Fire and Emergency Services FAQ

Before you apply, you should ask yourself some hard questions:

• Does my lifestyle support ethical and responsible choices and actions?
• Am I prepared to maintain a level of professionalism on and off duty?
• Does my lifestyle align itself with the fire service values of respect, pride, professionalism, and teamwork?
• Am I actively supporting my community for the benefit of others?
• Have I adopted and do I maintain physical fitness as a way of life?
• Am I physically able to perform the firefighter job tasks?
• Can I work for extended periods of time under difficult and strenuous conditions?
• Am I comfortable using different hand/power tools and technical equipment?
• Do I have a support system in place for debriefing and stress relief?
• Have I considered the impact shift work will have on my family environment?
• Am I familiar with and able to operate within a paramilitary working environment?
• Do I understand and will I abide by the hair and jewelry wearing standards?
• Am I able to work harmoniously in close quarters with other people?
• Do I treat all people with respect, dignity, and professionalism regardless of race?
• How fit do I need to be?

We no longer require a fitness assessment before your application is accepted. However, these are physically intensive and demanding careers. So, you do need to be fit.

There’s no magic number of how many push-ups you need to do in a minute. However, you do have to have medical clearance.

In the EST program, you have a three credit physical fitness course. You won't just do activities, you'll also learn strategies to achieve and maintain the fitness you need for your job.

In both programs you’ll do basic firefighting training. After that you go into a specialized stream — emergency medicine or firefighting.

In the medical stream, you earn paramedic qualifications.

In the fire stream, you do advanced firefighting training as well as investigation, inspection and instructor training.

You’re able to take most of the academic portion of the 12-week firefighter training program online. Then you are on-site at ETC for the technical training.

We developed this option for people who couldn’t spend 12 weeks away from their home and current jobs.

Instead, you’ll be here for about five weeks, and have about four months to complete the online courses before you come to Lakeland.

More than most people anticipate.

You have lots of material to get through before you go into the field. As well, you have exams. There is a lot of reading and studying besides the physical demands of the training field.

Yes, for both the EST and Firefighter Training programs.

Your uniforms will be similar to what emergency services personnel wear. Details will be provided when you’re accepted in the program.

To start, there’s a medical clearance.

You also need to have a class 5 drivers’ license and an airbrakes endorsement. You’ll be driving a variety of emergency response vehicles.

There are also academic requirements of grade 12 English, at least grade 11 math and at least one grade 11 science.

It is for the medical stream of the EST program. You may take it in any province. All we need is proof and it needs to be valid through to the end of the program.

While EMR isn't required for the fire stream, we do recommend it.