fire safety

[John McIntosh]

hi all this is me popping my posting cherry so please be gentle,
     
    After spending time i the RAF Fire service and now being caught in the CAA trap I feel the ned to spread my wings, for many years now i have been interested in all aspects of fire safety and prevention and would like to gain knowledge in this field with a view to one day starting a career in this area.  However there seems to be so many different avenues and courses on offer it is hard to know who to believe and which advice to take? any study has to be done in my own time, and funding come from my own pocket so as you can appreciate i dont want to make a costly and timely mistake.  Origionally I debated the IFE route but their website is as confuseing as a polish menu, and when you speak to them on the phone I got the impression i was speaking to a course sales man (sorry person) with little interest as to what i would do on completion.  The second route i was advised to take was the FPA european diploma which i was very impressed with however i dont have the three grand lying around or three years plus of study to invest.  
   Any advice on which route to take or ways to gain any experience would be much appreciated, cheers john.

[kurnal]

Sounds like you need to evaluate the skills you have and find a job that enables you to make the best use of your accumulated knowledge and experience in a job that is big enough to allow you some personal development. In addition to the RAF firefighting side do you have any general health and safety experience or qualification -  risk assessment, first aid, manual handling, coshh,etc?

You could go down the training line, find a job teaching health and safety - its the best way of learning, or for a local authority housing enforcement or as a civvy inspector in a fire brigade if you can tick the right boxes. Or get in on fire extinguishers, sprinkler industry, fire alarm industry for example.  
I would recommend the NEBOSH general certificate as a frst step cos its such a good general foundation.

[CivvyFSO]

Welcome to the forum

I would suggest you apply to be a civilian Fire Safety Officer with a local FRS. I would expect previous knowledge and desire to do the job would help you at the interview stage, plus people here would give you good pointers to help you at the interview stage. (Also if you are interviewed by any of the old boys they tend to like ex-military) That way, if you get the job, you get the training you want and get paid while you are doing it. Most FRS will support the civilian FSO's well if they want to go on courses/degrees etc. And regardless of what some people here might think, the civilian FSO's get extensive training, probably more than the old FP officers as they do not assume that we automatically know about fire protection/prevention due to days spent squirting water at it.

If that is not for you then the qualification I see most while dealing with people during inspections is NEBOSH. There is a specific Fire Safety NEBOSH now but that may be putting all your eggs in one basket. I personally am looking at doing a degree in Fire Engineering, or Fire Safety and the FRS I work for will hopefully be sponsoring me. (FE degree is more widely recognised, but FS degree would possibly be more applicable to my role.)

Also, if you are interested in it already then I would expect that you will find it very interesting once you are learning it because there is just so much to learn. I am sure I will never stop learning all the time I work in this field. It's the best career choice I ever made.