to be concerned about oh wanting to be firefighter

[ElleAndBump]

my oh hates his job hes been in for ten years in sales, 9 to 6 job 6days a week, which i can understand as his boss isnt the nicest of people, the only other thing he wants to do is be a firefighter, which the station is opposite his current work, about 5mins from house, i do want him to happy and support him in what he does, but i will be worried constantly when he wuld be out on the job and would he have to stay over night there all week? our dd is 7mths and doesnt sleep and i work fulltime aswell and not keen on not been able to share night dutys with her,lol.(more of my selfish reason) but main concern is his saftey as i am a worrier....i mean he may not even get in, but i just wondered what hours they have to work normally? and how other wifes/girlfriens feel about their oh been in fireforce (as i do think its admiral job,n wuld b proud of him_) also dont want to offend prople whos oh are in army,etc who have it alot worse off, thanks

Does his current job involve driving? If so, then that probably puts him more at risk than a firefighter, just to help you put it into perspective. :)

I think YANBU. After the Army it is the job I would hate DH to do most. We do have a friend who was/is a firefight, although he is more management now.
It really is an admirable job but bloody frightening.
FWIW, there's no guarantee that he would be posted to the station by your house anyway.

i wouldnt worry, its incredibly hard to get into the fire service (and they prefer minorities now anyway)

ours has said this for about three years now

** Fire and Rescue Service is no longer accepting applications for wholetime firefighters. The application process will not be re-opened until further notice. Please do not telephone for further information or an application pack.

I used to live with a firefighter and knew quite a few others.

The usual work pattern is 4 (12 hour) days on, 4 days off, followed by 4 (12 hour) nights on, 4 days off.

If you are outside of a major city then workload if variable, lots of nights they go to work, have dinner, watch a movie, sleep. Some nights/days are horrifically busy and occasionally horrific .

Firefighters generally now spend far more time attending car accidents then anything else, especially if you live in the vicinity of many major roads (M or A).

People are very rarely hurt on the job and deaths are exceedingly rare, but do happen. Having said that I don' think it is clssed as a dangerous proffession, just appears to be IYSWIM.

Your other half would have to be exceedingly fit to begin training.

YANBU - my DH wanted to be a fire fighter years ago but luckily for me they werent recruiting, think I would have been a nervous wreck.

Having said that his dad was a firefighter for many years as was my uncle - they both loved it and lived to tell the tale.

Don't know how true this is, but the ex fireman who did my last fire marshal course at work says they are health and safety mad in the service these days and that they would rather let a building burn to the ground as long as there was no risk to human life than put their firefighters at risk putting it out.

my best friend is a firefighter, he has a young family, he loves his job so much, works a 44 hour week some weeks nights some days, he works at a station 30 miles away passing 6 stations on his way, he had a choice to pick this area, he rarely gets called to fires as his area covers main roads so its normally RTA's. He trained for over a year to get in before he applied, there were ex army and police men trying to get in and failed as its really hard to get in

thanks he already applied for retained firefighter, but is going to apply for fulltime, we live in a town so not city. would hate it if he got posted somewhere else didnt even think of that...like you said there probably wont be any openings, his cousins been in fireforce for years where he lives, so hes probably going to get lots of advice from him how to get in, he already goes gym 5times a week n cycles to n from work (he has got lisence tho) glad you think im not been totally unreasonable to not really want him going in, but be releved when you say most of the work invovled isnt too dangerous

My DH is a firefighter, he is wholetime and then on call as a retained firefighter on his days off. His full time shifts are 2 9hr day shifts, 2 15hr nights and 4 days off (although the day after night shift he is not home until lunchtime so only a half day really. When he is at home he is on call with a pager and has four minutes to get from home to station if he has a call.
He was in the RAF before this and I was less worried about him in that job than this one, but you do get used to it. My dad and brother are also retained as well at the same station so it can be worrying when they are all out together. Thankfully injuries and fatalities are rare and the training is very intense so they are generally quite safe.

My DH used to be a wholetime firefighter, he left because he found it as dull as ditchwater. He used to do 2 days on, 2 nights on, 4 days off....

He reckons he made a difference to 2 peoples lives in the 5 years he was in the service and attended one 'proper' fire - all the others being false alarms, car & skip fires (having been set alight deliberately), the odd road traffic accident, and the like.

Putting up smoke detectors for the public too idle to put up their own seemed to make up the majority of his days (and nights).

We are rural so a busy city might be more interesting....

In my experience few firefighters in the job will tell you how it really is, they all seem to want to maintain the 'heroes in uniform' stance...Until you leave and then they moan on and on about it, but 'stay in because of the pension'

But hey that's just my experience. Good luck to him if that's what his heart is set on....

My DH is a firefighter and I have to say, I really don't worry about him. He loves his job, but there are times where he is incredibly bored - particularly on a nightshift. And they do seem to do a lot of training. He always says, he's trained to deal with anything and they have the proper equipment and yes, they are health & safety mad. Plus I know that he has the good sense not to put himself in a situation he couldn't get out of. And they do get loads of cars, bushes, bins, fire alarms, RTA's and fire safety visits.

And if in doubt, your DH could become a driver. Apparently a lot of the guys with families become drivers as they don't go into the fires. And yes, it is really hard to get into. But personally, I'd rather my DH was happy in his job than miserable. He's a right pain in the arse when he's miserable. I really honestly wouldn't worry about him if he gets in, they are adequately trained to deal with the situations they go into.

Managed to find this:
www.careerbuilder.co.uk/Article/CB-127-Job-Search-Britains-Most-Dangerous-Jobs/

Firefighters don't seem to figure in this top ten of dangerous jobs, although it's probably not much comfort to know it's safer than being a bomb disposal expert .

I think we are influenced by programmes like London's Burning and Casualty, where firefighters are always running into burning, collapsing buildings, but these are dramas. A lot of their job involves going to traffic accidents, which can be upsetting, but not dangerous. And when a fire alarm goes off in a large building where there are vulnerable people, like a hospital, they are always called out. If he really wants the job, maybe he should go for it.

I think my worry is only because my dad was injured badly falling through a roof when I was younger, but he has been in for 37 years so one accident is not bad :)
My DH loves his job and it makes him really happy so if it's job satisfaction he is after then it's probably a good choice.

aww thanks for your advice :) made me feel alot better about the safety issue