How do I become a firefighter?

Becoming a part-time firefighter may be one of the most personally rewarding things that you ever do.

The Fridley Fire Department is committed to protecting the people, property, and environment within our community. We dedicate our efforts to provide for the safety and welfare of the public by providing the highest quality services that are responsive to the needs of the community.

We are a progressive, full-service combination full-time and part time, paid-on-call fire department that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city.

Fridley residency is not required but you must live within a six minute response to one of our three fire stations. Exceptions to the response time may be made based on availability of qualified applicants.

Firefighter classifications include Recruit, Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2, Captain, Assistant Chief and Chief. Chief and Assistant Chief are full-time positions appointed by City Council. All firefighters are required to certify NFPA 1001 competencies through technical college courses and then pass the Minnesota Board of Fire Service Examiners testing. All personnel are also trained and then tested in most of the NFPA 1002 competencies for Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator. The majority of the firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians, and all new hires must now have that certification. The majority of the firefighters are Hazardous Material Technicians, with several at the Specialist level.

The department has not experienced difficulty attracting and retaining paid-on-call firefighters, despite the very rigid entry qualifications. Full time promotion opportunities are typically internal.

IF INTERESTED IN BECOMING A FIREFIGHTER or being advised of openings in the future, please email us your name, address, and phone number. Your name will be kept in the file for 12 months and if an opening should occur a job announcement will be mailed to you. Residency is not required, however, you must live with 6 minutes of any of our 3 fire stations

Contact the Fridley Fire Department

Hours

During the first two years after hire, new firefighters commit an average of 10-12 hours per week to the department. This includes firefighting course work, Emergency Medical Technician training, Hazardous Materials Operations training along with in-house training. Once the course work is done, firefighters work an average of 10 hours a month on shift and are required to attend weekly trainings on Monday night (6:30pm-9:00pm) or Tuesday morning (8:00-1030am). This averages to be about 20-30 hours a month.

Duty Crew Hours / Working Shifts

The Fridley Fire Department is committed to protecting the people, property, and environment within our community. In the summer of 1994 the Department radically modernized the delivery of services in Fridley by providing 24 hour staffing. This change provided 2 Firefighter/EMT's 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to all fire calls and calls for emergency medical assistance in Fridley.

While the department still uses page-out system to alert off duty firefighters of events where the duty crew needs additional resources, most calls are handled by the crew that is working.

Shift work allows the firefighter to schedule hours based on their own personal schedule, while on shift; you will inspect equipment, perform house duties and respond to all emergency events in the city.

We require that all firefighters work 10 of scheduled shift hours a month, attend training on a regular basis and while off duty, respond to a minimum of 30% of fire or medical callbacks.

Making a Difference

Few professions provide the sense of accomplishment and personal enrichment that fire service professionals enjoy. There is tremendous satisfaction in having saved a life, controlled a structure fire, comforted an accident victim or taught a survival skill that prevented a child from being injured or killed.

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