Fire Science degree vs Paramedic school

 Fire Science degree vs Paramedic school

Hey guys and girls, I’m back!

I know it’s been quite a while since I last posted on here but I actually have a good reason for that. The past year I have been in paramedic school. It was super difficult, long days, a lot of studying, but I finished it and finally obtained my paramedic cert. Hopefully now I will be posting on a more consistent basis.

If you have any questions about paramedic school please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll help you in any way I can.

Now what I want to talk about today is the big question, do I go get my fire degree or do I get my paramedic license?

Hey guys and girls, I'm back! I know it's been quite a while since I last posted on here but I actually have a good reason for that. The past year I have been in paramedic school. It was super difficult, long days, a lot of studying, but I finished it and finally obtained my paramedic cert. Hopefully now I will be posting on a more consistent basis. If you have any questions about paramedic school please don't hesitate to contact me. I'll help you in any way I can. Now what I want to talk about today is the big question, do I go get my fire degree or do I get my paramedic license? Many aspiring and current firefighters have asked themselves this question at one time or another in their career. I asked myself this question as well and though I didn't follow my own advice in this post, I wish I would have. If you are unaware of what I am talking about, I will give a quick overview of the 2 options and how they relate to the fire service. When aspiring firefighters want to become a firefighter there are 2 routes of schooling you can do, the ems route or the fire academy/degree route. The ems route includes getting your EMT-B card, your EMT-A (in some states), and/or getting your Paramedic cert. The fire degree route includes going through a fire academy and getting your classes required for a normal fire science degree (Some may also include an EMT-B class). Something that you will hear me saying a lot in this post is that the route you go will be dependent on you and where you live. Some fire departments don't have a lot of EMS while some places make you become a paramedic before you even apply for the job. That being said, I do have some recommendations for you if you're currently having this dilemma. Get your paramedic license first! I'll give you the reasons below on why I say that but first I want to give a quick background on how I got my firefighter job, though I don't recommend this route to most people. I started off as a fire explorer in my city. I did an EMT class right after high school. After that, I did a fire academy at the local college and did a year of volunteer work to get my firefighter 1 cert. I started a wildland firefighter job that next year and did 4 years of wildland firefighting. After doing my wildland time I got the job as a full-time firefighter. I actually got my paramedic license after I was already a full-time firefighter. Now, this is how I did it but I don't recommend you doing it this way. Going through the EMS route would be the most beneficial to you in your firefighter career. The reason I recommend you get your EMS certificates has to do with where the fire service is heading these days. There's no hiding it, fire service is going toward EMS based service. This is the main reason why I recommend you get your paramedic license before your degree. Most departments won't let you even apply to them if you don’t have your license. EMS calls are the majority of the calls a firefighter will run and it’s a great idea to start your EMS career early as experience will be your best friend when getting a job. Now, if the job that you want does not require you do get your paramedic license then I highly recommend you start off getting the bare minimum of the job requirement. When doing your research for the fire job you want, you will need to find out what the requirements for the job are so that you can know what route you should go through. If you only need an EMT card and a fire academy, then just do that to start off with. It doesn’t mean you only need to do the bare minimum, but you want to be able to start applying asap. If you want to become a wildland firefighter then you do the required classes that the job asks for. If you want to be a full-time city firefighter, then you need to take the required classes for that job whether it’s an EMT/ paramedic cert, the firefighter 1 cert, or both. One huge benefit of getting your paramedic license is that once you get it, you will have multiple job options opened up to you. Not only could you start working on an ambulance and get experience, you can work in hospitals, special assignments like some big event near you or even work for private companies. The fire science degree doesn’t open up many jobs for you, if any. If you don’t know, there is a difference between a fire academy and getting your firefighter degree. The difference is that a fire academy is usually a 6-9 month class in which you will learn the basics of being a firefighter. You will usually need to get some turnouts and do a lot of hands-on activities like ladder raise, pulling hose, wildland firefighter training, hose rolls, etc. A fire science degree, on the other hand, is when you go to college (usually through a community college) and take a set amount of classes to fill the requirements for the degree. Some of the classes you will be taking is a building construction class or leadership classes. Some schools have you take an EMT class or fire academy to get the degree, depends on the college. The two are separate and, as I did, you can go through a fire academy and get your fire science degree later. In my experience, most departments do not require you to have your degree to apply. This is the main reason why I recommended you get your ems certs first before your degree. Getting your degree does help when you already have a job as some departments will give you incentive pay for your degree. In a lot of departments, a degree is a requirement before you can promote to a captains position. I have been a full-time firefighter for 6 years and I still haven’t got my fire science degree. I am working on it now because we get that incentive pay I talked about but honestly, I haven’t needed to get it for the job at all. The time and costs you will spend on each will depend greatly on where you live. You can get a degree in just 2 years if you are a full-time student. The price will depend on how much credits costs at your school. Paramedic school, on the other hand, will usually last 1 year (the time varies greatly). Most of the paramedic schools in the West coasts around $10,000 to do. It's a huge investment, especially if you don’t have that full-time position. At the end of the day, it’s really up to you on what route you will take. I know there may be obstacles that come up that make you choose one route over the other but again, my recommendation would be to go to paramedic school first. The benefits of having a paramedic license outweigh a degree by far. Good luck on endeavors and I hope I was able to help if this is something you’ve been thinking about. If you’ve read this long then I would recommend you sign up for our emails. Also, follow my new Instagram account @firefightersLifestyle where I post my daily activities and firehouse shenanigans. 

