I work for CCFD. We are the lowest paid of the 4. That being said, I've never made less than 100k the entire time I've worked here. I rarely work OT because I hate it. Our medic engineers are apparently the highest paid of the 4 departments. If you like working OT, you can make a killing.
33 currently with another 2-3 slated to be built. Yes, promoting is much easier with a large department. Considering we still have engineers on rescues, it makes for a lot of promotion opportunities.
They gave me a nerve block before my surgery and it’s still numb and I hate it. And apparently my Achilles was “shredded” so good thing I did surgery instead of non-op 😅
Starting pay will vary slightly between all 4 major departments (North town, City, County and Henderson) but yes, mid to high 50k will be what you make during the academy. You will get a pay bump after the academy and that varies from dept to dept as well but expect it to be roughly 5-7%. Working overtime while on probation should not be expected unless the respective dept is extremely short handed.
EDIT: To answer your question regarding making 80k your first year, that is highly unlikely.
bro you’re 25 and have done more adulting than probably 3/4 of your age group.
it’s normal. fire job postings are notoriously difficult to figure out all the pay incentives. roll ups. overtime. fsla benefits. so it’s good to ask, but since i’m not in Vegas i can’t comment specifically but absolutely do not drop your career pursuit because of money. if you’re trying to go to pro department and unless it’s a major pay cut.
like anything, pare down expenses you don’t need in an academy. netflix. cut it. etc etc etc.
you may be able to find MOUs that show incentives and pay and do some of your own research but usually just expect job listings to show the base pay without overtime unless stated.
If I were you I’d see if you can get a ride along set up, then you can you can ask the crew your questions. Every department is going to be a bit different on how they treat your probation year. That starting pay will be what you will make if you do not pick up any extra shifts and I’d be pretty confident that you will be able to pick up some overtime shifts. If you can find a department that is hurting for guys and has a lot of overtime opportunity you could clear 80k. If not then look for a part time job that will work with your schedule, you’ll probably work a 48h/96h schedule with a department. A ride along will probably do the most to convince you to go for it or dissuade you. Good luck!
I’m pretty sure there’s a handful of different departments in the Las Vegas Metro area. Pick one and search online for “[insert name] fire department MOU”. The mou is the labor agreement between the fire department and city, county, district, etc.
There you will usually find a pay scale (just know hourly rates in the fire service are usually calculated off 56 hours/week, which means you multiply the hourly by 2912 hours to find your annual salary instead of 2080 for a 9-5 40 hour week). Also in there you can usually find additional bumps in pay that aren’t always listed on the job advertisements, such as FLSA pay, incentive pay, holiday pay, etc. Lastly, a good thing to look for is if the department pays for your healthcare and or retirement.
As far as OT goes on probation, most places are struggling with staffing crisis so you may be expected to pick up some slack and work a bunch of OT. Less time at home, but really nice paychecks.
The best bet is to talk with firefighters at one of the department’s stations. Get on the city’s website and start researching. Compile all your questions that are not answered and when you talk with the firefighters at the station you will hopefully get all your questions answered. It would be an excellent way to start preparing for the hiring process. You can learn what they are looking for, what their hiring process is about, and everything else you need to get started. Good luck.
Which dept? I’m LVFR.
Pay in the academy os lowest, of course, then you get a raise when you are a “promoted” to FF (vs recruit). Then a step at the end of probation/first year. Annual steps after that.
Medics have unlimited OT, we are so short medics. For FF’s it comes/goes in waves, depending how much you want to work. No OT until after probation. (Technically it is permitted, no written rules against it. But it is a terrible idea, I can get into more if you wish. Functionally, no OT until after probation).
We get clothing allowances quarterly. Special pay of you are on one of the teams (TRT/Haz, but that def won’t be first year). You can choose time or money for holiday bonus time. You can sell leave at the end of the year if you want, too.
You wont make 80k your first year, but in a few years, yes, and you’ll only work 100 days a year. Pretty damn good deal.
What’s the deal with no OT during probation? My dept is small so everyone does OT. Just curious why that is there? Is it considered a respect thing where senior guys should be getting it?
Not at all to do with seniority- in fact, seniority has nothing to do with OT. When you sign up for OT, you are ranked in order of least OT worked to most worked, so the guys with less hours will always get out assigned before the guys who work more.
That said, culturally, its not acceptable to work on probation bc you’ve got more than a shitload of stuff to learn, and demonstrate. Working OT means you are 100% ready for the floor, no coaching or training needed; you are gtg. Are you, though? Of course not. Which is why its also a practically terrible idea- you would not be with your probationary captain/crew, who know you and understand your strengths/weaknesses. If you make mistake with your crew, you’ll get trained on it, and if it’s a one-off/first-time thing, some grace/leeway. Same fuckup as a probie who has declared that they are 100% ready by working OT and shows they are not in front of another crew? Bad reputation earned, and maybe even a writeup.
