All Things CF Firefighter (merged)

[bradlupa]

whoo hooo was merit listed for fire fighter now just to wait for the offer of employment.  I cant wait i have found out that they have not done any hiring yet this fiscal year, but they are looking at the hiring process in a couple of months. so the recuriter said.

On a side note had a hell of a fire recently here at my home station. A farmer was burning old oil filters and the wind came up, (like always) and to it into an 80 acre corn field.  It took 13 hours from start to finish to put it out and do overhall, those cobs are a pain to put out.  We were lucky though we stopped it about 150 feet from the forest.  He got a nice bill from the fire dept. as no burning permit was issued.

To date we have had 37 grass fires and 6 vehicle fires 126 medical calls, 27 auto alarms, 37 co alarms,12 chimney fires, 3 house fires, 1 commercial fire, and 12 other calls, oh and 24 MVC/MVA

 

[strauss]

Does anyone know what the hell is going on at CFFA? They keep making courses and then delaying or cancelling them. I've been waiting since January for the Aug course, only to hear that it's cancelled for semi-skilled. I'm getting frustrated by this, I put in my paper work for change trades April 2008, signed Jan 2009 as 149.
Concrete info would be nice!

 

[Heatwave]

Yes, I know exactly what is going on at the CFFA.  Let me put it this way...you can't teach courses if you don't have enough qualified instructors to do so.  You can't teach courses when your last line of defence, the civilian contractors don't get their contract renewed.  You can't teach courses when you haven't got students because of OP Podium training.  You can't teach courses when your limited staff gets deployed.  You can't teach courses when you've been so overloaded and short-staffed that your courseware design has fallen behind.  You can't teach courses when you're outsourced contracts don't come in on time.  This goes much higher than yourself and let me tell you directly that this is not the way we like to do business, but tell me how you expect to be on a course without any staff to teach it?  These decisions are all under direction and approval of CFSTG and much higher.  They tell us, we do.  That's what is going on at CFFA!  Yes, concrete info would be nice and if you can find the one with the answer, you'd be in a much higher position.  Why not check the current OP Tempo of the CF and then I'll welcome you to the reality of our world in training systems!  Oh, and btw, this is the same status for pretty well every school in Borden.  CFFA is not an anomoly, our hands are tied. 

 

[strauss]

Seems I'm not the only one frustrated and thats understandable. I'm not trying to get a rise out of anyone, and the entire military is short-staffed. The rollarcoaster ride of being loaded on course, not loaded, new course coming up, course cancelled, is not easy on anyone. Could be worse, I guess I could be stuck at PRETC waiting.

 

[cdnfireman]

What most of you guys dont realize is that WE ( I am a currently serving 149) want all you new guys in. So that WE can get a break. For those of you that are new to the military whining and bitching aint going to get things done any faster. Hurry up and wait. Get on the truck, Get off the truck. For the past 6 years I have been tasked up the ass as well as the rest of the guys. If you think you are walking into a firehall and sitting down. HA good luck with that. you have a minimum 18 month QL4 package. And its still not till after your 5's when WE dont have to hold your hand. So no matter how fast you get in you got about 2-3 years before your even allowed to work alone. So please hurry up. So that WE can stop going to Alert,Inuvick,Afghan,and to sea. Maybe its WE who deserve a break.

 

[Kuefler]

I recently compleated the NFPA 1001 proffesional Firefighter Program. I have been looking into different Career oportunities and I stumbled upon firefighting for the military.

I am hoping to talk to some one who knows more about this trade. Perhaps someone who is working as a firefighter or knows someone who is.

Also, i am currently in the application process for the reserves right now and im wondering if i should stop and put my apps in for regs for firefighting if i choose that route or should i continue and just transfer....

 

[carl_gustav317]

What most of you guys don't realize is that WE ( I am a currently serving 149) want all you new guys in. So that WE can get a break. For those of you that are new to the military whining and bitching ain't going to get things done any faster. Hurry up and wait. Get on the truck, Get off the truck. For the past 6 years I have been tasked up the *** as well as the rest of the guys. If you think you are walking into a firehall and sitting down. HA good luck with that. you have a minimum 18 month QL4 package. And its still not till after your 5's when WE don't have to hold your hand. So no matter how fast you get in you got about 2-3 years before your even allowed to work alone. So please hurry up. So that WE can stop going to Alert,Inuvick,Afghan,and to sea. Maybe its WE who deserve a break.

i totally agree with you! with such a high attrition rate, we definitely need all these new guys but what we need more from these new guys is the incentive to work. to not think that they are coming into a swan trade without feeling the need to work for it. these guys have to realize that they are still in the military.

i have even had some direct entry guys tell me that this should be a re-muster trade. at least they understand that they have an amazing trade and have worked for what they have. these new guys coming in think we owe them everything and they don't have to work for it.  6 months in the alarm room in Edmonton after my 3's and now finishing 3 yrs at sea. sucked but had to get it done. now we are supposed to bend over backwards and accommodate the "super firefighter" just because he went to a university? i don't understand that at all.

