As I mentioned in a recent thread I started, my wife and I are taking the CERT training course offered by our local emergency services. Last night at the end of the class the chief said they were actually looking for some volunteer fire fighters. That kind of piqued my interest as I figure it would give me a little deeper training, and hands on practice, to go along with the CERT class.
After class I asked him about it, (specifically about the maximum age, if any, since I will be 50 in November ) and he said that "as long as you're breathing we can use you".

Now, I have a regular full time day job, 8-5, so how would volunteering work in with that? Also, at 50...am I too old?
Could it lead to an actual real job as a fire fighter?
It's not really something I had considered before and I definitely thought that at my age I'm just waiting for the slow spiral downwards until death.

There are far more volunteers than paid firefighters in the U.S.
The requirements generally are different from department to department...   Some require you to attend a certain percentage of meetings and emergency calls per month or quarter, or year.   Good ones are also understanding in that you can't make EVERY call.   Most volunteers have a job and family and life beyond the dept.

SOme departments are good ole boy clubs, others are progressive training oriented departments.   They are the good ones to attend.

Check out firehouse.com, and reddit.com/r/firefighting for more info
RB

Im a career firefighter, and I am a fire officer for my department. Volunteering can be both fun and meaningful for you. But please know your limitations. Structural firefighting is serious business. Its physically demanding and even more so mentally when you have to do rescue fuctions in the dark and heat and think about all the things you have to "look for" when you can see anything.  If its a good department you get a soild 4-6mos of crazy intense training before your allowed to even go near a burning trash can. I have heard of some small places that will try and send in some guys untrained and half equipped and I hope you value your life more then that. Good luck but this isn't something to do with a few hours of training.

I've been both a volunteer and a paid firefighter in years past. The comments from RB & gabeowp sum it up well.

Trust me, I don't want to do that with just a few hours of training either. The area we live in is pretty populated. We're just a suburb of Houston really. I definitely know my limitations. It seems like a good way to give back to, and help, the community I live in. Even it was just periodically helping the guys out around the station or whatever.
I wouldn't take the responsibility lightly.

Another thing to ask is if they do EMS and will you be trained and expected. I also am a paramedic because in FL 99% of all our departments are fire rescue (fire and medical) medical calls add anothet level of safety concerns as well as somethings you just wouldn't want to see. Much like the military were after a short time in war people suffer mental breaks this is no different. We have plenty of folks who go to emt school then fire standards then go through all the hoops to get that FD job. After a few months on the job they just stop coming to work. So thats another thing for you to consider.

Fyi.... after 12.5yrs for a 100,000 plus calls per year department I can check box about every sign and symptom of ptsd. I haven't slept through the night in 8yrs(on duty or off). Just think 12 more years to go.....joy

I went to academy with a 72 year old. He passed everything, just not as quickly as the young bucks (I was 18 at the time). We have plenty of guys that are 50+. Go to a meeting and a drill. See what they are up to.

I was a volunteer for a few years before moving to a place that was full-time only.

I enjoyed it and found it a satisfying way to serve the community.

I think you are closer to typical than you know. In a small community you are one of the few who can show up and actually do something good when things go wrong. It can be fun and very full of suck in unpredictable ways.

I don't know what you would do with CERT besides wear a reflective vest and look busy, probably at a time you'd rather be looking out for your family. Sorry but that's my take.

Seems like your answers have been covered. I was a volunteer for almost five years. Maybe the best five years of my life and met some great people along the way. We were a combo department so we were mixed in with paid staff.

Our department put us through the Firefighter 1 certification which is something you will need if you ever want to be a career firefighter. We were severely limited in what we could do until we had completed the course.

I wish I could do something similar here.

Most vollies have 9-5 jobs.  You'll be able to fit it in; you'll just be busier.

No idea about your physical readiness and limitations but CERT and FF1 should give you an idea of what's expected.  Be honest with yourself.  I've taught a few CERT classes and every one of them had people who were plainly going to be more of a liability in an actual emergency (due to poor physical readiness) than an asset.

