mrjibbs Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Are there any of you out there who fly for a specific fire department? I understand there are some larger FD's that have a dedicated helicopter or two. And I am curious about that, as in how to get into those jobs? Do you have to be a fire fighter first such as with the PD. Any info in this topic would be great as I havent seen much discussion on it around... Thanks in advance! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldy Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 Are there any of you out there who fly for a specific fire department? I understand there are some larger FD's that have a dedicated helicopter or two. And I am curious about that, as in how to get into those jobs? Do you have to be a fire fighter first such as with the PD. Any info in this topic would be great as I havent seen much discussion on it around... Thanks in advance! I have several friends that fly for FD's. Two are Chief Pilots. Every department does it different. LA County Fire requires that you be a pilot with significant experience and then you join the FD.(B412's and BLackhawks) LA City Fire (B412's, AW139's, B206)requires that you be a fireman first, and then you can apply into the aviation unit. Then of course, there are contract fire pilots, mostly for the USFS. So everybody is different. Same with LE ships.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hang'em High Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 Yes, LA County Fire has some contract pilots as I was told last week by a fire pilot. He told me that they are NOT firefighters either. He did say that they want at least 2,000 hrs of flying and the more you have, the better. Mountain training/experience, NVG's, IFR, etc... I think that 2,000hrs is just the bare minimum. He told me that most came on with over 4,000 hrs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjibbs Posted June 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Good stuff, thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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