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Essay Overview of Firefighting as a Career

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My chosen career field is in public service. Precisely a career in firefighting. I believe firefighting is a great career choice as I enjoy the work that it involves, and there is a demand that will never stop for firefighters, as fire will always be around forever. The fire department offers a large variety of services to the public. Some of the major tasks that are performed in the fire service range from providing medical care as an Emergency Medical Technician, Entering a burning structure to search for any trapped occupants, suppressing the fire from the exterior or interior, removing a victim that is trapped inside a vehicle involved in an accident, cutting up a tree that fell over the roadway, to helping the elderly up into bed …show more content…

The need for help is always there at all hours of the day and night. A firefighter has to be able to shift from dead sleep and when the call comes through, he must be up, mentally prepared and completely focused on the job and performing it as expected, no matter what time of day, or how little sleep he has gotten. The average working conditions involves responding to residential areas to provide medical services, as this is the majority of the tasks of firefighters. According to the NFPA, 2 out of 3 calls a firefighter responds to are medical assist related calls. Firefighting has a large number of dangerous aspects in the job, as that is what the firefighters know and acknowledge when entering this field. There may times that become unpleasant, but when the job is done, you feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction knowing that it was you that made the difference in a humans life. According to the Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics, there were 307,000 job openings nationally in 2012. There is an expected 7% rise in opportunities between 2012 and 2020. Competition for firefighter positions is intense. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 35,000 firefighters will be needed between now and 2016, but the firefighter job is popular and sought after, so there will be plenty of applicants for every open position. (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov) Firefighting jobs are literally everywhere. Every city has at least one fire

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