“I remember as a little kid, I’d see the fire engines, meet the firemen,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Firefighter/Inspector Lawrence Kim. “So it was always embedded in my head.”
No longer the would-be child he once was, Kim has proudly served the LAFD for over a decade.
“The training process is rigorous,” Kim said. “You’re just trying to be a little better than the other guy.” Kim said there are many avenues candidates can take to stay at the edge of competition, including taking classes at a junior college, taking fire science classes, attending fire academies and getting a paramedic license.
Getting a position is “competitive,” he said, saying that as a fire department, hiring only happens every five to eight years. A firefighter must stay in peak mental and physical condition, as much of their work deals with life and death situations. They need to pass the CPAT, their one-year physical certification, to make sure they are capable of handling the physically tasking nature of their profession.
“You see a lot of things that the normal person, doesn’t see or wants to see,” Kim said, remembering medical calls dealing with children. An EMT-certification is required of all firefighters. “85 percent of the emergency calls are medical, and only 15 percent are fire-related. That’s why we have to be EMT-certified, because we need to provide the care for the community.”
“[Becoming a firefighter was] not an overnight thing,” Kim said. At 23 years old, he decided he wanted to become a firefighter, but was only hired five years later. “Just getting to the step of being a firefighter is an emotional rollercoaster because the process to get hired is grueling.”
The LAFD is currently recruiting. For more information, check out joinlafd.org.
