Forest fire fighting interview

[steel8909]

So after 3 years of trying to get this interview I finally get it. If there are any forest fire fighters (or ex fighters) can you share any tips on how to have a successful interview?

I also have to do a "shuttle run", I looked online and it seems that it's just the Beep test. This is for BC fire fighting so any idea on what level I need? The last time I did it was maybe 3 years ago for a rowing try out and I managed to get to level 11,so I think I should do fine since I still keep up with my fitness.

[chrisdunn]

There was 4 guys interviewing me when I did it. Not only are they looking for well rounded individuals, you have to study the website in and out if you want to make them happy. Really. When did the beep test, level 8 and higher was what they were looking for. That may have been based on the number of applicants for the jobs that were available.

I didn't bother going to boot camp, the company I was with that spring gave me a better job offer.

Study their website thoroughly. Know everything about it. Even statistics.

[steel8909]

There was 4 guys interviewing me when I did it. Not only are they looking for well rounded individuals, you have to study the website in and out if you want to make them happy. Really. When did the beep test, level 8 and higher was what they were looking for. That may have been based on the number of applicants for the jobs that were available.

I didn't bother going to boot camp, the company I was with that spring gave me a better job offer.

Study their website thoroughly. Know everything about it. Even statistics.

Yea I'll make sure to know as much as I can. My friend who recently got a volunteer fire fighting job told me the exact same thing.

Also if you are chosen to go to boot camp, does that mean you've got a spot on a crew, or just only in the eligible for hire pool? From my understanding you can have a successful interview but still not get a spot.

[chrisdunn]

True. You are not guaranteed a spot if you go to bootcamp. It's part of the hiring process. And you still have to pass the pack test at bootcamp. I heard that its good to get into an early bootcamp, as the last one is later in the spring, and it can get quite hot in that area.

[steel8909]

True. You are not guaranteed a spot if you go to bootcamp. It's part of the hiring process. And you still have to pass the pack test at bootcamp. I heard that its good to get into an early bootcamp, as the last one is later in the spring, and it can get quite hot in that area.

How long after the interview did it take them to get back to you for boot camp? I'm from Ontario so I'm flying all the way out just for this but I'm making this into a ski trip too lol Luckily I was able to use my vacation days and I have family who I can stay with and get me to the interview. In the end it's gonna be tough and expensive to jumble this job hiring process since I'm guessing spots for rookies aren't given out until the beginning/well into the season.

[chrisdunn]

I can't remember. It took a while. Man I hope you don't have to come out for a beep test only to sit on your ass for 2 weeks waiting for an interview to happen. After your interview it's still a long time between then and when you go to bootcamp. Where is your beep test?

In the interview, ask them about the turnover this past season. I think it's a valid question.

[somesilviguy]

I'm interested in this topic as well...

ask them about the turnover this past season.

Is there a story here? As in you've heard a reason why many are not returning or is this general good advice.

[steel8909]

I can't remember. It took a while. Man I hope you don't have to come out for a beep test only to sit on your ass for 2 weeks waiting for an interview to happen. After your interview it's still a long time between then and when you go to bootcamp. Where is your beep test?

In the interview, ask them about the turnover this past season. I think it's a valid question.

Actually my interview is at 1pm and the beep test is on the same day at 6:30pm.

Here's the location: UBC Osborne Centre in the outdoor ball hockey rink, 6108 Thunderbird Way

Luckily my cousin will be driving me around lol

Also to answer somesilviguy's question, my guess is that people are not able to stay for the season due to family obligations/personal reasons or quit. Same with tree planting.

[chrisdunn]

I'm interested in this topic as well...

ask them about the turnover this past season.

Is there a story here? As in you've heard a reason why many are not returning or is this general good advice.

No story. It's a valid question. The year I did mine, 2 springs ago, they were expecting a lot of open spots because of people not returning. I don't know if it's great advice, it depends on the mood of the room, and the intentions of the applicant for wanting to stay long term or not. I would imagine they want people in it for the long haul.

I never thought about the people who weren't returning, as far as I can tell, it's a great gig if you get on. Maybe there was a lot of graduating university kids that year or something.

[steel8909]

Also do you recall any of the specific questions thy asked about the wildfire management branch?

[chrisdunn]

No. Except that the outfit really stresses following the chain of command for everything. I remember how I knew they would have high turnover the year I applied. It was written on their website.

[aaron]

I am sure turnover is pretty high as the last few years have been pretty calm for wildfires, at least in BC. The BCFS loses a lot of its workforce if there are not enough fires to keep them busy, there is not much money in standby for firefighters. I know a few ex-BCFS firefighters who are now back planting trees.

[Nate]

The guys that did it, did you work ministry or contractor?

I did it for a few months in BC as a contractor and I've now got a pretty low opinion of contract firefighters generally, and much of what I saw of the ministry didn't impress me. Not unusually bad work ethic or anything from the ministry guys, but no better than any other line of government work. Other than the handful of guys and girls who do the tough front line/specialty work, it felt like most of us did nothing noteworthy, but everyone talked as if what was happening was important.

