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Public Safety Firefighting VS. Private Sector Fire Fighting
Out of interest, why do many people seem to pursue the public sector for their fire fighting careers and not the private sector?
There are many private industrial companies (Such as heavy manufacturing, automotive, mining, steel, etc) that employ full time Emergency Response Teams (ERT's) and yet the private sector often fails to attract even half decent candidates.
Is it because often the private sector require a full range of competencies and qualifications before commencing employment where as many public sector employers (Her in Oz at least) will train you up when you commence?
I know of one company that is looking to pay in the vicinity of $74,000 pa to ERT members. They work 2 day, 2 nights, 4 off. That's good money for doing what you love doing.
Thoughts?
There are many private industrial companies (Such as heavy manufacturing, automotive, mining, steel, etc) that employ full time Emergency Response Teams (ERT's) and yet the private sector often fails to attract even half decent candidates.
Is it because often the private sector require a full range of competencies and qualifications before commencing employment where as many public sector employers (Her in Oz at least) will train you up when you commence?
I know of one company that is looking to pay in the vicinity of $74,000 pa to ERT members. They work 2 day, 2 nights, 4 off. That's good money for doing what you love doing.
Thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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That may be true down there, Robert. Come to Houston sometime and see all the plants and refineries. Most incidents are handled within the plant, without outside assistance, especially hazmat incidents. Usually the only outside assistance required is EMS transport. When there is a fire, several of the plants have trucks capable of pumping 6000 gal/min in addition to adding foams and other extinguishing agents. The plants and refineries have their own mutual aid agreements with each other first, and maybe the local public agencies.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Stewart on
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Is there by chance any companies in Victoria who would be after someone who hasnt got all the fancy qualifications but has been a volunteer fire fighter for nearly 9 years Lutan ? as im thinking about a private sector fire fighting job but those jobs here in South Australia require all the qualifications before hand
It doesnt matter what industrial company it is just as long as the employer is willing to train me in dealing with emergencies on the worksite
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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There's very few with fulltime ERT's down here. Those that have them, generally require the quals up front as they're more interested in skills maintenance as oppossed to getting you the quals in the first place.
The major one I mentioned in a previous post are all tradies and operators that get pulled off the production lines to respond. Even though they're not a full time ERT, they're far better trained and equipped than many fulltime ERT's I know of and in many cases better trained and equipped than the CFA!!!! The company take it very seriously.... (But that's definitely the exception!)
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Permalink Reply by William Greg Smith on
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Good evening.
I am Greg Smith I am owner and Chief of fire Operation for my company. Central TexasBrushSpecialists. We can be found on the web if you want more information. Lets see. I own and operate with my brother co-owner Scott Smith. We at CTBS operate type 6-5 wild land fire Engins and work contractlly with Gov agencies. IE USFS,BLM Ect. We provide contract wildland fire services for them if there own units,Forests are over taxed on fire throughout the US. We are as highely trained and certified as the USFS,Blm Eng crews are as well as Structual firefighter certified,Hazmat tech. The pay is compairable with any dept her in the states. And even more so. We pay by bay and depends on if we are doing f/f efforts or fuel mitigation,or perscribed burning. We have several organizations we ar with. IE NWSA, NWFF Ect So we are not fly by night. And more and more the US Gov uses us as much as there own units. We are out there just keep this in mind. If any one has any questions or issues reach me at my Web site. WWW.centraltexasbrushspecialists.com
Thank you
Chief G. Smith
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Permalink Reply by Doug on
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As well as major industrial sites. A lot of Airports are also covered by contract ARFF fire departments.
I could have easily gotten a job as a private contract firefighter through a company(ies) that works closely with the federal government and DoD when I got out of the Air Force, but I didn't care to get sent to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, etc., etc.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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If you want to do structural firefighting, extrication, technical, and the emergency response component of hazmat in the U.S., the public sector is the place to do it.
The public sector runs thousands of calls, has more chance for advancement, and helps a lot more people.
The public sector has better job security, although no sector has recession-proof job security right now.
The private sector may pay more or less, depending upon what you are doing and who you do it for.
The private sector ends up being a second career for a lot of retired public sector firefighters who have the full range of experience and professional qualifications, and who are more qualified to manage or fill specialist roles. A lot of retired public sector firefighters end up running private training agencies or as private sector consultants to the public sector.
In other words, it's a mixed bag, and there's generally something for anyone if you are willing to look for a job and move to where the employers are hiring.
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I'd love to become a private sector fire fighter but due to the fact many if not all private sector ff jobs require you to have RCR,HAZMAT,CABA, Confined Rescue, Industrial First Aid and HR licence that explains the lack of people interested in that kinda job within the private sector cause its so hard if you dont have those kind of qualifications
Robert, all of these competencies you mention are easily available through a multitude of private RTO's.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Tipper on
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As good as the mining jobs sound, it is all financial. Not that long ago Firefighters were not in as good a position financially as they are now, hence most worked second jobs. This is also the reason most firies were in the job because thats what they wanted to do. As our salaries have increased so has the number of applicants and there is an obvious increase in idiot intelectuals ( is that spelt correctly ) that are gaining jobs over common sense hard workers. Back to the mining/private services I can only speak for the mining side which I have had some experience with. IT"S BORING. Stuck on a mine site miles from anywhere with possibly one call a month. Most generally only work in these roles for a few years, FIFO gets too much after a while.
Robert I don't know if your still looking, but you should be able to gain any necessary qualifications through the CFS, they are a registered RTO. Have you tried contacting Olympic Dam, I spent some time there a while back and pretty much all the rescue requirements were First Aid and I think the CFS basics ( this was some time ago however ).
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