIRE” written across the entire back. I don’t want to appear as something I’m not and I just wanted to clear it with people who have experience. I checked the original manufacturer and it doesn’t seem like they sell this specific jacket anymore and I don’t want to ruin this one by taking off the patches.