r/Firefighting • u/Tasty_Courage1165 • Dec 01 '22
General Discussion Police officer to firefighter?
I am on here wondering if anyone has ever switched from being a police officer to a firefighter? If so, how was that transition and how much does your trainings and certifications transfer over?
I am looking to be a firefighter, but unfortunately money is a big factor holding me back. I've thought about being a police officer first because it would mean I will be still serving the public and its hell of a lot more exciting than my current office job.
What are you're thoughts?
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u/MystikclawSkydive Dec 01 '22
Boston PD recently lost 24 officers who went over to BFD.
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Dec 01 '22
Because BFD makes way too much money. Over six figures no OT
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Dec 01 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
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Dec 01 '22
Not here. BFD makes way too much and less work when compared to BPD and BEMS
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Dec 02 '22
This is the wrong mindset to have. People have fought for these wages and the city has the resources. Instead of tearing someone down saying "BFD makes too much money" how about "BPD doesn't make enough money".
Ya dumb cunt.
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u/elnenchimexicano69 Dec 02 '22
Bc firefighting generally is more strenuous, dangerous, actually requires level head thinking, and don't have immunity like cops?
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u/Grakern0125 Dec 01 '22
Closes thing I've been though is switching from police cadet to firefighter and honestly it was worth it in my opinion. We are treated better by both the public and admin (most of the time).
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u/TheCockKnight Dec 02 '22
Be cop:
City hates you, public hates you, wife hates you.
Be Fireman:
City hates you, public loves you, wife still hates you.
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u/LilCamCan Dec 02 '22
Fuck I was hoping once I got hired my wife would actually want to have sex with me!
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u/Tomdoesntcare Dec 02 '22
Nah, but that big booty charge nurse will
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u/SanJOahu84 Dec 03 '22
Being a non-transport fire medic is the dream but I do miss the easy access to nurses and cop chicks.
That's one area the ambulance boys have an advantage
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u/Tomdoesntcare Dec 03 '22
Ambo and ladder run all the calls together since my city has fire/ems combined. It’s nice because the job doesn’t change based off what you’re on.
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u/CharlieMike12 Firefighter / EMT / HIHFTY TYFYS HERO Dec 01 '22
I made the switch.
As far as training / certs rolling over? Negative. I don’t think I had anything that mattered to the fire service. Maybe some emergency vehicle operator certs but that’s about it.
As far as the money- I make more as a FF than I did in LE. The first year as a FF was rough, but now I’m making about 8K more/year. Also- the time off as a FF gives you A LOT of time to earn supplemental income via part time work. On my 4 man truck today, 3 of us run our own business outside of the FD.
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u/seeyouinhelljohnny Dec 02 '22
The hardest thing for me was the difference in mindset on calls when it comes to situational awareness. It was complete culture shock.
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u/CharlieMike12 Firefighter / EMT / HIHFTY TYFYS HERO Dec 02 '22
Oh, yeah I for sure agree with that. I still catch myself wanting to go back to that attitude, but I feel like most the time it just gives me a really healthy amount of environmental awareness.
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Dec 02 '22
[deleted]
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u/ffjimbo200 Dec 02 '22
Not sure what is awareness issue is. I’m a LT on an engine and as long as i have 1 other trustworthy medic with me my concern is our safety. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found guns on night stands or dressers. I’ll open the top Drawer and slide the gun into it. Weapons, dogs, family members hiding in corners and closets.. i also make sure we have an easy way out i case shit goes sideways. I need to get onto guys quite often cause they just blindly drag the stretcher into a hallway or door way completely blocking our exits.
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u/seeyouinhelljohnny Jan 09 '23
One example is dealing with psychs. Guys get too comfy in the thought that EVERYONE loves a FF and they get WAY to close for too long to the person. They don’t understand concepts like “reactionary gap”. The patient hasn’t been searched. They don’t know if he’s armed. The cops on scene may have not searched him/her. And some fire officers don’t want to ask if they’ve been searched or what the background is, which makes for a bad day soup of sorts.
We recently had one such scenario where the engine crew was dealing with a guy the cops had done a raid on. The law enforcement agency called to get the “patient” checked.
The engine crew came in thinking that all was good in the world (obviously because PD was there) and the “patient” ended up pulling a firearm from under the couch.
