What is it like being a firefighter?
Most firefighters will tell you that there isn’t a better career in the world. They’re constantly involved with people-responding to emergency calls, visiting schools, teaching classes, hosting fire station “open houses,” and attending training. Because they work together as a team, firefighters develop camaraderie, friendships and a sense of family. Whenever there are emergencies-accidents, fires, floods or other natural disasters-fire departments are the first called. Smaller stations and rural districts rely heavily on volunteers. In fact, most of the 300,000 firefighters in Washington state are volunteers. Many rural fire districts have both community volunteers and a paid staff which takes care of administrative duties as well as emergency response. Fire departments in cities and metropolitan areas are staffed by full-time career firefighters who work in shifts.