Many aspiring and current firefighters have asked themselves this question at one time or another in their career. I asked myself this question as well and though I didn’t follow my own advice in this post, I wish I would have.

If you are unaware of what I am talking about, I will give a quick overview of the 2 options and how they relate to the fire service.

When aspiring firefighters want to become a firefighter there are 2 routes of schooling you can do, the ems route or the fire academy/degree route. The ems route includes getting your EMT-B card, your EMT-A (in some states), and/or getting your Paramedic cert. The fire degree route includes going through a fire academy and getting your classes required for a normal fire science degree (Some may also include an EMT-B class).

Something that you will hear me saying a lot in this post is that the route you go will be dependent on you and where you live. Some fire departments don’t have a lot of EMS while some places make you become a paramedic before you even apply for the job.

That being said, I do have some recommendations for you if you’re currently having this dilemma.

Get your paramedic license first!

 Fire Science degree vs Paramedic school

I’ll give you the reasons below on why I say that but first I want to give a quick background on how I got my firefighter job, though I don’t recommend this route to most people.

I started off as a fire explorer in my city. I did an EMT class right after high school. After that, I did a fire academy at the local college and did a year of volunteer work to get my firefighter 1 cert. I started a wildland firefighter job that next year and did 4 years of wildland firefighting. After doing my wildland time I got the job as a full-time firefighter. I actually got my paramedic license after I was already a full-time firefighter.

Now, this is how I did it but I don’t recommend you doing it this way.

Going through the EMS route would be the most beneficial to you in your firefighter career.

The reason I recommend you get your EMS certificates has to do with where the fire service is heading these days.

There’s no hiding it, fire service is going toward EMS based service. This is the main reason why I recommend you get your paramedic license before your degree. Most departments won’t let you even apply to them if you don’t have your license. EMS calls are the majority of the calls a firefighter will run and it’s a great idea to start your EMS career early as experience will be your best friend when getting a job.

Now, if the job that you want does not require you do get your paramedic license then I highly recommend you start off getting the bare minimum of the job requirement.

When doing your research for the fire job you want, you will need to find out what the requirements for the job are so that you can know what route you should go through. If you only need an EMT card and a fire academy, then just do that to start off with. It doesn’t mean you only need to do the bare minimum, but you want to be able to start applying asap.

If you want to become a wildland firefighter then you do the required classes that the job asks for. If you want to be a full-time city firefighter, then you need to take the required classes for that job whether it’s an EMT/ paramedic cert, the firefighter 1 cert, or both.

One huge benefit of getting your paramedic license is that once you get it, you will have multiple job options opened up to you. Not only could you start working on an ambulance and get experience, you can work in hospitals, special assignments like some big event near you or even work for private companies.

The fire science degree doesn’t open up many jobs for you, if any.

 Fire Science degree vs Paramedic school

If you don’t know, there is a difference between a fire academy and getting your firefighter degree. The difference is that a fire academy is usually a 6-9 month class in which you will learn the basics of being a firefighter. You will usually need to get some turnouts and do a lot of hands-on activities like ladder raise, pulling hose, wildland firefighter training, hose rolls, etc.

A fire science degree, on the other hand, is when you go to college (usually through a community college) and take a set amount of classes to fill the requirements for the degree. Some of the classes you will be taking is a building construction class or leadership classes. Some schools have you take an EMT class or fire academy to get the degree, depends on the college.

The two are separate and, as I did, you can go through a fire academy and get your fire science degree later.

In my experience, most departments do not require you to have your degree to apply. This is the main reason why I recommended you get your ems certs first before your degree. Getting your degree does help when you already have a job as some departments will give you incentive pay for your degree. In a lot of departments, a degree is a requirement before you can promote to a captains position.

I have been a full-time firefighter for 6 years and I still haven’t got my fire science degree. I am working on it now because we get that incentive pay I talked about but honestly, I haven’t needed to get it for the job at all.

 Fire Science degree vs Paramedic school

The time and costs you will spend on each will depend greatly on where you live. You can get a degree in just 2 years if you are a full-time student. The price will depend on how much credits costs at your school. Paramedic school, on the other hand, will usually last 1 year (the time varies greatly). Most of the paramedic schools in the West coasts around $10,000 to do. It’s a huge investment, especially if you don’t have that full-time position.

At the end of the day, it’s really up to you on what route you will take. I know there may be obstacles that come up that make you choose one route over the other but again, my recommendation would be to go to paramedic school first. The benefits of having a paramedic license outweigh a degree by far.

Good luck on endeavors and I hope I was able to help if this is something you’ve been thinking about.

If you’ve read this long then I would recommend you sign up for our emails. Also, follow my new Instagram account @firefightersLifestyle where I post my daily activities and firehouse shenanigans. 

Skip to toolbar