In general, the contractor firefighters in terms of behavior weren't any better than most of the low-level oil guys I've worked worth, as a generalization. The fire camp I stayed in might actually have been one of the worst camps I've ever stayed in in terms of incidents. Lots of boozing/drugs, drinking and driving was an epidemic from what I saw, fighting, etc. First workplace I'd ever been in where things were blatant enough that a guy cracked a beer while driving a truck full of crew members back from the fire at day's end.

Everyone builds forest firefighting up, the ministry certainly makes themselves sound glamorous, but the reality is quite a bit different. If you're used to treeplanting, the work will seem like an absolute joke and you'll probably be bored a lot of the time. There probably are good, hard working crews out there that take their work seriously, but I never saw one.

[chrisdunn]

I did contract for a couple of years too. Nate's pretty much nailed it in my opinion.

For the most part, it's easy work, sometimes mind numbing. It really depends on who your contractor is too. I had some exciting times with one contractor, and the next contractor I went with, I felt like I was in a group of kids being baby sat. I did respect the ministry guys though. It's just a job, and yes, they talk themselves up a lot. It's pretty exciting some of the stuff they get to do. I've seen some pretty neat pictures.

My groups didn't have any alcohol incidents, a few guys got fired for smoking dope on the fireguard though. And we were all told almost every day not to do that, so they deserved to get canned if they were going to be dumb about it. If the ministry caught them, our whole outfit would have been sent home. That happened that summer to another crew.

And an Alberta Ministry crew got sent home on a job that I was on because they were hiding out and making beds and chairs in the bush. I heard they even dragged a BBQ into there. I seen the aftermath, they had a nice little camp setup. I know there's 2 sides to every story, but everyone elso on site thought they were fooling around.

That being said, I made some good friends, learned a lot and generally had a positive experience with the whole thing. It was safe, just like planting the most dangerous part of the day was driving to/from work. I will do it again when the opportunity comes up.

[aaron]

I definitely take more pride in being a treeplanter than a firefighter, all though i honestly enjoy both. Its true that 90-95% of the time you are doing something quite boring, however when things heat up and you start getting rank 3-4 flames jumping the guard and candling the adrenaline really does start pumping. You also get to see some pretty wicked aerial stuff you wouldn't see planting (i have had tankers drop retardant in the wrong area, right on top of my head). Backburning/burning off is also always fun.

In my opinion, in july/august most of the planting world just doesn't pay what you can make firefighting(as long as things are burning), assuming of course the average july/august contract is ~250 before camp/travel costs and rookie contract firefighters are now about 250$/day with no camp/food costs and all travel time paid. Experienced firefighters and people with first aid/chainsaw/dta tickets of course get even more.

I would like to be able say the firefighting scene has cleaned up over the last few years, but maybe im just seeing less. The ministry does have a policy of firing a whole crew if even only one person is caught smoking dope/drinking, and it really seems to work. Nobody wants to be responsible for the rest of the crew losing their jobs.

[donkeyrider]

I posted pretty much the exact same topic last year on this site as I was going through my interview/ bootcamp last season. I planted for close to 7 seasons and last year was my first season doing IAC for bcfs. I agree that the work is easier as a firefighter, but there are long as days too hiking and carrying heavy shit around. Also, don't expect much in terms of fire. You will most likely spend 1-4 days fighting a fire (usually 1 if your IA) and the rest of the time mopping up. On large fires mopping up is what the contract crews usually end up doing. The biggest difference I noticed last year between contract crew and ministry was sheer professionalism. At the end of a day contract crews would not pay attention to things like heli safety and would have their shirts untucked and shit all over the place. Mostly, they were just sloppy. That said many ministry fire fighters i worked with were contract fire fighters first.

If terms of your bootcamp. You will be graded and ranked on everything you do and how you behave. On the first day you will be put into squads and you will work and workout with the same people for 7 days. As a planter I felt I was pretty prepared for the bootcamp physical stuff, I was wrong. Although I did well it was fucking hard. If you haven't started running at least 5km a day start now. and progressively add weight, distance and slope. The pump/hose test I believe will be used this year for bootcamp as the entry level test because its cheap, but if you make it on the eligibility list and get offered a job the standard now is the WFX Fit Test. Personally, I think the WFX is the easier of the two. my best pump hose time was 2:20 and my WFX was 11:00/ 14:30. You will have to do the wfx on your first day at work. If you pass that test you offically get offered the position. Since the pump hose test was not regulated over the years some bases became complacent and would fudge the numbers for members that had been there for 10-20 years. This year that is not going to be the case. Everyone is going to have to pass this new test, and if they dont they're gone. That's one of the reasons they are expecting higher than usual turnover this season.