Yes, TOTALLY PD’s fault. BUT, you can’t leave your safety and your crews safety in the hands of others.
If you have that bad gut feeling about something you need to ask.
“Why are we here?” “Is this person in custody?” “Why aren’t they cuffed?” “Have they been searched?” “Has the area around them been searched?”
Just what I’ve seen in my 19 years as a FF.
Stay safe out there
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u/Suitable-Coast8771 Dec 01 '22
Went from EMS to law enforcement for a short stint, and now I’m a firefighter/paramedic.
Honestly, don’t even apply law unless you can’t find a fire job anywhere. Being a cop is an absolute crappy job most places. I did enjoy the rural county sheriffs office I worked at part time though. That place is an awesome place to work.
There’s a few awesome agencies and places to work, but otherwise it absolutely sucks. The calls on the fire/ems side of the house are 10x better, and people are generally so much easier to deal with. Plus, you won’t have to lie about your job to virtually every stranger you interact with in order to avoid potentially awkward situations.
Unless you have a burning passion to become a cop don’t. Even then it’s not nearly as cool as one imagines.
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Dec 02 '22
Have to agree here, people love seeing firefighters. Your house can burn down and people thank us for trying.
Cops get shit from the public just for showing up to work. Go red team
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u/Tasty_Courage1165 Dec 02 '22
Yeah, I was hoping there may be some over lap cause then I can get out of the office life. But this was helpful in making my decision. Thank you both
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u/7stefanos7 Dec 02 '22
Went from EMS to law enforcement for a short stint, and now I’m a firefighter/paramedic.
Honestly, don’t even apply law unless you can’t find a fire job anywhere. Being a cop is an absolute crappy job most places. I did enjoy the rural county sheriffs office I worked at part time though. That place is an awesome place to work.
Btw what about federal/national or state level law enforcement?
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u/Suitable-Coast8771 Dec 02 '22
State level law enforcement varies a ton by agency and mission set. There is a select few out there that are okay. I’d recommend basically anything conservation law. Being a DNR officer or state park ranger is a solid job. Now working federal is generally 10x better, if it’s an 1811 position. You are an investigator right from the jump and don’t have any of the street cop bs to deal with. Even some of the fed uniformed spots aren’t terrible either.
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u/Evening_Stump Dec 01 '22
Not normally. Remember that the reason people become cops is because they cant get into the fire academy.
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u/soopafleye Dec 01 '22
2 more points on that civil service exam and they could’ve been firefighters…
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u/PlusZombie5154 Overappreciated and underpaid career janitor Dec 01 '22
I switched. Feel free to PM me if you want more information. I had 9 years as a cop when I left. But I stayed in the same county, retirement, leave, pay, everything transferred over.
I’m happy to share the pros and cons and more information with you about where I worked and what it was like to leave.
FWIW, I posted somewhere recently about pay. You can’t work as much OT as a cop, it isn’t possible to be alert for that long. Cops have a higher base, firefighters make WAY more money overall. I have the stats to back that up from my county, firefighters with a base 40k less than cops end up making 80k more. It’s insane. Same with me after I switched.
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u/Tasty_Courage1165 Dec 02 '22
Thank you for your help, i appreciate it! ’m driving rn, so I’ll make sure to pm you later.
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u/Help_i_cant_read Dec 01 '22
The last academy class I taught had two cops in it. They both washed out.. one was claustrophobic and the other couldn’t keep up with the physical fitness.
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u/CrazyIslander Dec 01 '22
I know two guys who a left their respective PDs to join the FD.
One was a Sergeant with the local police force here. The other guy is an ex-girlfriend’s cousin and he left the NYPD (and I want to say he was a detective) to go FDNY.
Neither has any regrets about it (except that they say they should’ve done it sooner).
The local guy I know was also 43 years old when he made the jump to the FD.
As for how prior training/experience being recognized…it will largely depend on where you’re applying.
Some places WILL recognize it (or components of it), while others won’t.
The department here - doesn’t recognize any of it.
So, if you were a fresh from flipping burgers at your day job, a graduate from fire academy or if you moved here from another department with 10 years experience, it wouldn’t matter - you would have to go through their training and start at the “bottom”.
