I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight on when offers might start going out for the Cal Fire Captain and Engineer positions. Does anyone know how long it typically takes to hear back after applying?
Hope everyone’s enjoying the spring and gearing up for what could be another busy season!
If you qualify for a captain job you get an offer. There are more vacancies than eligible applicants.
FAE offers have been being made all year, but I’d bet they ramp up after the beginning of the new fiscal year.
I ranked in Band 2, but I haven’t received my OSFM STF Firefighter I certification yet. I’ll be completing the reciprocity process for the FF1C portion at Ben Clark in a few weeks.
Would not having the certification in hand yet be a reason to not get a call?
Thanks again for your responseI really appreciate it!
They are not issuing hard copies should be in your STF portal, they are probably backed up on getting them out reach out to them via email also email the the person o the exam and ask them they will have a exact answer.
To get a phone call you need the correct license, CPAT, and meet the minimum qualifications for experience.
It does seem like they are kind of doing rounds of hiring open list captains. FAE’s usually get a promotional offer the week following their JAC completion as long as they are on the eligibility list.
The new FC list came out with over 1,000 on it between the 3 ranks. But some northern units need 30+ and “one” southern unit needs 60+😳
To get a call you have to make the list. Then the INTERNAL scoring occurs based 100% on your resume. I do not believe the current FAE hiring is yet occurring from the most recent test. The human SME’s have yet to gather in Sacramento to score resumes. To increase your chances of getting an offer, list all 21 units and all programs.
The FAE offers are still 100% made by Santa Rosa and are based on
Finally, Resume score is EVERYTHING if you don’t have it, or don’t list it, it doesn’t get added to your score. For those that all get the same resume score, a random number generator is used and those tie scores.
GOOD LUCK
I appreciate the reply , thank you again
To tag on to Hoss’s reply -
First things first:
For FAE: Units advise hiring how many FAE positions they need, hiring provides names. Really no unit based scoring involved for FAE. It’s all handled at region.
For FC: After vetting and initial scoring by region, units will get apps & resumes for FC candidates that are interested in their respective units. These will be further vetted by the units - some with resume review, some with interviews, some with both.
IFSAC / Pro is not a requirement for the “open” FC process (unless something changed). But it sure does help get “butts in the seats” after the hiring process.
If you are an “open list” candidate and are offered a job, you will most likely be required to attend the FFA and COA. If you don’t have IFSAC / Pro then you will be sent there first. This becomes a LOOOONNG process sometimes, especially for units that don’t have instant access to those academies.
From what I’ve seen, FC’s that don’t have IFSAC/Pro Board are typically in training for about 7-8 months before hitting the floor.
It also seems to be sink or swim. Learn the policies fast or you get in a jam really quickly.
Fire is fire. Incidents are the easy part. Human resource management at the station is the hard part to catch up on and it comes at you really fast the way jobs are being handed out right now.
So I’m gonna say that isn’t all true. Incidents are not incidents. Wildland fires may be Wildland fires but if you don’t go schedule B and you are from an all wildland agency, you better be a fast learner.
I’m guessing he’s referring to command and control, which from what I have seen switching over I was still able to do very effectively even when I knew less about the subject at hand.
That being said I started at the bottom when I came over specifically because I understood there was a gap of understanding my new position that should be taken seriously.
The negative part was going backwards to being a grunt however, I believe I was still able to help lead when overhead was busy on large campaigns. Once I went permanent in the new agency the recognition of my experience was quickly acknowledged, now the problem I am dealing with is being pushed to promote faster.
I’m glad you have had a good experience. I would say however, the majority of the people who have come right over as Captains in a particular CSR unit are not having the same experience.
It really isn’t that much different. Yes there was and is a lot to learn but running calls and a station are not that different.
I would totally believe that especially regarding any lateral switch, I was simply trying to understand Mcburneys post which seemed like he was referring to application of ICS on all incidents vs the difference in culture and which one is more difficult to adapt to.
But I’d be guessing if that’s what he meant or not. I also attribute my experience to truly being blessed with strong overhead everywhere I’ve worked, not saying every employee/supervisor however, solid individuals at each work station to use as a mentor or backstop to limit failures and boost success.
I’ve been lucky throughout my career as a fed as well as Cal Fire and I put everything I have into passing that mindset onto my guys, that’s the only way I see us coming out of all these changes with our heads on straight.
It seems every year I see more individuals and younger individuals occupying overhead assignments on teams or just acting as overhead at campaign fires during fire season while they have 1 season or less experience fighting fire on those same type of incidents.
So in short my biggest gripe is you can have a FF1 spending a good portion of the fire season working overhead or a brand new FAE doing the same thing and then shortly being eligible to promote and lacking the real experience needed to act under these high risk low frequency events.
Not sure why I got on that soap box it just came out.
Does anyone have an idea which units have the most FC openings?
I got an FAE offer about a month ago. Current fed for 11 years. No structure quals other than an old 80 hour CALFIRE basic academy. Sounds like I’ll be starting in the middle of May. Process has been moving fast. I know I need a ton of training before I can hit the ground running.
From the October application.
Probably RRU, shear numbers.
I’ll reply.
I was generally speaking, and outside of RRU and maybe BTU, most open list FC’s aren’t going to get assigned right onto a type 1 fire engine so they will be on the little red wagon inside their wheel house and reasonably able to adapt to a schedule B vacation. (Somewhat sarcastic and jestering in my sentence structure there.) Meaning they will most likely be assigned to a type 3 and just have to adapt their wildland experience to the CAL FIRE mission, which is generally an easy transition to make with their past experience.
Structure fires aren’t hard especially if the open list hires are given a COO (company officer orientation) to understand SOG’s at an incident. It only take 2-3 weeks. Running medical aides and traffic collisions will be a completely new experience, but it’s still just an educational piece of explaining what to look out for and notifications to make based on location. Hazmats, electrical hazards, terrorist events, etc, we are all SWAGging on even with prior schedule A experience because those types of calls don’t happen consistently like medical and fires so we don’t have a large amount of previous slides to pull from.
I won’t talk about the sky rocket through the promotional ladder. Totally different topic for another thread but my feelings are similar. I also see the necessity of age as a company officer because life experience plays just as important of a role in decision making as career education and incident experience.
In response to the unit with the greatest amount of FC spots, for sure RRU just due to shear numbers. They have somewhere in the ball park of 100 fire stations and even more pieces of response apparatus. No unit and most other municipalities aren’t even close to those numbers. I think RRU alone is in the top 10 for largest fire departments in the state of California.
Congratulations my friend
I’m not trying to argue here but everything you said regarding the transition to busy schedule A life sounds good in paper. We simply are not seeing that translate to real world.
I am not trying to discourage anyone from applying, but simply asking that people who do come in with an open mind and a high level of humility.
It’s not just about being operationally “ok.” You have to be able to lead people, and if you come in and after 2-3 weeks think you’re an ace on all risk calls (you won’t be) the guys will lose trust in you very rapidly.
Again, I’m just speaking from what we have observed with the open list captains in the unit. Not saying it can’t be done, because it can, but it requires actual humility and a willingness to learn from your leadership and subordinates alike.