Now that my venting is done, hopefully all gets rectified and we can continue to enjoy the best trade in the CF. I am eagerly anticipating my posting back to a fire hall - shift work cannot come soon enough!

 

[smokeycvfr]

I wrote and had the new spec signed off when I worked for MOSART, if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, you can pm or email me if you wish.

 

[danteh]

Hey guys I'm currently in the progress of VORing to Fire Fighter and my next step is my BPSO interview where I basically have to do a job interview for the trade. So I was wondering if I could get some information not found on the CF website. I looked the the few Fire Fighter posts but all were out of date so I figured I'd start this one.

Some of my questions are;

What is an average day on course like?
Is there alot of C.O.C.K. on the course? (I am changing from Infantry so I'm basically wondering if I can expect the same treatment that I did from my DP1 Infantry course)
What is an average day like after course?

Thanks alot in advance.

 

[danteh]

Hi I was just wondering about the physical fitness standards of CF Fire Fighters. I saw this page: http://www.cfpsa.com/en/psp/fitness/tasks_e.asp and I was just wondering if that is the test they run instead of the CF express? And am I doing that the minute I start my QL3s?

 

[Dano651]

You will be training during your QL3 to pass the Firefighter PT test and you will continue during your career to be tested annually.

 

[danteh]

Okay perfect.

 

[Chilme]

CF Fire Fighters actually conduct 2 different tests.  The "10 Common Tasks" test that everyone is referring to is an annual test and is conducted instead of the CF EXPRES test for fire fighters.  It is considered to be of a higher standard than the CF EXPRES test.  However, there is an initial Pre-Selection test that involves walking on a treadmill in Bunker Gear while gradually increasing speed and incline on the treadmill to MAX effort.  If you want to prepare for this test I would recommend walking (Never running!  Fire fighters don't run) on a treadmill at increasing pace and incline in long pants and a sweater, and a weighted rucksack @ 15-25lbs.

The test can go up to 25 minutes, so it is advised to for that duration if possible.

 

[danteh]

Thanks for the info. Is there anything else you can recommend in preperation for joining the trade? Right now I'm in the Infantry in Meaford VORing to Fire Fighter and there is noone here that has any information for me with regards to PT.

 

[Chilme]

It is hard to give specific recommendations over the internet, but at the very least, I would recommend getting yourself on a Combat Fitness Routine or Crossfit.  They will get you in the right physical and mental condition. 

Otherwise you can try the 12 week CSOR pre-selection training program.  It is a little bit different then fire fighting, but has a similar variety in Muscular strength, endurance, and aerobic fitness.  It also has some weight loaded marching that will make walking in your bunker gear a piece of cake.  The CSOR pre-selection training program manual at the below link.

http://canadianmilitaryandefence.blogspot.com/2010/09/canadian-special-operations-regiment.html

 

[Fokur]

When and if spots do open up in April 2011... usually how many spot are we expecting? I read somewhere in the forums the one of the last years it was opened and then closed that very same day....

 

[troymatthew]

Would anyone know what 2011 is looking like.
In the way of people get into the trade.
Or just information.

 

[Chilme]

Check out the link below for complete and up to date info on Canadian Forces Fire Fighter Fitness.

http://canadianmilitaryandefence.blogspot.com/2011/03/canadian-forces-fire-fighter-physical.html

Includes info on Pre-Entry Fitness testing (2nd edition updates) and info on the Fire Fighter Physical Fitness Maintenance Program (Fitness Manual and 10 Task Test).

I hope some people find it informative.

 

[BadgerTrapper]

Firstly, sorry for the mouthful of a title. Just needed to get that out there, I was wondering if someone wanted to be a Military Firefighter but already had their level 1 qualification, would they need to take the same course again at the CFFA? I realize that there are variations with Military firefighting, such as Aircraft and ships. I apologize for this question sounding so vague, if it helps. Ask any question you may need. Thanks people -Badger

 

[ff149]

Unfortunately there is no simple answer. CFFCA (the new name of CFFA since it combined with the CBRN school) would have to look at your course. This would also include where you took it and what was taught. Part of this is that some of the fire schools out there are kind of scarey as to what they teach you and what is required to get a certificate. Depending on what they decide there is a semi skilled course that I believe is 7 months long rather than the normal 9 months long ( I believe that is the length of the course I can check on it tomorrow at work - Hurricane depending). Although I do not believe that they are running any of those courses in the near future.

One thing to consider is that if you are not currently in the military or the reserves it may be very difficult to get in to the trade. I'm not saying that it would be impossible but from what we are being told by the career manager they are only taking people already in the forces. We've had a large influx of people under the SVOTP program, they are also looking at this as a way to try and improve our retention rate. We are losing a lot of people but the main problem is that people come in, get the training and some experience and then apply at a civilian department. We are only running approx 3 QL3 courses a year.

Hope this answers your questions.



Mods maybe we should move this to the Air force support trade form.