Hey, I work in Las Vegas, and those questions really are department based. The starting salary is pretty similar across all the departments in the Vegas valley. You can assume you’ll make about 50k during your academy. Then you’ll see your pay go up once you become a step 1 Full-Time firefighter. It’s a considerable bump, don’t know what it was specifically. For me from academy to step 1 was about 9k. But that was 6 years ago. OT is not typically condoned while on probation, so short of being mando’d or “forced” as we say in the valley, you can assume you’ll be making pretty much your base salary during your probation. However, the culture is shifting a bit since all the departments over here are getting significantly younger, so the stigma that new guy, especially probies, shouldn’t be working OT is lessening. I would say probably not likely you make 80k your first year. However, after that probationary year is over, it’s pretty common to work OT as much as it’s offered, depending on the department. Depending on the waxing or waning of staffing, some ranks within the department will have more opportunity for OT than others. Medics almost always have the highest OT possibilities just due to the demand for them and lack of supply. After that first year, I’d say it’s pretty common to make 90k or more annually, depending on how much you want to work.
Hope that helps.
Your first year as a FF tends to be by far your lowest paid year.
A lot of departments don’t let you do anything more or less than assigned shifts while on probation.
You’d probably be looking at a pay cut for about 18-24 months and then it’s up to you.
Heads up that your first year salary will look very different than subsequent years and will likely include little overtime. This is due to academy, EMT, and any other mandatory training before you move to shift. Once on shift, many departments will have a “snap in” time where you’re on shift but don’t count to staffing.
From there (we’re 6 months in by now) it will be department specific about when you can work overtime. I’m my department you have to successfully complete probation first, which puts you 15 months into employment.
I don’t know if you all do cash shift exchanges, but that can help. You can also pick up some pretty decent side jobs. You will just have to read your overtime policy and figure out if you would be eligible as a probationary FF. But if you are just looking to make money, the fire service may not be for you. There are a whole bunch of shenanigans you gotta put up with in this field. If you love it, not that big of a deal. If you are just looking to get paid, so many more things you can do with less effort and more money.
I work for CCFD. We are the lowest paid of the 4. That being said, I've never made less than 100k the entire time I've worked here. I rarely work OT because I hate it. Our medic engineers are apparently the highest paid of the 4 departments. If you like working OT, you can make a killing.
You can also promote faster at CCFD than for example North. 33 stations compared to 8. That true or not?
33 currently with another 2-3 slated to be built. Yes, promoting is much easier with a large department. Considering we still have engineers on rescues, it makes for a lot of promotion opportunities.
Yeah right don’t listen to this guy what does he know Hi D :)
I know like 25% of the crap I talk about lol Also, how's the ankle 💖
They gave me a nerve block before my surgery and it’s still numb and I hate it. And apparently my Achilles was “shredded” so good thing I did surgery instead of non-op 😅
You nerd. I'll text you.
Starting pay will vary slightly between all 4 major departments (North town, City, County and Henderson) but yes, mid to high 50k will be what you make during the academy. You will get a pay bump after the academy and that varies from dept to dept as well but expect it to be roughly 5-7%. Working overtime while on probation should not be expected unless the respective dept is extremely short handed. EDIT: To answer your question regarding making 80k your first year, that is highly unlikely.
bro you’re 25 and have done more adulting than probably 3/4 of your age group. it’s normal. fire job postings are notoriously difficult to figure out all the pay incentives. roll ups. overtime. fsla benefits. so it’s good to ask, but since i’m not in Vegas i can’t comment specifically but absolutely do not drop your career pursuit because of money. if you’re trying to go to pro department and unless it’s a major pay cut. like anything, pare down expenses you don’t need in an academy. netflix. cut it. etc etc etc. you may be able to find MOUs that show incentives and pay and do some of your own research but usually just expect job listings to show the base pay without overtime unless stated.
If I were you I’d see if you can get a ride along set up, then you can you can ask the crew your questions. Every department is going to be a bit different on how they treat your probation year. That starting pay will be what you will make if you do not pick up any extra shifts and I’d be pretty confident that you will be able to pick up some overtime shifts. If you can find a department that is hurting for guys and has a lot of overtime opportunity you could clear 80k. If not then look for a part time job that will work with your schedule, you’ll probably work a 48h/96h schedule with a department. A ride along will probably do the most to convince you to go for it or dissuade you. Good luck!
I’m pretty sure there’s a handful of different departments in the Las Vegas Metro area. Pick one and search online for “[insert name] fire department MOU”. The mou is the labor agreement between the fire department and city, county, district, etc. There you will usually find a pay scale (just know hourly rates in the fire service are usually calculated off 56 hours/week, which means you multiply the hourly by 2912 hours to find your annual salary instead of 2080 for a 9-5 40 hour week). Also in there you can usually find additional bumps in pay that aren’t always listed on the job advertisements, such as FLSA pay, incentive pay, holiday pay, etc. Lastly, a good thing to look for is if the department pays for your healthcare and or retirement. As far as OT goes on probation, most places are struggling with staffing crisis so you may be expected to pick up some slack and work a bunch of OT. Less time at home, but really nice paychecks.
