Do You Need Your EMT to Be a Firefighter? An Active Firefighter's Honest Answer

I got my EMT twice.

The first time, I was twenty-one, a couple years out of high school and convinced I had this whole thing figured out. The second time, I was thirty, coming back to a career I'd quit on years earlier, and I finally understood what an EMT cert actually does for an aspiring firefighter.

If you're reading this, you're probably staring down the same question I asked myself in 2014: Do I really need my EMT to become a firefighter?

Here's the answer most accounts won't give you straight: yes, you should get it. But probably not for the reasons you think. And there's a rapport trap most aspiring firefighters fall into that can quietly tank your chances at the departments you most want to work for — without you ever knowing it happened.

This post is the honest version of the EMT conversation. The one I wish someone had given me before I spent two years treating my first cert like a checkbox.

TL;DR (if you're scrolling)

• Most major metro departments don't require EMT to apply, but they strongly prefer it and many will pass you over if you don't have it.
• Smaller and mid-sized departments often require it outright.
• An EMT does three real things for your application: it opens doors, it gives you actual exposure to the EMS side of the job (which is ~80% of firefighter calls), and it lets you build rapport with local fire departments. That third one is a double-edged sword.
• Get your EMT. It's the bare minimum to make yourself genuinely hireable. It won't get you hired by itself — nothing will — but it's a non-negotiable line item in the list of things you'll be asked to point to.
• When matters: get it before or right as you start applying, not after. EMT certs are state-specific and expire — don't get one years before you're actually testing.

Now the long version, with the stuff nobody else tells you.

My Two EMTs: The Long Version

In 2014 I moved to California to test for fire departments. I was twenty-one, broke, and convinced sheer willpower would get me hired. I signed up for an EMT program because every guide I read said "get your EMT." I treated it like an admin task. Got the cert, passed the NREMT, framed it, and moved on.

Then I failed my first entry exam. Passed my second one — but my score wasn't high enough to crack the interview pool. I gave up. Took a sales job. Let the cert expire when I stopped using it.

Years later I came back to the fire service. This time the approach was different. I got my EMT again in 2023, but I didn't treat it like a piece of paper. I worked transport. Ran calls. Started volunteering with a fire-adjacent crew. Showed up to scenes with fire departments and watched what professionals did. Asked dumb questions. Listened.

That's when I figured out what an EMT cert is actually for.

If you only get the cert and never use it — if it's just letters on your resume — you've spent thousands of dollars and four months of your life on something that does almost nothing for you. You'll have answered "yes" on the application checkbox. That's it.

If you get it and use it — that's when an EMT cert starts pulling its weight.

What an EMT Actually Does for Your Firefighter Application

There are three real things an EMT cert does for you. Each one matters in a different way.

1. It opens doors at departments that require it

This one's obvious but worth being specific about. Many departments — especially smaller and mid-sized agencies — require EMT certification before you can even submit an application. Some require paramedic. If you don't have it, you don't apply. The door is closed before you start.

Even at departments that don't strictly require it (looking at most major metro agencies), the application process often weights EMT certification heavily enough that going in without one means you start every test ten points behind. When the gap between making the interview list and not making it is sometimes a single point, that's the difference.

So at minimum, an EMT cert means more departments are available for you to apply to. That alone is worth the cert.

2. It gives you actual exposure to EMS — which is 80% of the firefighter job

Here's something a lot of aspiring firefighters miss: most fire department calls aren't fires. Depending on the department and the area, somewhere between 70% and 85% of the calls you'll run as a firefighter are medical. Chest pain. Falls. Strokes. Overdoses. Diabetic emergencies. Childbirth in the back of an Uber.

If you've never worked EMS, you walk into your first day as a probie completely unprepared for what the job actually looks like. Knowing how to throw a ladder doesn't help you when someone's having a seizure on the sidewalk.

Getting your EMT and working it — running calls, riding ambulances, doing actual patient care — does two things at once. It prepares you for what the job is. And it gives you something concrete to talk about in oral boards. When the panel asks "What have you done to prepare for this career?" you don't have to gesture vaguely at watching firefighter YouTube videos. You can talk about real calls. Real patients. Real decisions you made under pressure.

That's a different kind of answer than what most candidates give. The panel can tell.

3. It lets you build rapport with local fire departments

This is the most powerful and most dangerous one. We need a separate section for it.

The Rapport Trap Nobody Warns You About

Here's what most posts about EMT certification tell you: working as an EMT lets you meet local firefighters, build relationships, and get on the radar of departments you want to test for. That part is true.

Here's what they don't tell you: doing it wrong will quietly kill your chances at exactly the departments you most want to work for.

I worked transport for a while when I was testing in California. I saw young EMTs blow this on every shift. Cocky on calls. Joking around in front of captains. Treating fire crews like buddies because they'd been on a few runs together. Trying too hard to fit in. Telling stories that were obviously embellished. Showing up late. Showing up hungover. Showing up unprepared.

Here's the part you need to understand: every interaction with a fire crew is a soft interview.

Fire departments are small worlds. The crew you're handing off a patient to today is going to be talking about you tomorrow. The captain on the engine you assisted at that car accident remembers your name and how you carried yourself. If you're trying to get hired by that department six months from now, that captain may be in the room when your application crosses the chief's desk. He may sit on your oral board panel. He may be the person someone calls when your name comes up.

