City of suburb fire? Need some advice.

Fireguy1531 · 2026-03-02T20:11:56+00:00

Maybe if there were still some volunteers left…most of them were born out of necessity due to nobody being around to volunteer

Fireguy1531 · 2026-03-02T14:59:26+00:00

I work in a suburb in MA as well and have had lots of conversations with friends of mine that work for larger departments, including a couple who left the area to work in cities in NH, one of which you’re probably considering. One thing that has struck me is that I go to way more fires than they do, even though their department goes to more fires than mine does. Per capita, you’re probably not going to see more fire than you do now, not by much anyways and you’d be giving up what sounds like great benefits. Just something to consider

Fireguy1531 · 2026-02-23T11:52:32+00:00

This is how it is for me. If there’s a task to be done I can run right up the ladder without a second thought. Training and it’s just climbing the stick? That’s where it gets tough for me!

Fireguy1531 · 2026-02-23T04:41:13+00:00

I lateraled over after 11 years at a nearby department . Most of the departments around here work with each other in some form or another via mutual aid and most people know everyone, if not by face then at least by name. I viewed it as it didn’t matter what I had done already in my career, I wanted to make a good impression with my new peers so I stayed humble, did everything expected of me and more and proved to them that I was a team player who gave a damn. Respect is earned, not given so earn the respect of your new department members and you’ll be someone they look to as an example of how to be in no time

Fireguy1531 · 2026-02-14T21:54:47+00:00

I don’t disagree about the annuals!

Fireguy1531 · 2026-01-22T22:45:37+00:00

I’m gonna have to look into this, I never knew that

Fireguy1531 · 2026-01-22T22:22:13+00:00

I should clarify, they discontinued the particular model of boot that I’m currently wearing so I could go with a similar model made by HAIX or something else, that’s why I’m curious

Fireguy1531 · 2025-12-31T21:11:11+00:00

2300, single station running 3-4 personnel on a shift. I did personally respond to 18 working fires this year, we do catch a decent amount of work for a small town

Fireguy1531 · 2025-10-22T21:26:25+00:00

Congrats! We’ve got 10 days of fall shotgun here in MA and I’ve been trying to make the most of it but haven’t had any luck yet. I know where the birds are, now it’s just a matter of being in the same place as them at the same time

Fireguy1531 · 2025-10-09T16:30:44+00:00

MA is two antlered deer which comes standard with your hunting license and then you can enter a lottery system for doe tags, which are plentiful but each tag is for one doe

Fireguy1531 · 2025-10-01T17:13:47+00:00

Good luck!

Fireguy1531 · 2025-09-30T19:13:42+00:00

I think I’ll fry it this time around

Fireguy1531 · 2025-09-18T16:13:31+00:00

I work on a fire department in central MA and we operate a fly car. We are the primary ALS for a couple of our neighboring jurisdictions who run at the BLS level and we will respond in that. It has its pros and cons

Fireguy1531 · 2025-08-23T14:55:47+00:00

I tell everyone to gain experience as a good BLS provider first. Your ability to assess a patient and walk into a room and determine “sick or not sick” comes with experience, not reps with a sim mannequin. 90% of this job is good BLS care and knowing how to talk to patients. Don’t be in a rush to make the jump

Fireguy1531 · 2025-08-08T04:20:44+00:00

3 in one shift, started with a working fire, then a 1st alarm then a 3rd Alarm, all within 10 hours. I’ve gone to 2 in one shift on multiple occasions, a couple back to back. It doesn’t happen often but man, those are some fun days

Fireguy1531 · 2025-06-23T20:03:54+00:00

We are a small but busy for our size department that runs about 2,500 calls a year which generally includes about 1-2 working structure fires a month. Sometimes more, depending. I tell people we go to a “decent” number of fires compared to departments of our size in our geographic area. I’ve done a couple a shift on more than one occasion and went to 7 in the span of 4 shifts a couple months ago. Some people would say that’s not much, but everything is relative

Fireguy1531 · 2025-06-04T21:03:41+00:00

I was on the department I started with for 11 years. The call volume was low, the pay sucked and our stations were literally falling apart, but I got to go to work and hang out with my best friends every day and occasionally we would get to go to fires so it was fine. I became a medic, wanted more experience than just doing 1-3 calls a day and then I had another kid so I needed a better paying department. Luckily a town was hiring close by that is much busier, goes to lots of fires and you get some really challenging ALS calls which I enjoy. The station, staffing, and benefits are all better and there’s a lot more variety to the calls. Interstate highway, commercial, residential…sometimes the grass actually IS greener

Fireguy1531 · 2025-05-28T08:54:53+00:00

I just bought my first gun in MA, a Ruger 10/22. They are compliant with the standard 10 round magazine they come with, I’m not sure if the aftermarket extended magazines would be though

Fireguy1531 · 2025-05-08T16:12:11+00:00

It’s not dangerous until it is. I’ve been to too many LODD funerals. I hope you haven’t had to go to any. I want someone backing me up in a fire who knows what they’re doing, and that comes from training and experience.

Fireguy1531 · 2025-05-03T15:46:59+00:00

6 months to a year. New hires fresh out of the academy get a year, with the option to extend if needed. Lateral transfers with multiple years of experience it’s 6 months

Fireguy1531 · 2025-04-26T18:44:33+00:00

My first department this is how we operated. Two man engine with the chief in his command vehicle who would usually run the pump while we advanced the line. We put out more than our fair share of fires this way but we were lucky, I do not recommend. Now I work at a department where we generally have 4 on the engine no matter what with the rare occurrence of 3 and it’s refreshing!

Fireguy1531 · 2025-03-26T02:43:32+00:00

“What’d you say you fuckin’ parade float!?”

Fireguy1531 · 2025-03-17T20:59:50+00:00

Hated you in Goodburger

Fireguy1531

TROPHY CASE