Emergency Vehicle Techs???

[Ncostello]

Working on fire apparatus is not difficult. Certification is a must as with anything working on vehicles. Especially emergency vehicles.



Pumps are easy, ladders are easy, electrical is easy. These vehicles are not much different than any other big rig truck. Just more stuff. Same engines, same trannys, same axles, same greasy parts.



There are alot of poor EVT's out there. Just as with any vehicle repair catergory. IE: Factory trained techs at a dealer are not always the best in the world. There are also some good ones. But they'd be good at anything they do anyhow.



Most repair shops for fire apparatus also sell a particular brand. So you'll get to work on what they sell under warranty and whatever people bring you.



Just keep in mind there are not that many EVT tech jobs out there. Few dealers... just as few jobs. And many big departments with the money and the real need for full time techs are gov't jobs-city employee. Pays what they pays. And often you have to be a part of the fire department to work on their trucks. Its like a branch of the department.



You could open your own shop. But marketing and business would be tough. My opinion.

 

[Sri Ram]

Glad to see this thread is still going…

I saw a classified over the weekend for a master mechanic for the local fire dept. It's a city job and pays between $4600 and $5000 per month, pretty good if you ask me. There was a position for a tech in training that paid well, too. I'd be surprised to find many jobs like these, but I think I'd be a good candidate for it!



Ncostello, when you say you have to be a part of the FD to work on their rigs, what does that involve?

 

[Ncostello]

Let me first start by saying never be discouraged by anything I say or anyone else for that matter. This plan of yours is completely possible and can be done. Its all up to you and if you want to make it happen. I didn't mean to sound negative. Its a fun profession... and I had thought of doing this as a private business in the past. Its just not as cut and dry as getting a job working on passenger car automobiles or commercial trucks. In that field its all private and people will spend the money to keep their cars going.



In the fire department business... its usually all municipal vehicles. They all have tight budgets mostly and they tend to do alot of work themselves if they can. And all this is only from my perspective where I live. Other states may be different. And the job you quoted does sound good as far as pay.



Around here... many of the paid fire departments are union. And they often have their own maint division or mechanics. Sometimes those folks are full time fire fighters in the union... and have been promoted or have selected to become a department mechanic. So they don't have civilian employees working on the trucks. They are members of the department and at one time were firefighters/EMT's etc.



But thats not always the case. In Indianapolis... they have a City shop for ALL city vehicles. So a guy certified in EVT might be working on a Bus one day and an ambulance the next... for routine maint and DOT chassis work. But then maybe specific pump work might be farmed out to a specialist. It just depends.



You may well find a position as a civilian who only works on Fire rigs. I'm just speaking from knowledge of my area.



Good luck and keep your dreams going!!!!

 

[MKinner]

From my personal experiences, I've been a technician in the Air Force for the last 10 years and i've worked and a lot of stuff from fire trucks to ambulances, to fork lifts and heavy equipment, to HMMWVs and buses and automotive cars/trucks. First and foremost you need to be aware of the safety aspect of this stuff. There is some big equipment out there and if you don't know how it works, it can KILL you! I'm sure you are aware of that, just had to get that out of the way. Like others had said, the electrical side of it is getting almost more important in terms of troubleshooting than anything else. It really just take some time in getting to know the vehicles you are working on. You'll find out, it's all BASICALLY the same stuff. I really enjoy what i do and i am always studying this stuff in my "off time". You will probably find that you will be fixing a lot of what other people did wrong in trying to repair the vehicle in the past. You will get frustrated at times and need to walk away and take a break, but when you fix something properly like a highly needed engine or ladder truck, it will be very rewarding. At least for me it is. I guarantee you will deal a lot with operators that constantly break things because of ignorance or lack of training, but that is part of the job. A big part of being a good technician is being very observant when testing or troubleshooting things. One example, my supervisor told be to replace a priming pump on one of our firetrucks. I crawled underneath and my partner was on top and i thought i would test it to be sure it was bad. Told him to pull the handle and i noticed a tiny arc at one of the terminals on the priming pump. All it turned out to be was a loose wire. Tightened and was fixed. I don't know how much experience you have, but i do know that you will do most of your learning on the shop floor. If you have any other questions, please ask. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!

 

[dseabaugh]

did thst for fire dept 25 years ago. ni ce except when you were in middle of job and call came in. it had to go now. lots of electrical issues. hard to find parts like Leece Neville, etc. high and low voltage. wiring would burn up on truck on way to fire. rip out a hand full of wire and hot wire it and pull start with another truck to get to fire. challenges were cool when young. gotta be sharp and know how to fix something with nothing on the job. fix right in shop when you get back. work all night if need be.

 

[Sri Ram]

Wow. Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the encouragement, Ncostello. I have very little experience working on vehicles, but I am a fast learner, have a good head for details and organization, and multi-task well. After talking to my instructors here at tech school, I've decided to put in an application for the FD position. Obviously, I won't be hired as a master mechanic, but there may be room for a trainee or apprentice whether now or in the future.

Although the money for the master position is good, it's project funded and may end in 2011. I'm excited about the variety and the potential for thinking fast and on one's feet.

 

[Sri Ram]

I've been looking further into EVT certification and the EVTCC (evtcc.org). I'm registered for a prep class for EVT test F4 in the beginning of March. Now's a good time to take it since I just had 14 weeks of electrical. Anyone on this site have any EVTCC fire certs?

 

[Sri Ram]

I passed the F4 Fire Apparatus Electrical Systems exam and now have my certification (in that area)!