Initiate a Mayday

Men and women, both young and old, are attracted to the emergency services for many reasons: the rewards of performing a service to the community, to start a meaningful career, or the challenge of a physically demanding job.

Regardless of the motivations, one has to start somewhere. The New Hampshire Fire Academy & EMS and its instructors are the Granite State’s top-tier resources for education and training.

There are a few things one should know before pursuing emergency services as a career or a civic service. New Hampshire emergency services are broken into three major categories: volunteer, part-time/on-call, and full-time/career.

• Volunteer departments operate without compensation and view their role as a civic service in their community.
• Part-time/On-Call departments do not necessarily have regularly-staffed shifts, but compensate on a per-call basis; or they may include a monthly stipend. Most departments have training requirements as part of their standard operating guidelines. Also, many of these departments require their personnel to be a resident, and/or live within a certain radius of the town they serve. To find out if volunteer or part-time/on-call opportunities are available in your community, contact your local department.
• Only about 20% of NH departments are covered by full-time/career members, which makes seeking a career in the emergency services in NH a competitive process.