I just got home from a day of spending. I wish it were for my pleasure as well but I'm not that lucky. I signed my registration form for the academy and paid the almost $700 for the tuition and then went and spent another almost $200 for the clothes required!
Like I said it was pretty expensive, but I am lucky enough to have a college fund that will pay for all of this, otherwise I would be flat broke! haha
Another update today is that the academy starts on August 15th, and the orientation is on August 5th... I will let you know as things develop!
I got home from vacation yesterday to some great news. I have been selected to fill one of the last minute openings for my local Firefighter 1 Academy for the fall semester. This may not mean much to most of you, but for me this has been a long process and wait to get it. If I didn't get in until Fall I would only have gotten into Spring, which would have set me back quite a bit in my applications for the next year! NOT ANYMORE!
This is making my plans much faster then expected. I was hoping to get into the academy for Fall so then all I have to do is take the CPAT Test and start my 'application campaign' next year for a paid position. Now I am fully on schedule and ready for 2007!
I am still waiting on Oakland to get back to me so we will see what happens there, but I will let you know as soon as I hear something.
Today was the day for my oral board. I was at 3:20pm. It was a little interesting for my first time. I had 16 mins or so to answer 5 questions. I signed a document saying I wouldn't give any information about the questions or my answers, so I am going to honor that... Sorry.
I cant really tell you how I did. I got through all the questions, but I don't have a good or bad feeling about it, I am just done that's all I can say. But I do have a few tips for people going down there:
1. Get there really early. I got there at 1:00pm and my interview wasn't scheduled until 3:20, but they got me in early at 2:45! Get there early! haha
2. If you don't already have one, GET A SUIT! Get a full business suit for sure... No kidding if you don't have one you will be the only on there without!
3. Study for this... I can tell you that all 5 questions are on the list of 30 questions I posted about a few days ago... CLICK HERE FOR QUESTIONS... STUDYSTUDY STUDY!
4. Don't be too worried... It is fast and painless, 16 mins are your done.
Just a heads up to all that come and read, today I completed the last class necessary to now get into the fire academy. I was pretty excited to be done with it but more importantly, I am dreading Tuesday. The oral boards are getting me pretty scared. I know I shouldn't be worried, and be calm, but this is the first big moment in my fire career and I really don't want to mess it up! But I guess we will see what happens.
I have been reading questions and answering them on the fly to get my stuttering down so I don't sound like an idiot in there, so I think it will go well...
Tuesday 3:20pm, think of me in front of the firing squad! haha I will let you know how it goes!
I just got home from work, and I received my letter from Oakland. Yes, I have been asked to come back for the oral part of the process! I am so excited. My oral exam date is next Tuesday the 18th of July!
I cant believe I have made it this far. I am just curious as to how many people are moving on to this as well. Oh well, at least I can say I came this far. Now all I am nervous about are the questions they are going to ask me! YIKES! haha
Last night I got so much needed practice on my hose deployments, and loads... Pretty fun stuff. We did some cool scenarios just to get everyone on the same page.
Overall lots of good stuff! haha that's all I have to say about that!
While searching the net for new and interesting fire stuff I came across, an awesome fire news website called firerescue1.com. It is very well made with a ton of features. It reminds me a lot of Firehouse.com, but there are some differences. They even make there own magazine just as Firehouse.com's Firehouse Magazine. Check it out here.
This is an awesome video I just found... You have to see this.
Let me know what you think!
WARNING: In the song that is played during this video, there is profanity, therefore this video might not be appropriate for work, or near children. Thank you.
Today I had my second day of the pre academy class. We did our physical fitness testing, which went better then I actually thought it would... Imagine that! After lunch we had a report writing class, and then we finished the day with ropes and knots, where I might add, I was a very useful person to have around mainly due to the fact I have done all the knots we learned today, and was able to help out the other people who were struggling with them.
I'm sorry for the lack of information coming out lately... There just hasn't been much going on lately. Until today. Today I started the pre requisite class for the Firefighter 1 academy. Basically this class is made to weed out those who are not physically or mentally ready to go to the academy, therefore making more room for the people who are ready for it.
We went over the basic job description for people who didn't know. The from 12pm until 5pm we went over SCBA's. Talked about all the parts and how to properly use them. But, when we got broke into groups, to practice donning them... Me being the most experienced in my group, came out on top when we all agreed we wanted to race.
Other then that nothing too interesting today. Tomorrow on the other hand is more running and physical testing more then anything else. I will let you know how things go in this class.
On another good note... I might have found a way to get into the fire academy a semester earlier then I was planning to... Just a kind of loop hole we found. I don't want to give to much info, but I will let you know if it works out! haha
This particular fire holds some meaning to me, mainly because this is the area I will be camping in at the end of July... Not looking to good. Here is the information from Inciweb.org
I started this blog to let people into my world as I make my way into the fire department. I will bring you stories, pictures, news and other great firefighter resrouces. Please keep an eye on my blog for updates in my world of fire as they come!
FlashoverTV - An awesome website full of fire video from all over the country... very fun to watch and post your own!
Inciweb.org - A National fire service incident reporting system... VERY COOL!
Becoming a Firefighter, VA - A blog about another firefighter. He keeps it up to date and has a ton of great experience's!
Paul Combs Art Studio - Paul Combs is an amazong artist. He does the monthly cartoon for Firehouse.com and has some other awesome fire fighter cartoons. You can see his incredible art on his website, and his cartoon @ www.firehouse.com
I just got home from a day of spending. I wish it were for my pleasure as well but I'm not that lucky. I signed my registration form for the academy and paid the almost $700 for the tuition and then went and spent another almost $200 for the clothes required!
I got home from vacation yesterday to some great news. I have been selected to fill one of the last minute openings for my local Firefighter 1 Academy for the fall semester. This may not mean much to most of you, but for me this has been a long process and wait to get it. If I didn't get in until Fall I would only have gotten into Spring, which would have set me back quite a bit in my applications for the next year! 
Here is a pretty cool site that I just found that helps with some of the basic firefighter oral board questions... You can take a look at it 
This is an awesome video I just found... You have to see this.
