I am trying to locate the 12v circuit breaker/relay panel on a 2007 Pierce Contender custom cab pumper. The high beam(wig-wag) is functioning sporadically. It will actually turn on one side of the high beams when all of the lights are off. We had to cover the headlight with a jacket during nighttime helo ops. I've traced most of the cab wiring to the front of the driver/officer positions to large rectangular connectors in the floor. It's a used truck. No paperwork or manuals. Oshkosh/Pierce manuals are password-protected on the site. Any clues to the location of the flasher box or the 12v breakers/relays?

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Good morning all! And I have a question. Are fire jokes offensive? Like for example saying “I have a heartburn burning like a fire right now.”

I asked this because my colleague who is trained as a wildland fire fighter as he says. Says to “not joke about fire.” I just wanted to know. Is this something that offends most fire fighters or touches a soft patch? If so should I avoid making fire jokes at any point?

To add on. We do not work in the fire department and my colleague never has been on a call involving a wild land fire and has only been trained by his wife farther. Who was a wildland fire until he retired.

How old were you when you first started at a career department?

For background I’m a full time firefighter working 24 hour shifts. On shift and the night before at home, I never dream. However when I take my post shift nap I have extremely vivid dreams. Anyone else have this or can explain it?

Taking the physical test on Saturday and wanted to maybe bring some coffee for the people administering the test. Heard them mention during the “practice test” that they’re real short on people and a lot of them volunteered to help us out w the practice test and the regular test on top of overtime so wanted to do something nice in return but wasn’t sure if that wouldn’t be a good idea or not. Was also thinking about bringing donuts or something but since I’m cutting sugar rn wasn’t sure if that’s something they might not be wanting to eat rn either. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi there. Has anyone attended FESTI in the last few years? How did you find the pace of learning? Would you recommend it? Thanks.

Any Kansas City fire guys (or someone familiar with them) in here that’d be willing to hop on a call about the fire / medic position they posted. Just trying to learn a little more about it. Browsed the website briefly but I know every department has positives and negatives that can’t be realized by scrolling online.

Wondering what fire department pension plans are like around the country. At my department, we were paid 2% of our base pay (not OT) for every year of service. The pension plan requires 10 years of minimum service to pay out (vest). Our plan does not provide pension payment adjustments for inflation. What is yours like and are you happy with it?

BTW, at your department, what happens to all the contributions you made to your pension if you leave the department before your pension is vested? Do you get the contributions back?

Hello, I'm starting probationary period soon. I meal prep food for health reasons and fitness goals. Is it okay to bring in food, maybe not on my first day but how would I go about this and is it out of the norm? I don't really care if I get made fun of and from what I've read: always eat at the table with the crew. Thanks

I’ve had a change in the shift dynamic for me lately:

Situation 1: I was pulled into the office by my LT. He basically said I was behind what he’d expected because I had a little struggle on day of training with ropes and knots and that he doesn’t see me spending extra time outside of our training working on stuff. He told me I was focusing too much on trying to display culture and tradition (this is a newer career department so there’s a lack of a lot of things many other departments have that I think make them places worth working at and staying, besides fire and call volumes). He said I was appearing a lot more like a “Hollywood firefighter”

Situation 2: Drilling on hose deployments, after situation 1. I’m doing rep after rep by myself because I know he’s expecting me to put in work. Him and the rest of the crew have stopped and are just watching. Apparently because of some struggles I had (and I guess my overall disposition) he asked an Lt I’ve known my whole life if I was autistic. He did this In front of the rest of my shift as well. They all had a laugh at my expense and I wasn’t in on the joke, which to me changed the tone of it completely (I’m all for getting my balls busted here and there as long as I’m part of it).

I guess I’m asking how people have handled experiences like these? I’ve already had some displeasure with the department since I finished recruit school and got on the line, it’s only been a few months and I picked up my entire life to chase the opportunity here and I’m wondering if I should’ve gone to a different department rather than taken this one at the face value I had of it at the time.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the rant and if it’s all over the place. lol

I am a Nobody… I’ll start there. I am just restarting a “advanced” academy. Only have 3.5 yrs on the job but i messed up big time! hooking up the oasis valve on the hydrant! and it really was demoralizing. I’ll sleep it off and start new tomorrow. It’s the training ground so im grateful to learn here over the real world.

Any insight on how to bounce back mentally, and or tips for the oasis?

Hello!

I’m getting ready to start the process for a few departments. No departments in my state offer a pension except for one an hour away with every other one having a 401K or similar. I live close to the border of our state (less than 15 minutes to the next state) which offers a pension at every department. For reference the in state departments pay about the same as out of state and are also larger and home to more stations and specialized companies.

Just curious on what the general consensus is by those who actually work in the field

Thanks

EDIT:

Should also have included the one with pension retires earliest at 20 years and the one with 401K retires earliest at 25 years. The only difference is most of the in state departments are larger and have more promotion opportunities plus specialized companies like HAZMAT and Rescues. The ones out of state while lacking in size, don’t transport or have any ALS capacity and are fire companies that run BLS only where only a few departments in state don’t transport or have ambulances

Besides fires and beer. What other actions do you as an individual or your department take to keep up morale. On the opposite side, what do you wish was different that would boost your department’s (or crews) morale?

