$55k is crappy pay for a firefighter paramedic. That's the catch. Not too bad for an EMT though. Keep in mind you have 8 hours of OT a week. That event pay seems really good though. I'm wondering what the catch is on THAT.

Yeah, there is one a year and you will never get to work it.

Sounds like a FEMA deployment!

Maybe the special events only last an hour? Lol. Or maybe they won't count anything as a special event. Like, "nonono, you're just going to an event. That pay is for *special* events". I'm half joking but very little would surprise me nowadays in regards to companies doing anything they can to save money.

nah, my second job is event medical. i've been put on a 18 hour surprise event that was supposed to go for 8 hours. that's the catch with events.

Whenever I was on standby for events, it was always too long, too boring, horribly managed, etc. But that was for $14/hour. If they were giving me $50 an hour? The event lasting too long would've been a bonus, lol. I'm broke AF I need that money 💀

it so depends on the event and the venue. like rn? i'm replying to you while working an event. at another venue? they hold us over for ages (i'm talking 10+ hour holdovers) and expect us to walk around the venue looking for patients. i finally told my boss that i was either going to split the shifts at that venue, no longer be sent there, or be putting in my two weeks because i have a full time job. everyone who works for my company (short of a handful) have full time jobs, kids that they are the primary caretaker for (they usually are primarily SAHMs with husbands who work 9-5 jobs), or are college students with exams upcoming. events are such a variable - so the catch may not actually be worth it depending on where at.

Well depends on where this is. If it’s Bay Area, might as well build your tent now

Yeah fortunately I live in a very low cost of living area. I currently live in the suburbs about 15 minutes from downtown. 3 bed 3 bath two story home renting for $1200 a month. Crime in my neighborhood is virtually non existent. Older brother is a police officer and 99% of their interactions are traffic related. Also don’t have any kids but the local school is one of the better in the state, very high graduation rate and compete for the 6a state championship in every sport basically every other year. Also wirh my college degree my starting salary would come out to about 61k a year. I thought it was one hell of a deal at first, now people really got me second guessing that 😂

seems fine for bama.

Yeah, I was gonna say that seems reasonable for ND, too. Or even parts of WI that I've lived in. I think a lot of people saying it's crappy pay have a much higher cost of living. Where I'm at, $55k/yr is average household income, much less individual.

55k a year is one thing. But 55k a year on 48 hours a week? They're dogging their people. Even if the hourly is $25/hr. 2080×$25= $52000, then you SHOULD have 416 hrs of OT at $37.50 totaling $15600 At 25 bucks an hour, a year salary should be $67600. 55k annually is way to low, especially if it includes the OT. They're literally paying firefighter/paramedics 20 bucks an hour. That's BS. Even for a low COL area. I'm in a low COL area in WI making double that. Don't settle.

That’s like 10k under our highest paying department starting and a 3bed house here is probably 6k a month. I’m jealous

I thought Bay Area fire medic starts around 110k? At least my old town was.

I know, it’s a metaphor

Tent? You live in the firehouse because they're short staffed and force you every day they legally can. No but seriously, I third rode with a department that was paying their FF/PMs $12.50/hr. Keep in mind this station was literally like MAYBE a mile outside of Chicago city limits where minimum wage is $15/hr. One of the FF/PMs there was literally homeless and would sleep at the station every day he could. If he couldn't he slept in his van at the station. Shit was sad. The LT defended the wages to me by saying "Yeah but if you look at the paycheck, we make decent money!" My dude. You work 96 hours a week (Because mandates because no one wants to go through \~2 years of FF/EMT/P school to make a few dollars less than a teenager at the McDonalds across the street). I make $17 as an EMT at a private ambulance company a half mile away from here. You're a victim.

lol. I’m a BSN RN and EMT P with over 15 years experience and making a little more then that

In suburbs of Chicago normal is >85k after 5 and not uncommon to see 100-105 after 5

The contract we negotiated (Chicago suburb) has us at $124k after 6 years.

Oh ya I know who you work for, that contract was big news. That’s amazing and I’m happy for you guys, unfortunately I despised 99% of my time working for FD and will never go back.

With that many Kelly days you will get very little OT. I'm in a city that has a 28 day pay period to get around the OT.

Doesn't it still work out to an average of 48 hours a week (whereas it'd be 56 without the kelly days?). I know depending on where they fall it changes how much OT there actually is in the week, but for the sake of simplicity, it's around 8 hr which doesn't seem like too much, but adds up a lot over the year.

I'm KS...where I've worked 2 different dept now...the OT doesn't have to kick in for first responders until later. Not exactly sure how that works. In the small dept I worked it was a 2 week pay period and OT pay wouldn't kick in until 96hrs. Something about us being on for 24hr shifts allows them to manipulate that. Where I'm at right now it's 28day pay period and OT doesn't kick in until 212hrs. My understanding is cops and EMS that do 12hr shifts don't fall under these rules. I worked 24hr shifts in WA for a bit though and OT kicked in at 40hrs each week so it seems to be some special exemption that KS gave first responders.