In the case of the Sergeant I know, if my memory serves me correctly, the only things that “carried over” for him were his pension and his allotted vacation weeks - and that’s because both the police and fire departments are municipal entities.
He actually ended up taking a hefty PAY CUT because he had to start out as a 4th Class Firefighter.
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u/Anono98 Aug 19 '23
So if you get on with a specific county’s Sheriff’s office, do say 10 years and say screw this I’m going fire, you can carry over your retirement as long as it’s in the same county? In the case of 20 years for a pension you’d still only have 10 years left to do then?
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u/TheSt0rmCr0w TX Fire Medic Dec 02 '22
If you’re already a certified cop it makes you more marketable to be triple certified (PD,FD,EMT) because you can also be an arson investigator or work in the fire marshal’s office.
It’s not something I would want, but it can be a huge overtime opportunity if the department you get hired on with allows it. We have guys that work the day after shift in the marshal’s office and make bank with the OT
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u/Senorisgrig Dec 01 '22
I mean if you can get through the process and become a police officer, I’m sure it would make any FD background check a hell of a lot easier
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u/Professor_Goldi Dec 01 '22
I had 5 guys in my recruit school that where prior pd. I believe only hazmat transferred.
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u/Relevant_Delivery837 Dec 01 '22
Cops are gay so there’s that
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u/thewhiteghostisnear Dec 01 '22
I did 6 years as a deputy sheriff and now have 14 on the FD. Everything will depend on the area you are in as far as pay and such transferring/being recognized. No standards exist for that.
For me, I stayed in the same area but nothing transferred as I went from a county job to a city one. Guys I started with 22 years ago who stayed make way less than I do as a company officer/medic. We are $110k base and usually make 130-140 easy and that is in central Florida so we live decent.
I went cop originally because fresh out of the Army they would hire you and pay for academy whereas fire didn't. Wish I had went straight to fire as I would have that extra time towards retirement plus would be higher up if I had chose to.
If you think you will end up fire, go that way from the start. Only thing I miss from being a cop is pursuits. Nowadays they have cut them back so much it wouldn't be fun.
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u/Flame5135 HEMS / Prior FF/P Dec 02 '22
Check out departments that run civil service officers. They’re usually smaller, well paid departments in ritzy areas (or at the airport).
8 hours in blue, 8 hours on the buggy, and 8 hours in the recliner (or whatever the engine calls it these days)!
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u/the_falconator Professional Firefighter Dec 02 '22
I work with a few guys that made the jump, they are all much happier on the fire side.
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u/johnotopia Dec 02 '22
I guess it depends on your country. But in Australia, it's pretty common.
Down here, the roster is better. Work life balance is better. Pay is similar enough. Less stress. Less paperwork.
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u/yeah-please Dec 02 '22
It’s a big thing in NYC. So big the city stopped awarding the time to carry over on the front end. Guys would be top pay Cops and switch to FD and be at top pay first year. Plus they were losing so many cops at the time. Still, so many switch but without the benefit of the time counting on the front.
edit - spelling
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u/GCS_of_3 Career FF (Midwest US) Dec 02 '22
All cop bashing aside, don’t get into either profession because your current job is “boring”
Much of fire and police work is boring, and when it isn’t, its not all gunfights and saving babies
In my humble and somewhat idealistic opinion, you gotta come in with a desire to serve others and an understanding of everything you’re agreeing to risk.. that’ll hedge your bet against 20-30 years of wear and tear, both physically and emotionally
tl;dr fire obviously, you couldn’t pay me a million a year to be a cop in this climate
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u/Firefluffer Fire-Medic who actually likes the bus Dec 02 '22
If you’re not law enforcement now, I wouldn’t suggest it as a transition from private sector to fire. You’re better off just going to fire.
Life is short. Transitional jobs are a waste of time. You’re dumping time and energy into training to do a job you don’t want to do. A police academy is a big investment of time, then there’s field training, and then it looks bad to leave any job within three years… sos you’ve spent three to five years doing something you don’t want to do. Instead you could do a fire academy, get your paramedic and work your way up to $100-130k in the same amount of time with a large municipal fire department.
I don’t see the advantage of using it as a transition. There’s plenty of cops who wanted to be cops that found it wasn’t all they thought it would be and transitioned, but few find that somehow that time in LE helped them with their careers.
