Make sure your heart is in it

So, what do you do if you want to apply to be a member of the FDNY? The initial process itself isn't too foreign actually. First and foremost, there is an age requirement. You must have reached your 21st birthday by the time of the examination period, but must not be over the age of 29. Under or over and you are no longer eligible.

Once the exam dates are open, anyone from the public that has met the age requirement will be required to take two exams. The first one is computer based (CBT). This one will test you on certain aspects of the department and duties involved in being a firefighter: reading comprehension, problem solving, spatial recognition and applying the rules of the FDNY to general concepts (knowing when to vent a ceiling, what each aspect of your gear is meant for, the process of a floor to floor, room to room search, etc)

IMPORTANT: You need not have any prior knowledge of the department to take the test. Anyone can take it. To advance however, you must obviously achieve a passing score.

If you pass the CBT, you will be given a civil servant list in preparation for the next phase: the physical examination. This isn't your standard run of your mill "turn and cough twice" test. This is a challenging test that is run in four stages, all of which test your fitness capability. Let there no illusions. If you make it this far, you will be tested to your limits. Lugging upwards of 75 lbs of gear on your back is no easy task.

Following the completion of the physical examination, you will next be asked to complete a psychological and medical (turn and cough twice) exam, all of which continue to test your capabilities. Drug screening and background checks are also required. Pass all of this, and you just might become a probationary firefighter. That title though of "probie" may not happen for awhile though, as those eligible candidates are called as needed.

So there you have it. It may not sound like much on this blog, but it is indeed a very strenuous and hard process. In the end however, it is very fulfilling. As a member of the FDNY, you will be on the front lines of emergency after emergency, risking your neck to save others in need. It takes true guts to do this job. Do you have what it takes?