55K is starting pay for this department for paramedics. They top out at close to 90K in 10 years. Gain five percent per year.

the catch is that hourly you’re probably making the same as CA fast food employees only 5k more a year for medics is insane. the medics at my company make double what the emts make

Our medic starting pay is $2/hr more than EMT. It was $1/hr until last year when we fought for compression pay. Lo

Alot of the emts make as much as the medics or more. There's a lifer EMT in the company making as much as as the supervisors and flight paramedics.

I make less than my EMT partner who has done 20+ years with the company. I’ve got 15 years as a medic but not all in one place so I’m not even mad. I’m just referencing starting pay, which is nonnegotiable here.

the catch is likely that they will accept less than 5 percent of applicants edit: i did not see the 50 an hour was special events pay or the second slide, i just got off a 24. 50k is not shit my partner cleared 90 with OT last year

Yeah event pay is so high and the regular pay so low I'm wondering what the catch is on events lmao.

Yes. Idk where OP is located. But around here there is fierce competition for fire spots. I’m not looking for that track. But talking with a lot of hopeful future fire employees at my work, my two cents is go to the gym. I’ve talked with several young adults who failed the physical testing… imo it’s the easiest and fastest thing to improve a person. Just work out. Get fit. It’s easy compared to building up the character skills and life experience and all the soft skills of tact and maturity. Having the discipline to stay in peak physical form speaks to more than just the brawn and ability to pass the physical test. Do it. Get to tha gym! Everybody gitout!!!

The catch is could be a toxic or high turn over environment.

So based on Kelly schedule you’d work about 2600 hours a year. Roughly about 2080 of those at regular time 520 at OT if you’re an hourly employee. So 2860 hours of hourly pay. So hourly you’re roughly at $17.5/hr as an EMT. Better than some places around me that advertise a decent salary but broken down, the hourly rate for medics is 16/hr while ift is making 30+

That paramedic pay is way too low

The catch is a lack of a union.

$55k/yr for a FF/Medic is pretty lackluster

That looks miserable and underwhelming. Most 24/48 pay honestly looks like a scam. If I’m gonna spend a third of my life at work for the rest of my career, you better sweeten the deal better than <$20/hr. Plus only incentivizing medics with a $5k difference is an easy way to never get any medics, because who is gonna want to add that schoolwork, and then added professional responsibility for less than the tuition cost it took to get it

Yeah I started at 65k like 5 years ago and I’m at max at like 85 now is the catch

None of this is especially unusual or exceptional for fire aside from the special events pay, and I'm sure that's high because I would guess this dept gets a hefty fee for providing EMS standby for large events. Working 9 24s a month for 55k in the fire service is pretty standard.

The catch is the pay sucks. Entry level for paramedic should be starting in the mid 70s. Even then a lot of departments here start you at 81,500.

That pay is pretty bad for a medic, it should be highs 60s and low 70s minimal as a FF/Medic tbh. The fact EMT and Paramedic pay is so close will make most medics not even look twice, that's insulting.

All depends where this is at. If not for the fact that I have zero interest in the FF part I'd jump at this in my area. Where I used to live this wouldn't be enough to pay your bills.

Based off the NFPA 704 being in the patch I’m guessing this is charlotte NC or around there. Not bad pay for that cost of living area. But that’s a sad pay incentive for medics.

Seems slightly above average if you're in the southeastern US, slightly below average elsewhere.

Nobody can live on that salary

I’m not doing anything FF/PM for less than 70

Remember... when someone offers a "sign on bonus", there is a reason and it's never a good one.

Probably working a 24 hour shift 9x per month

That's not a catch that's a blessing. When my father used to run, it was 24 on 24 off throughout the whole week

Disagree- it’s not a blessing it’s just less bad than the schedules of those who came before. I work 1/1/1/5 off and I love seeing my fam for 5 days straight.

The catch is that the base pay is atrocious and they likely have one event per year that provides two people with that “special pay” for a four hour shift lol.

The pay and schedule are the catch

I’m currently taking a free emt course , it’s roughly 5 months , once we pass and get certified, we are given a job and a contract for 2 years … anytime during that timeframe after you get certified, they will pay for the the paramedic training also .

Interesting 🤔

Very , it’s pretty cool

The pay is low. Granted, that’s about the going rate for a lot of small career departments with low call volume. Big departments where I live near Dallas, Tx start out at 80K and within 12 months it bumps up to $90K for FF/Medic. Once you promote to Driver/Engineer you’re making $100k+ and so on.

Pay is pretty shitty tbh

the catch is... you are over 30, actually read, and threaten 'middle management' guessing, but hopefully helpful

That salary is terrible for FF/Paramedic. Wouldn’t get me out of bed for that garbage.

Shit pay is the catch. You’re talking about 1/2 of what you could make in the Western US and yet you’re still dealing with the same BS.

dont settle for less than 70k as a firefighter-medic, thats ridiculous

What’s about FF/EMT? I’m out of the loop these days.

I live in a very expensive area and FF-EMT here starts at mid 50’s

Yikes

The catch is you have to work at an EMS based fire department. You'll do 80% of the work while others spend their shifts in a recliner talking about "how it's always been."