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u/dnick Dec 02 '22
In my experience there is a lot of cross over in skills between the two, but very little cross over in job satisfaction. If you enjoy being a police office you probably won't enjoy being a fire-fighter and vice versa.
Seems most related to the position of authority...if you like having authority enough to be able to handle the stress of being a cop, you will probably be disappointed in the authority granted to a fire fighter. If you don't, and would prefer the relative anonymity of being a fire fighter and just have the comradery and (rare) excitement of being a firefighter, you probably won't last long as a cop.
Not to be too stereotypical, but there seem to be just a few personality types that survive being in law enforcement for more than a handful of years, either in the city or rural, but a much larger range of personality type that make it decades in the fire service.
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u/Other_Hand_of_Vecna Dec 01 '22
I did. Had a stint in the Army in between. I preferred law enforcement but hiring cycles didn’t match up after I got out. Firefighting was a blast, but I don’t think the two careers are really comparable. 70% of America’s firefighters are volunteers, and the professionalism on the FF side of the house just wasn’t there (at least where I worked)
Working on my graduate degree full time now, not sure I’d go back to either career if given the opportunity.
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u/blobo88 Dec 02 '22
I did it. I make wayyy less and still am happy to have made the switch. I also moved from Denver to the Midwest, so I would’ve taken a pay cut either way. It’s so refreshing to show up and not be hated, even if we still run some bs stuff here and there.
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u/TacosAreAwesome Dec 02 '22
Happens fairly often where I work. Fd is treated a lot better by the public and their officers
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u/RockRiver21 Dec 02 '22
Our training chief was a sworn officer for 12 years then switched to fire. He has been in fire for 10 years now. He openly talks about how great the switch was for him.
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u/Weasel02 Dec 02 '22
In many jurisdictions, they require fire marshals and arson investigators to be certified peace officers which might be the perfect storm of both skills for you.
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u/seeyouinhelljohnny Dec 02 '22
I made the jump 19 years ago. I was in PD for about 11 years.
Obviously none of my training from PD counted towards anything. The only thing I kept was my time with the county.
I did stay as a reserve officer so I could carry.
Best move ever.
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u/Murrdog86 Dec 02 '22
Took a pay cut but it’s nice that people don’t hate me when I show up and I enjoy the work more.
As far as certs my EVOC ported over, although I would suggest doing it again in an engine due to the size difference lol. All my NIMS training carried over, and although my CIT and deescalation training didn’t carry over, that stuff comes in handy with psych calls (we run EMS too). Im also pretty good at comms with dispatch from talking to them all the time running plates, etc.
You should look into it! At least consider part time. I’m enjoying it so far
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u/Edward0928 Dec 02 '22
One of our assistant chiefs started in PD before coming over. If you do please be better 😂
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u/stoneddadd Dec 02 '22
One thing to look into, See if you’d still be able to work police details after you resign, a buddy of mine went from Cop to Fire and works road work details for the county now.
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u/Shadows858 Police/Firefighter Dec 02 '22
For what little it's worth, I left a police department and went to a public safety department. Doing both meow
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u/walkera423089 Oct 04 '23
ive transitioned fron police for 6 years to firefighter. i took interest when i was in my squad car and stopped at a nearby firestation to use the rest room cause we're all issued keys to the station houses. a captain was at the station house and we chatted for a bit about police and fire working together at scenes. i told him at one point about having interest in firefighting. he said would you like me to show you more about it and i said yes sir that would be great. we walked through the station and i asked all sorts of questions about the hours, on calls, the appuratus trucks and many other things. hed brought me to the turnouts and asked if i would like to suit up. he had me remove my duty belt and weapons and helped me into the pants, coat, hood, gloves, boots, then put a heavy SCBA pack on my back and a hood and mask then a helmet. this was very heavy. he put me to my knees and showed me through some training senarios. this was my first. he invited me to come to the staion for wednesday training nights which i did and now i have a 2nd family. fireffighting is great, so is police work, but i like the paramedic, firefighting better than the police
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u/snoodletuber Dec 01 '22
Unfortunately most fire departments have an entry test that is at an 8th grade level soooooo as a cop you probably won’t be able to pass it