Over the course of the season firefighting I made slightly less money then treeplanting, but honestly I had more fun. The people are chill, the job is serious but not overwhelming and working for the bcfs looks better on paper in the real world then treeplanting imo.
sorry for the rant,
pm me if you have any specifics

[steel8909]

I posted pretty much the exact same topic last year on this site as I was going through my interview/ bootcamp last season. I planted for close to 7 seasons and last year was my first season doing IAC for bcfs. I agree that the work is easier as a firefighter, but there are long as days too hiking and carrying heavy shit around. Also, don't expect much in terms of fire. You will most likely spend 1-4 days fighting a fire (usually 1 if your IA) and the rest of the time mopping up. On large fires mopping up is what the contract crews usually end up doing. The biggest difference I noticed last year between contract crew and ministry was sheer professionalism. At the end of a day contract crews would not pay attention to things like heli safety and would have their shirts untucked and shit all over the place. Mostly, they were just sloppy. That said many ministry fire fighters i worked with were contract fire fighters first.

If terms of your bootcamp. You will be graded and ranked on everything you do and how you behave. On the first day you will be put into squads and you will work and workout with the same people for 7 days. As a planter I felt I was pretty prepared for the bootcamp physical stuff, I was wrong. Although I did well it was fucking hard. If you haven't started running at least 5km a day start now. and progressively add weight, distance and slope. The pump/hose test I believe will be used this year for bootcamp as the entry level test because its cheap, but if you make it on the eligibility list and get offered a job the standard now is the WFX Fit Test. Personally, I think the WFX is the easier of the two. my best pump hose time was 2:20 and my WFX was 11:00/ 14:30. You will have to do the wfx on your first day at work. If you pass that test you offically get offered the position. Since the pump hose test was not regulated over the years some bases became complacent and would fudge the numbers for members that had been there for 10-20 years. This year that is not going to be the case. Everyone is going to have to pass this new test, and if they dont they're gone. That's one of the reasons they are expecting higher than usual turnover this season.

Over the course of the season firefighting I made slightly less money then treeplanting, but honestly I had more fun. The people are chill, the job is serious but not overwhelming and working for the bcfs looks better on paper in the real world then treeplanting imo.
sorry for the rant,
pm me if you have any specifics

Thanks for the reply. Do you recall any of the specific knowledge questions that they asked in the interview? If not can you recall any questions just to give me an idea what to know.

Also when you got invited to boot camp, if you passed that were you given a job right away or did you have to wait for an opening before they called you in with a spot on a crew?

I already did the WFX in Ontario, I got 13:40/14:30 but I only trained (jogged with 55lbs on back) for 4 days lol Hopefully I can commit to more training for boot camp if I get to that point. But I was surprised for the WFX you were not allowed to run, only a fast walk. I could have scored much higher if I was able to run.

Hopefully I have a better chance of securing a spot if a good chunk of the old timers can't pass the WFX lol

[donkeyrider]

Ya the WFX is kind of a joke, the word is that the doctor who designed it is going through a huge malpractice lawsuit. Your not supposed to run for safety reasons, most people allow you to have a "quick step" for the ramp most people from my base did until 12min. If you make it to boot camp, pass the written and physical part and dont quit? You are 100% not guaranteed a job. I would guess that most of your performance is based on your character and personality. Like I said, at bootcamp you are given a ranking. Literally, a list from 1-300 or whatever. The higher your name is on that list the better chance you have of securing a position. I believe returning crew members have until the end of January to give their notice of intent on returning. There are usually multiple bootcamps, and they will feed you the line. "The list will not be completed until all boot camps are complete giving everyone equal opportunity". That's not true, because I was in the first boot camp last season and was offered a job the second day after my camp was done. The second camp hadn't even completed. I would suggest opting for the first camp if that is a possibility. As for the specific questions, EVERYTHING off the website from fire weather, fire behavior, different drew types, where their bases are located, who we have mutual aid agreements with, requirements for different crews (para and rap), all that crap. Pretty easy to remember if you read the site 2 or 3 times.

[steel8909]

Ya the WFX is kind of a joke, the word is that the doctor who designed it is going through a huge malpractice lawsuit. Your not supposed to run for safety reasons, most people allow you to have a "quick step" for the ramp most people from my base did until 12min. If you make it to boot camp, pass the written and physical part and dont quit? You are 100% not guaranteed a job. I would guess that most of your performance is based on your character and personality. Like I said, at bootcamp you are given a ranking. Literally, a list from 1-300 or whatever. The higher your name is on that list the better chance you have of securing a position. I believe returning crew members have until the end of January to give their notice of intent on returning. There are usually multiple bootcamps, and they will feed you the line. "The list will not be completed until all boot camps are complete giving everyone equal opportunity". That's not true, because I was in the first boot camp last season and was offered a job the second day after my camp was done. The second camp hadn't even completed. I would suggest opting for the first camp if that is a possibility. As for the specific questions, EVERYTHING off the website from fire weather, fire behavior, different drew types, where their bases are located, who we have mutual aid agreements with, requirements for different crews (para and rap), all that crap. Pretty easy to remember if you read the site 2 or 3 times.

Ok thx for the tip, I will go to the first available boot camp if I get the invitation. The interview went well, I read over the website a million times so I was able to answer all of their knowledge based questions with ease. Big bummer how you can go so far and still no get the job.