I think many paid and vollie departments are accustomed to having some older guys on the books and are able to adjust accordingly; let the young bucks throw ladders and hump hose, and the old salts drive the trucks and run the pumps.  The danger there is that a situation could arise in which the old salts have no choice but to throw ladders and hump hose.  It is in *everyone's* best interest that their ticker be up to the task.

I think most of your question have already been answered.  I'll throw my perspective in as well.   I've been a volunteer in Oklahoma for almost 24 years and was Chief for 5 years(I'm actually retired now but still help out some).

First, I think I would ask what calls to they run most often.  How many calls to they make?  What training do they provide and when?  Also does it cost to you to train? If you have to take two weeks vacation to attend Firefighter I and also pay for the class that might not be something you want to do.  However if the class is paid for and is offered in the evenings/weekends you might be good to go.  Just be aware it's not only a time commitment to the department it's a time commitment to training.  My oldest son also volunteers for my department, his first year as a rookie he attended well over 200 hours of training.  That was anything from structural firefighting, to wildland, to EMR.  It was all done on evenings and weekends at not cost.

As long are you are in good physical condition your age shouldn't be a problem, however structure fires are a young mans game.  Wearing 60lb of heavy gear, crawling around in 600+ degrees is not what I feel I can do much of anymore at 48 years old.  That's not to say there isn't something your can do at a structure fire, there are lots of jobs other than being a hose dragger.  Now wildland, I can walk some of the pups in the ground cutting fire line, it's a different set of physical requirements.

Some other things to ask yourself.  How well do you handle blood, puke, people suffering, KIDS suffering, and there isn't much you can do about it?  It's a sobering thought but it's something you may have to do.  Even if the department doesn't run medical calls

All that being said, it can be a rewarding job and knowing you are actively doing something to help your community and others is a great feeling.

I joined my small hometown VFD when I was 18 and I am still in it at 68, although I officially retired for about five years, then rejoined because we needed people.  Being a volunteer can be very rewarding. I served in various positions, as well as years as Chief, and running with or EMS squad as an EMT. The previous comments are pretty much right on. It has been a big part of my life, but it is all about what you put into it. I'm too old and creaky now to do the tough work, but can help with training, communications and various Incident Command functions. My fire and EMT experience was a direct benefit in my full-time job. My advice would be to check them out. Don't know anything about TX requirements , and you have to realize your limitations.   I will guess there is a need for solid people who will devote the time, and there are plenty of jobs to be done in a small department besides climbing ladders and being a nozzleman.

No but I work with vollies often. Your expectations are definitely going to vary depending on the department you are in. I will say for a much larger component than fire fighting is the Ems side of things. Working wrecks and bad calls like cpr, or just moving small land whales.  I love volunteer fire fighters to do what they do and not be paid. Every set of hands helps in my experience, and in many volunteer districts you will find that you may be the only person who can show or may have one partner. I also will echo the comment about ptsd in that you see shit you shouldent see.  It is also definitely not risk free, standing on side of the road at 2 am on a highway, there are definitely safer pursuits in life. Got to be a job you love, even more so if you are not being compensated for it. (If I sound burned out it is because the only way I make a living is working many 24 hour shifts a week)

Leading to a actual paid fire fighter position, seems unlikely to me. A good portion of the fighters are volunteers. The ones that are paid usually have cut offs like nobody over 35 as new hires. And many of them are merged where the fire fighter is a emt-fire fighter as the minimum, with most being pushed to be a dual paramedic-fire fighter.

My coworker is one, he's older than you. They had him directing traffic for the first few years, finally got where he can drive the truck and run the pumps on the truck which allows him to fill in for the full timers when they take vacation or whatever.

He definitely enjoys it, probably too much.

I used to be a volunteer fire fighter. I started at 16. The department I was on allowed me to do everything. I learned a lot and I had a lot of fun doing it. We had all different ages on the department, I was the youngest for a couple years. We even had a member that was partially paralyzed. He had been a truck driver and was injured in an accident and became a real estate agent. He helped get people up to speed on driving the fire trucks and would even drive on some of the calls. We also had a few people in their 60's and 70's on the department. There is always something a person can do.