according to the nfpa over NUMBER_TOKEN percent of firefighters in the united states today in NUMBER_TOKEN are either volunteer or mostly volunteer i couldn't believe that when i first heard that the overwhelming majority of firefighters that you see are volunteer which means they do it for very little to no pay and sometimes between career and volunteer firefighters there's some tensions some people will tend to look down on them but in this video what i want to do is i want to talk about why if you are considering a career in the fire service why you should certainly take a look at your local volunteer fire department and see about joining but before i get into that i want to take a minute to talk about our sponsor columbia southern university now columbia southern university is an all online university based in orange beach alabama well what does that mean for you because they're all online you can take classes at your own pace according to your own schedule we're all busy whether you've got family friends work other priorities things going on because they're all online and because they're flexible they can fit their classes around your schedule now most of you watching this are interested in fire science ems a variety of things related to public safety and they have a bunch of programs and degrees related to that but they also offer degrees and programs in things like business things like cyber security computer science health care and more they offer certificate programs associate degrees bachelor's degrees master's degrees doctorates and more if you're interested visit URL_TOKEN ffn i'll leave the link in the description below let's get started now if you've watched this channel at all you've heard me speak extensively about the importance of getting hands-on experience especially if you're a new or an aspiring firefighter it's very important for you to get as much experience as you can before you try to get hired on at a career department now you don't necessarily need to have a whole bunch of actual firefighting experience to get hired as a career firefighter i didn't have a lot when i got hired i would know a lot of people that were in the same boat where they just went through the academy and ended up getting hired shortly thereafter but it certainly helps if for no other reason that it gives you an idea of what working on the job is actually like you've heard me say a lot that movies and television don't really do us a lot of favors as far as explaining what the realities of being a career firefighter is but being and working as a volunteer firefighter can at least give you the best most hands-on idea of what it will actually be like so that's the first and number one reason that you should consider joining your local volunteer department is to get that hands-on experience now unfortunately there are some out there that will say that being a volunteer firefighter is a bad thing and you should not work part-time as a firefighter because the somehow the argument is that you're taking away a full-time job from somebody else i think that is a foolish and silly argument to make a lot of these cities and municipalities simply can't afford to have an entire full-time fire department also there's no other better place to get hands-on experience and get to know people in the fire service than working as a volunteer before you apply or try to become a career firefighter listen being a
START_SPONSOR_TOKEN but before i get into that i want to take a minute to talk about our sponsor columbia southern university now columbia southern university is an all online university based in orange beach alabama well what does that mean for you because they're all online you can take classes at your own pace according to your own schedule we're all busy whether you've got family friends work other priorities things going on because they're all online and because they're flexible they can fit their classes around your schedule now most of you watching this are interested in fire science ems a variety of things related to public safety and they have a bunch of programs and degrees related to that but they also offer degrees and programs in things like business things like cyber security computer science health care and more they offer certificate programs associate degrees bachelor's degrees master's degrees doctorates and more if you're interested visit URL_TOKEN ffn i'll leave the link in the description below let's get started END_SPONSOR_TOKEN