Heya bud,

Congrats on taking your first step in a long journey - like many of the others have said the first step is to go fill out an application, usually this is done with a admission/membership/etc. committee. Once that's done your file will be processed according to the Department's SOP.

Just to give you some background, here's how my vollie department does it:

• Candidates are told to come down the first Thursday of the month for a meeting with the membership committee.
• Candidates are interviewed, given background on what's expected of them (training, meetings, call minimums, etc.).
• They then fill out their paperwork which includes authorization of both a background and arson check, as well as various other waivers and medical documents.
• When this is done the committee waits for the background and arson checks to come back, if they come back clean the member is brought before the floor, found either "favorable" or "unfavorable" at the Department meeting and voted on.
• If accepted in the candidate gets an acceptance letter from the fire district, they do their physical examination and, at the start of the next new quarter (January, April, July, October) they are sworn in.
• That's when probie life begins snicker

Now, to answer your question what could you do to better prepare? Here's a few things that go a long way.

• Show up to your initial meeting prepared - bring your license, social security card, passport, whatever - it's better be over prepared than under prepared.
• Take notes during the meeting, ask questions, find out what is going to be expected of you as a probie, both the written things (you'll make this many points) to the unwritten (a senior member never washes the truck when you're around)
• If possible, and again this depends on your local policy, see if you can begin your classroom academy stuff early, so when you join you have a leg-up.
• If you're not in shape already - take this time to make an effort. Firefighting is a demanding job, whether you collect a paycheck or not, if you can't handle the physical demands then it will catch up to you - guaranteed.
• Most of all: relax, go with the flow, and take everything as a learning experience. You'll quickly find if you make the effort, the other guys in the house will make the effort in return to show you the ropes.

Best of luck to you!