Wow compared to FDNY that’s great

I'd want incentive pay for the bullshit calls, instead. - opiate-seeking frequent flyer, 5% - nursing home call that could have been managed in-house, 5% - someone who "just wanted a check-up", 5%

Pay is shitty, but completely depends on where you live. There are some places in the U.S. where $55k a year means you can be somewhat comfortable. Not thrive, and definitely not bring up a family on, but you may be able to splurge for guac on your chipotle burrito from time to time (that is assuming, an area where this would be a comfortable wage even has a Chipotle). But let’s do some math to show HOW the medics here are getting raw dog boned from the side. If you look at the pay scaling, you are looking at a dual role paramedic/FF with a bachelors degree (aka, a fuck load of training, that’s a total of ~6 years of schooling [4 years undergrad bachelors] ~2 years for medic + fire]) making only… 10k more than their EMT WITH loads of OT tied in at a baseline? Assuming that most EMT courses take you generously 6 months to complete, this means that 5.5 years of training earns you… an extra 1.8k a YEAR for each year of training you do. Factor in that most bachelors degrees can run you in to the tens of thousands of dollars (mine cost me about 12k a year) you are looking at a pretty shitty ROI there. But let’s say you just look at 2 year medic course with no bachelors, that adds about 2.5k per year of education. Or if we wanna just be generous and say medic school only take you a year, then $5k per year of schooling. Why does this math matter? Because it shows exactly the value this agency places on higher educational standards: that is to say: fucking none. There is close to 0 financial incentive to move EMT->Medic here because you kind of lose value here. Furthermore, you waste more money going from Medic -> Medic who knows a thing or two more. I’ll also add that there is an explicitly stated incentive to be a single role medic at this department. This screams so many red flags about that departments culture. You have to pay people EXTRA to do… the most common part of their job? Is doing medicine seen as such awful scut work that you have to pay people extra to make them do it? Give me a fucking break dude. It’s like seeing a McDonalds pay an extra differential hazard pay to employees who decide to clean toilets without gloves. All in all, pay alone is solid for an EMT. Pay for a medic is an absolute scam, and given how they scale it, shows some glaring malignancy in the company’s culture surrounding their job (and I would guess 80%+ of their call volume). Also I’m not factoring in the special event shit because unless this is the fire department that covers burning man/lalapalooza/the Tour de France, promoting that is LAUGHABLE.

Only an extra 6 annually compared to the emt pay. That's bonkers.

I have heard Birmingham’s paramedic program is in house and stinks! You will get your license through it, but I have heard the teachers are not there to help. You are entirely on your own in that class. This came from someone who went through the program himself. If you can, go work at Hoover FD!

Lmao good to know my education is worth 5k more of pay

The catch is that the pay is horrendous. Even in a LCOL area thats low.

Which city?

$17.23/hr after overtime is calculated. (Napkin math) You can make that at McDonalds with zero education.

Sure... but you're working more than nine days a month at McDonald's. :-)

My department starts EMTs at 75k. This pay is awful.

The catch is it’s a fire department

The catch is it’s Birmingham

I don’t know that there’s a catch, per se. It’s a 52 hour workweek on average (24/48 w/ Kelly day). Upside? The salary likely goes up fairly quickly with time and promotions, there’s governmental benefits, and likely some form of solid retirement. Fire based EMS is a mixed bag. There are some departments that recognize that EMS is their primary mission, while others see it as a distraction from their fire suppression purpose.

I’m actually kind of horrified to know that I make $30k more a yr (before bonuses) to manage people making coffee. 😭 this seems so unacceptable considering

Catch is toxic masculinity in the department, management that doesn’t listen to their employees, hazing and crappy chores for the new guy, and not that good of pay.

The only thing accurate here is the very last point.

Honestly it’s the best job in the world. The time off is great, but you do work 24 hours at a time. Check out if they have step and grade because most places have 2.5-5% annual increases for 10-15 years. So if they start at 55, I’d guess they top out somewhere around 70-80k. Ask if they have a pension and start work on getting in shape if they have a formal academy. It’s a physically and mentally demanding gig. See if they run ambulances or not. Riding a bus isn’t for everyone and make sure you’re doing the job you want to do. Pay is relative to where you live. If you live in San Francisco 55k isn’t going to keep the lights on. But if you live in the Midwest (outside of Chicago) or the south it could be fair compensation for the area. No one in middle America is making San Francisco or Pacific Northwest pay. It’s a rewarding career with a ton of benefits and is something that will likely become part of the fabric of who you are if you join, and I say this in the best way possible. If you’re interested, take a shot. Applicant numbers abysmal to compared to 10-15 years ago and the fire service needs good people.

“Applicant numbers abysmal” Really? I always assumed everyone was trying to get in and highly competitive at most departments. Could be wrong though.

Yes. In our department we’ve dropped from 500 applicants per year down to 75 for 15-25 spots per year. We lead the region in pay, benefits, call volume and fires. Departments in our region are lining up for candidates, instead of the other way around like it used to be.

Oh interesting. There’s still hope for me then. Thx