Applying to a firefighting career isn’t like most job applications.  The whole process usually takes more than seven months.  It requires massive paperwork and forms (as illustrated in my earlier post), in conjunction with written and psych exams, multiple interviews, agility testing, and polygraphs.  Between acquiring documents, sending them, and driving to the locations to participate in the multiple steps, one can expect to spend two hundred bucks or more on a single application process.  And despite the rigors of the hiring process, the position of career firefighter is among the most widely pursued and fiercely competitive in the country.  

The process is designed to be difficult, to weed out the uncommitted and to single out those who truly desire and deserve the job.  Those who do desire and deserve it still greatly outnumber the available positions.  I’ll keep on trying, regardless.