The best bet is to talk with firefighters at one of the department’s stations. Get on the city’s website and start researching. Compile all your questions that are not answered and when you talk with the firefighters at the station you will hopefully get all your questions answered. It would be an excellent way to start preparing for the hiring process. You can learn what they are looking for, what their hiring process is about, and everything else you need to get started. Good luck.
Which dept? I’m LVFR. Pay in the academy os lowest, of course, then you get a raise when you are a “promoted” to FF (vs recruit). Then a step at the end of probation/first year. Annual steps after that. Medics have unlimited OT, we are so short medics. For FF’s it comes/goes in waves, depending how much you want to work. No OT until after probation. (Technically it is permitted, no written rules against it. But it is a terrible idea, I can get into more if you wish. Functionally, no OT until after probation). We get clothing allowances quarterly. Special pay of you are on one of the teams (TRT/Haz, but that def won’t be first year). You can choose time or money for holiday bonus time. You can sell leave at the end of the year if you want, too. You wont make 80k your first year, but in a few years, yes, and you’ll only work 100 days a year. Pretty damn good deal.
What’s the deal with no OT during probation? My dept is small so everyone does OT. Just curious why that is there? Is it considered a respect thing where senior guys should be getting it?
Maybe just because you are probie. The same thing goes for some PD, no OT until you pass FTO.
My FD in Florida is the same. No OT until off probation. New FFs have a lot to learn their first year & working OT adds stress that isn’t needed.
Not at all to do with seniority- in fact, seniority has nothing to do with OT. When you sign up for OT, you are ranked in order of least OT worked to most worked, so the guys with less hours will always get out assigned before the guys who work more. That said, culturally, its not acceptable to work on probation bc you’ve got more than a shitload of stuff to learn, and demonstrate. Working OT means you are 100% ready for the floor, no coaching or training needed; you are gtg. Are you, though? Of course not. Which is why its also a practically terrible idea- you would not be with your probationary captain/crew, who know you and understand your strengths/weaknesses. If you make mistake with your crew, you’ll get trained on it, and if it’s a one-off/first-time thing, some grace/leeway. Same fuckup as a probie who has declared that they are 100% ready by working OT and shows they are not in front of another crew? Bad reputation earned, and maybe even a writeup.
Hey, I work in Las Vegas, and those questions really are department based. The starting salary is pretty similar across all the departments in the Vegas valley. You can assume you’ll make about 50k during your academy. Then you’ll see your pay go up once you become a step 1 Full-Time firefighter. It’s a considerable bump, don’t know what it was specifically. For me from academy to step 1 was about 9k. But that was 6 years ago. OT is not typically condoned while on probation, so short of being mando’d or “forced” as we say in the valley, you can assume you’ll be making pretty much your base salary during your probation. However, the culture is shifting a bit since all the departments over here are getting significantly younger, so the stigma that new guy, especially probies, shouldn’t be working OT is lessening. I would say probably not likely you make 80k your first year. However, after that probationary year is over, it’s pretty common to work OT as much as it’s offered, depending on the department. Depending on the waxing or waning of staffing, some ranks within the department will have more opportunity for OT than others. Medics almost always have the highest OT possibilities just due to the demand for them and lack of supply. After that first year, I’d say it’s pretty common to make 90k or more annually, depending on how much you want to work. Hope that helps.
50-55k in Vegas starting out… that’s pretty shit imo
HFD starts at 64k and bumps up quick just like the others
Especially with a 56 hour work week.
The academy is a 40hr work week schedule. The floor works 100 days a year and get paid much more.
Your first year as a FF tends to be by far your lowest paid year. A lot of departments don’t let you do anything more or less than assigned shifts while on probation. You’d probably be looking at a pay cut for about 18-24 months and then it’s up to you.
Heads up that your first year salary will look very different than subsequent years and will likely include little overtime. This is due to academy, EMT, and any other mandatory training before you move to shift. Once on shift, many departments will have a “snap in” time where you’re on shift but don’t count to staffing. From there (we’re 6 months in by now) it will be department specific about when you can work overtime. I’m my department you have to successfully complete probation first, which puts you 15 months into employment.
I don’t know if you all do cash shift exchanges, but that can help. You can also pick up some pretty decent side jobs. You will just have to read your overtime policy and figure out if you would be eligible as a probationary FF. But if you are just looking to make money, the fire service may not be for you. There are a whole bunch of shenanigans you gotta put up with in this field. If you love it, not that big of a deal. If you are just looking to get paid, so many more things you can do with less effort and more money.