Pros
Co workers, fighting fire, helping people. Good experience and instills solid, hard working ethics.
Cons
Bureaucracy at it's finest, work schedule, forced OT, time away from family and friends, insufficient personnel, the lack of care about your personnel life from upper management and sacramento (HQ). Staffing patterns, being continuously in the dark about what is going on and how long you'll be held on. Supervisors are often held on for weeks, which can create a negative environment. When it comes to finding relief, you either find your own or get forced on. The unit does nothing to find relief. It's like pulling teeth to try and get off on your designated day off sometimes, the union doesnt allow us to strike! The department views FF1's as pawns and could care less about our time off, personal lives etc... but then of course gives us eap which is there for the after effect of what this department does to you ( "Sorry we held you on so long and dont care about your real life but heres some free counseling sessions to help you vent or some free lagal advice to assist in your divorce"). This could go on for a while...