Calling all firefighters

I'm a retired FF and I know of one or 2 others here on POTN but there must be many more.

If you are or were a FF please say hello.


My entire career, paid and volunteer, was with Hillsborough County, Florida. I donned my first SCBA in 1982 and retired from the job in 2019, so the last 30 years career and 37 years total.

Hello Chuck!

23 years paid/call. Loved almost every minute of it and still miss it from time to time.

Take care and stay safe brother!
Mike

Hello, Mike. What FD did you work for?

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Hey, Chuck!

I work on wildfires for a private contractor. . Started as a firefighter on type 4, 5, and 6 engines, and now I drive runner trucks for Ground Support.

I just got back from 5 weeks on the Bootleg Fire in southcentral Oregon. . While there I worked for an ODF type 1 team, the Alaska Incident Management Team, and the Northwest team 2.

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22 years as a professional in London, Ontario, Canada. (Only a couple hours from Mike, there in Detroit). 8 years as a volunteer, before that.
Also worked 20 years as a part-time paramedic, on my days off from fire. It’s a separate job in most places in Canada. My son recently became a paramedic, and I hung around long enough to work a shift with him as my partner. Then I hung it up.
I have a couple more years before I retire from fire.

TOM! I didn't expect to see you here. Wildland firefighting is a wild and dangerous business. How long have you been doing that?

Sort of the same for me, Dave. My son is a paramedic and works for a private ALS/BLS transport service. Near the end of my career we ran 1 call together and since it was just a BLS transport we posed for a photo of us loading the stretcher together.

chuckmiller wrote in post #19274058
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TOM! I didn't expect to see you here. Wildland firefighting is a wild and dangerous business. How long have you been doing that?
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This is my 6th season. . I really love it. . I worked on the engines for the first 2 1/2 seasons, then found that I was better suited to Ground Support.

One of the things I love most about working on wildland fires is the traveling. . Last year I spent 7 weeks on the Creek Fire in California, more than 1,100 miles from where I live. Got to know the area intimately, as I was stationed at the basecamp at China Peak Ski Resort, and had daily runs out to Vermillion Lake and Mono Hot Springs. . Had to go over a 9,100 foot high mountain pass to get from camp to the line, so every day's trip would be an adventure!

Out here in the west, it's different ..... when someone says, "firefighter", most people immediately think of wildland fire; of a hand crew digging line on some mountain slope in the middle of nowhere. . Would never cross their mind that the speaker could be referring to structure fires.

Then back east where I'm from originally, it is the opposite - if someone says "firefighter", most people immediately think of yellow uniforms and big shiny fire trucks and a fire station with the siren going off as the guys rush out to a burning house.

Worlds apart.

Photo from Tom Reichner's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (808335)

I tried to join the Valliant, OK VFD, but they told me I was too old. . I did work a house fire once, since no other members showed up, I rode with the only one who did show up.

33 years, now retired.

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Out here in the west, many retired firefighters work on Incident Management Teams on wildfires. . They are the "overhead" on a fire, and consist of positions such as the Incident Commander, the Logistics Section Chief, the Finance Section Chief, Food Unit Leader, Ground Support Unit Leader, Facilities Unit Leader, Basecamp Manager, Equipment Manager, Public Information Officer, Safety Officer, Agency Liaison, Planning Section Chief, GIS/Mapping Specialist, Air Operations Chief, etc., etc., etc.

So I wonder if any of you retired guys who worked for local fire departments have thought about joining an Incident Management Team to train for any of these types of positions, or singing up to join various teams at various times, a.k.a. hiring yourself out as a "single resource". . Pretty much anyone who has worked for any federal or state agency, or any municipal fire department, is eligible, and you need not have any career experience with wildfire to get trained and hired on.

It just seems unusual that out here, in my world, almost everybody who works for a fire department ends up working on management teams during and after their careers, yet I haven't seen any mention of this so far in this thread from you retired guys. . It can be a pretty good way to earn $400 to $700 per day for a month or two each summer, depending on the quals you get and what position you get called in for. . Many guys do this well into their 60s and 70s, so advancing age need not be a deterrent.


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Hello all,
I'm a retired Professional Firefighter from Christchurch, New Zealand.
16+ years service then was injured at a fire ('cos some thick sod did something wrong and I ended up wearing it!).
Had to retire a few months later as injury never came right (neck...and it's still wrecked).
Anyway, regards and respect to you all.
I was Regular NZ Army too (Artillery), before leaving and joining Fire Service.
Maybe I just like uniforms?
Edit: I'm a Vietnam veteran (161 battery), so I'm also wondering if any other vets on here?).

6 years Florida Army National Guard 1980-1986 (age 17-23). All peacetime, no combat. I should have stayed a full 20 years to earn a healthcare retirement benefit but sometimes the young are unwise. Or maybe it was an unforeseen best decision of my life because my company served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm and now many of them have life altering illnesses that medicine cannot explain.

Maybe a month ago I watched a video of a flying tanker skimming a lake to refill with drop water. Those pilots have factors to deal with beyond standard flight.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19274068

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by Tom Reichner originally in forum: Competitions

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19274032
Hey, Chuck! ....Started as a firefighter on type 4, 5, and 6 engines, and now I drive runner trucks for Ground Support.

The Forestry and wildland guys have such different names for their vehicles. At my last fire station the property was coinhabited by the Florida Division of Forestry. When they would refill their "tanker" it was actually a 4x4 Ford F-550 chassis "brush truck". For us, a tanker is a 3,000 gallon water "tender".