Reputations form before you ever submit an application.

So here's the rule: if you're working EMS in the area you want to be hired by a fire department, treat every single call like the hiring panel is watching. Because in a real sense, they are.

• Show up sharp. Uniform clean, gear organized, ready to work.
• Be quiet around fire crews. Listen more than you talk. Especially around captains and above. They don't want to hear your stories.
• Defer to the fire crew on scene. They run it. You assist. Even if you think you know better, you don't. Yet.
• Treat every patient like the chief is grading you. Because if the patient writes a complaint about you, that report ends up in places you don't want it to end up.
• Never trash-talk other crews, departments, or coworkers. Fire service is small. It gets back.

The version of you who's already a firefighter doesn't act cocky around fire crews. The version of you who's trying to become a firefighter shouldn't either.

This is the single most important lesson I learned the second time around. Most aspiring firefighters never hear it. The ones who do have a meaningful edge.

Should You Get Your EMT Right Now?

Let's be honest about the practical side. EMT school costs somewhere between $1,000 and $3,500 depending on where you go. It takes anywhere from a fast 4-week accelerated program to a full semester at a community college. You'll need to pass the NREMT exam at the end. You may need to pay for renewal every two years if you let the cert sit unused.

That's a real cost for someone working a normal job, paying rent, and trying to figure out their life.

My honest answer: do it. It's the bare minimum to make yourself a genuinely competitive candidate, and the doors it opens are worth the cost.

But there are smart ways to do it and dumb ways.

Smart:

• Find an accelerated program at a community college if you have time off you can dedicate to it. They tend to be cheaper than private academies.
• Some fire-service-adjacent jobs (like working as a transport EMT or 911 dispatcher) will reimburse part of your EMT cost if you commit to a contract length. Worth asking.
• Some departments will pay for it after you're hired. If you're hired without it but they're willing to send you to EMT school as a probie, take it.

Dumb:

• Don't go to the most expensive private academy because someone on Reddit said it had the highest pass rate. The NREMT is the same exam everywhere. Pass rate has more to do with the student than the school.
• Don't get your EMT five years before you start applying. The cert is state-specific (or NREMT-based), it expires, and skills get rusty. Get it close to when you're actually testing.
• Don't get it and then never use it. Use it. Work as an EMT, even part-time. The reps matter.

When Should You Get Your EMT?

The short answer: before or right as you start applying.

Most aspiring firefighters either over-think the timing or under-think it. Some get their EMT at 18, decide to pursue firefighting at 26, and find that their cert has been expired for years. Others wait until they've already failed two tests before they go get the cert and wonder why they're not getting interviewed.

If you're inside 12-18 months of applying, get it now. If you're more than two years out from being able to seriously test for departments, focus on other prep (CPAT readiness, learning about the hiring process, studying for the oral board) and time your EMT cert to coincide with the application cycle.

My Honest Verdict

I waited too long the first time. The cert expired and I had to do it again. I almost certainly cost myself opportunities by not having an active EMT during years when I was passively eligible to test.

The second time, I treated it differently. I used the cert. Volunteered. Ran calls. Showed up on scenes with fire departments. Got better at the job before I had the job.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd get my EMT the year I started testing. I'd work it for at least 6-12 months before sitting any oral boards. I'd treat every patient interaction as practice for the kind of firefighter I wanted to become. And I'd never, ever forget that every interaction with a fire crew was a soft interview.

The EMT cert doesn't get you hired. Nothing gets you hired except a hiring panel deciding you're the candidate they want. What the EMT cert does is put you in the conversation. It gets you in the room. It gives you something to point to when the panel asks what you've done. It opens doors at departments that would otherwise be closed.

That's enough to be worth it. By itself, it's not enough to get hired.

So yes, get your EMT. Use it. Be the version of yourself that fire crews would want to work with. Then go pass everything else — the oral board, the CPAT, the written exam, the resume that doesn't get tossed in the first stack.

The EMT cert is the bare minimum. Everything else is up to you.

Next Steps

If you're working through the firefighter hiring process, here are the deeper-dive guides that pair with this one:

• How to Get Hired as a Firefighter: A Complete Guide — the full process overview
• 4 Oral Board Questions That Trip Up Candidates — the questions most candidates botch
• What Fire Departments Actually Grade You On — the unwritten scorecard
• The STACC Framework for Firefighter Oral Boards — how to structure your answers

And if you want a fire-service-tailored resume that actually translates your EMT experience into language hiring panels care about, that's what we built the FireHire Resume Builder for. Paste your resume and a job posting, get back a version that speaks the language of fire service hiring panels. Free tier, no card required.

I built it because I needed it years ago and nobody had built it yet.

Good luck out there. Get your EMT, use it well, treat every shift like a job interview, and keep showing up.

Daniel

Co-Founder & Active Firefighter

Active firefighter with the Aurora Fire Department in Colorado. Daniel brings firsthand experience from the hiring process and daily life on the job to help aspiring firefighters succeed.

FireHire provides general preparation content and does not guarantee hiring, interview results, test scores, or employment outcomes. Content may be AI-assisted and should be independently evaluated.