Hi all,

Got my medical as part of my application (last part) in a few weeks, I read something that bmi must be below 30.0 to pass it, mine is currently in the mid to high 29s but I consider myself to be a lean and fit individual with more muscle mass around the legs that area generally. Is this something to be concerned about beforehand? Should I focus on losing some weight in preparation?

I was a medic in the military and that didn’t give me a sense of true purpose because most of the military is just sitting on your ass and doing pointless shit.

I got out and became a firefighter. I am in a gang-ridden, violent city. So we get a lot of action. A lot. But I still feel so small. I feel like I still don’t have that sense of purpose, like I don’t make a difference. If it wasn’t me doing it, it’d be someone else. I also understand this is a very selfish way of thinking and I should be doing this job for the people in the community and not for myself. I do care about the people, and I do everything in my power to do my job the best I possibly can for them. I got promoted to engineer now, and that doesn’t help because I’m mostly by the truck now and have less hands on responsibilities on scene.

Idk this might be a personal/mental issue and above reddits pay grade. But I’m just wondering if anyone else expected more fulfillment from this job or if I’m an outlier. I think I just wanna wake up in the morning and feel like I make a difference, even if it’s not on a large scale.

I imagine that a few of you had a full time job and a family before going into firefighting. What was that transition like for you? what was your first step?

Hey there folks, I’m a 22yom who’s worked in the field for the past 3 years. I have recently made a goal to go back to a four year university for my bachelors degree. To give a slight backstory, I attended university during COVID and all my classes were online. Since I already had my EMT at the time, I made a plan to just start working then and there. Soon after starting to work full time, I told my university I was going to focus on my career path.

Since starting in the field, I’ve gone through a FF1 academy, furthered my education with community college classes that are pertinent to fire and paramedicine, and now work in a box.

For those out there that chose to go back to college during their careers, how did you best utilize all your work experience to get a better chance at getting into a good school? I want to major in a something STEM since I may want to go into hospital work as I grow older and I’m interested in science.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated 🤙

I mean, planes rarely crash/have emergencies, and I can imagine that there isn't much going on in the way of incidents during the day to day operation of an airport, (maybe at a big airport like JFK or LAX) especially at smaller airport and military air bases. What do you guys do to kill the time? And how often do you guys respond to calls? I could be totally wrong about my assumption of it being a slow job lol.

For those who have or know about N5A’s In your opinion what are the best years to look out for when buying one?

I have a question in two parts about nozzle selection. For a department, who is in charge of research and procurement for different types of nozzles for the fire stations? The second part is when on scene who makes the initial decision on what type of nozzle to use? I am guessing that it is the man running the nozzle, but is there a chance the engine officer tells him he should switch?

Hey everyone, I’m a firefighter in the central New York area. I grew up here all my life but I’m ready for a change of scenery (and weather) and am thinking about heading south. I’ve only just started looking into cities and so far my #1 is Charleston, SC. looking for recommendations on cities to move to as well as insight to departments hiring processes, what the job is like down there as opposed to here, pay, and how it is living in these cities. Thankyou!

Hello im from switzerland and allways wanted to buy a US Style Leather helmet unfortunatly nobody sells/ships them to europe does someone have an idea how i could get one over here

I’m 17 and preparing for the academy. My question to you guys is: Do you often get scared or even a little terrified when dealing with fires? I had to call 911 a few weeks ago because of a power line catching fire and I was so scared in the moment that I was stumbling over my words on the phone. Does that go away with training/confidence, or do you just do it scared?

Hey all, I’m a probational FF in a busy city. Just got my first rotation and it’s been somewhat miserable due to one guy only. Our engineer is very salty, and also a booter bully. How do you guys recommend working around these characters

I’m currently facing a dilemma. I’m a probie and have been for a couple of months in a very busy city. The issue is that after spending several months roving through different stations, we were finally assigned to our permanent spots and have been for a couple weeks, and I ended up in a specialized unit that I didn’t request. Normally, this would be fine since it offers more work and valuable experience, but I don’t really connect with the crew at this station, unlike at the other places I roved.

Recently, I found out that a captain from one of the stations I roved at wants me on his team because I got along well with the crew there, and they appreciated my work ethic. However, that station is part of a slower company in the city.

Now I’m stuck deciding between staying in a toxic environment with more work or moving to a better environment with less work.

Anyone know of any good audiobooks to listen to. They don’t have to be fire related, but really trying to read more. Thanks in advance!

Hello! Looking for reviews if anyone has in field use with the Pigs head Axe. I am looking to get one myself but no one I know has yet to be hands on.

Looking for examples of riding assignment boards that have more than one “category” for each person to be assigned to.

Example: Structure Fire riding assignments, Extrication Tool assignments, cardiac arrest job assignments.

Anyone here have any knowledge of this department? Call volume? Overall feelings regarding the department and area?

Recently they posted a DC position and I’m considering applying but don’t know anything about the area.