I'm Wondering and this goes to any firemen or paramedics?

Question

hows your job? is it dangerous or what are the ups and downs? If i do i'd be joining the LAFD and well we all know that its one of the most advanced and also hardest departments to get in to so if you could give me some advice and on top of that ..how is your home life? How do you and your wives deal with your 24 hour absence?

Answer 1

I love my job! I work as a paramedic in a private ambulance company that responds to 911 calls. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't dangerous, but as long as you have a good head on your shoulders, and you act sensibly, then you can minimize most of the dangers. As a paramedic, I'd say one of the drawbacks of my job is the relatively low pay compared to the amount of responsibility I have. There's also a lot of mental stress and it's fairly physically challenging at times.

On the plus side, I love the 24 hour on/ 48 hour off schedule. There's also nothing more fun than riding lights and sirens :)

As far as home life, well, that depends on how well your significant other can adjust to your schedule. It's hard for the non-EMS or non-firefighter spouse to understand that you really don't want to get up and do anything the morning after coming home from a particulary difficult shift, and sometimes they have trouble with the fact that you will have to miss holidays. As long as you have an understanding spouse, then it's no problem. Thankfully, my fiancee is also a paramedic who has worked on a shift before, so he's pretty sympathetic.

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

Gosh Mitch that is a very good question.  Looks like all the firemen and paramedics are too busy to answer.  Hope they will soon.  I think this would be a great profession to go into.  All the firemen and paramedics I know from my church, and there are quite a few, all seem like the most honest and trust worthy people on earth.  They have happy families and are great workers at church, too.  I know on holidays like Christmas, the families go to the firehouse to have the meal with their working family.  They seem like a very close knit community.  I hope you give it a try and I hope you make the best fireman or paramedic ever.  Good luck and God bless!

Answer 3

aaa .. sicne when did you say LA ...  no ''LA''

Answer 4

I've been in EMS for over 8 years now, and have many complaints, but all in all I do enjoy my job.  There have been a few close calls either being nearly run over in traffic at an accident scene, being threatened and assaulted in the back of the truck, and nearly sliding down a 30 some foot cliff trying to get a guy out of a car....but I would say it was worth it.  The hours do get to you at times, some shifts go by nicely other seem to just drag on forever.  As far as my family life goes, I do miss out on some family functions because of scheduling issues, but I look at it this way, I only work 10 days a month on avrege.  But the pay could be alot better esp for the amount of hours put in each week, which avg about 60 or so.  I would say make sure you really want to get yourself into this, if you have any doubt move on to something else and not waste space or time for someone that really wants to be there.

Answer 5

My husband is a paramedic, and he really does love his job, most of the time.  It has it's ups and downs like any other job, but I think for the most part he's pretty satisfied.

Our home life is pretty nice, actually.  He's home for 2 whole days and nights at a time, so we get plenty of family time, and I get LOTS of help with household chores, much more so than if he worked traditional hours.  Being on the wife end of a 24 hour shift really isn't all that bad when you get used to it.  Sometimes the kids and I drop by the station with dinner or just to say hi, and of course there are multiple phone calls and emails just to check in and say hi, and then after his shift we generally have breakfast together and either relax or go do whatever it is that we need to do.

Good luck!

Answer 6

you go on a firestation and talk with the men there simpel