Firefighter thoughts and stories.

[templesmom]

I hope it is OK to post this here.
Firefighter is the first of the new professions that I have tried. I like it alot and feel that my sim, Adam, moves up in rank pretty fast. Adam fought many small house fires and a angry gnome invasion all with an A rating. Then came the large house fire. It was at Jamie Jolina's residence. It said in my list of things to do was to put out all fires and save 2 sims. Well I saw Jamie so I knew that was one but I could not find the other sim. Turns out it was an infant on the ground in the back yard! By the time I found her and saved her I had a D rating. LOL
Thanks for reading!

[Crise]

I have to agree with you on that the large house fires are sometimes weird I guess... simply because often you can put the fires out before saving the sims... so they don't really need saving anymore, yet they keep screaming in panic even if the fire is long gone.

[jmz95]

Well can you pause the game and look around?

[Crise]

Yeah it is possible... I always used to do that when arriving on site. To see in which order to attend to thimgs, although I have since then given up on firefighter because of other reasons.

[templesmom]

Yea I could have paused. And I think I did but I guess I was just trying to figure out if there was a glitch that said there were two sims when there was only one. ) Crise could you tell me what the other reasons were?

[Crise]

This answers that, ie. in my case I have most skills maxed (my sim exercises a healthy diet consisting timely dose of ambrosia) so my promotions slowed to crawl at level five... I started cheating but that took all the fun out of it.

Right now I am in process of molding a new sim to take on the new professions from ambitions, from an unplanned offspring I got from the past.

[TommyT]

For those of you looking for more info on the Firefighter LTW be sure to check out the Firefighter Super Hero article!

[Honeymooners]

After playing fire fighter to level 10 I honestly think it is the best career to start a legacy challenge out with.  The founder can basically live at the firehouse until they have enough money to build a real house.   I haven't really tested this theory out but I am thinking about starting a new legacy and it seems like the easy way out! 

[Crise]

Living at the fire station is entirely possible... I used to live weeks at the station and weekends at home.

Which brings up an interesting point, it is funny how scheduled the emergencies start to feel like when you are at the fire station around the clock -> not a single alarm outside work hours.

[samoht04]

Also only one emergency a day? Seems a but un-realistic to me. If your sim is at work as a fire-fighter, and his house catches fire, will he go to put it out with his truck?

[Saltypaws]

On my firefighter sim, he is on lvl 7 and I think has been to 3 fires, all small ones and I didn't know he still gets a ride to work, I think this is the only one that does and probably the education one.

[Crise]

Also only one emergency a day? Seems a but un-realistic to me. If your sim is at work as a fire-fighter, and his house catches fire, will he go to put it out with his truck?

You can get more than one emergency a day, if you get lucky... but 1-2 seems to be the max you can fit in to one work day but in theory you could get more than that even I guess.

As for the own house on fire scenario I have to test that, but somehow I doubt it is going to work like that, as these emergencies you get on the job seem highly scripted (ie. I never had single oven fire, just fires on the floor and then from there sometimes other objects catch fire... but I never went above lvl5).

So it is unlikely that if you deliberately cause fire in your home it will trigger an emergency at the fire station, but I guess it could be possible for one of the scripted emergencies to happen at your home.

[ik]

I have played a firefighter these last few days and found a few things that were bugging me about that profession.

First off, I had my sim move into a house that had been struck by a meteor. A fireman stopped by to help (they always do with that scenario), but he is not listed as a co-worker even though when asked he answers that firefighter is his job. I found it pretty disappointing that npc firemen do not count as co-workers.

The second problem was one I created myself: I put down two firestations, a copy of the ea station that automatically is in the bin, and another one that is a copy of the station in the new town (I played my firefighter in Sunset Valley). Only the firestation where i applied for the job is shown as my workplace, but the building is empty 24/7, there is not a single firefighter in there (except for my own sim of course). There are three people at the other firestation who count as co-workers, and I can maintain and upgrade alarms and fire engines at both stations (results seem to be kept separately for both lots, too). The most annoying is that every time I have responded to an emergency the automatic return action brings my sim driving to the wrong station. The game does count her as being at work even if she is at the other station, but the fire engine and fire alarm at her real workplace fall into disrepair quickly and i have gotten several warnings because i forgot to go back to the other place to maintain the engine and alarm there.

[TommyT]

Also only one emergency a day? Seems a but un-realistic to me. If your sim is at work as a fire-fighter, and his house catches fire, will he go to put it out with his truck?

I had a fire on my home lot while I was out (left the waffles in the oven) and the usual NPC came to put it out.

[Saltypaws]

Funny, you have all of these coworkers and your sim is the only one putting out the fire. lol

[AriaGirl77]

Funny, you have all of these coworkers and your sim is the only one putting out the fire. lol

Yeah, that part really doesn't seem right to me.  It should be that the rest of the group goes with you and automatically gets to work fighting the fire.  I really don't understand why they didn't make it that way.

[jmz95]

Funny, you have all of these coworkers and your sim is the only one putting out the fire. lol

Yeah I noticed that the other day when I put out my first fire. Oh well, more credit for me and I'm liked by the town more than anyone else! 

[Jimbob0i0]

Funny, you have all of these coworkers and your sim is the only one putting out the fire. lol

Yeah, that part really doesn't seem right to me.  It should be that the rest of the group goes with you and automatically gets to work fighting the fire.  I really don't understand why they didn't make it that way.

Especially since the later levels of the profession say things like "now you have more responsibility and need to rely on your team more than ever for these difficult fires" ... and yet it is still my sim on his lonesome battling against the locked doors and laughing at people needing to be convinced to run from a major fire when they are standing next to an unlocked door....

Having done level 10 fireman, PI and ghost buster I think I prefer the last one most so far ^^

Next up will be architect... then stylist and finally the revamp of the medical job into a profession from it's old career....

[Saltypaws]

See, I started whining because I was not getting any fires, so I got an earthquake.  My fireman worked until almost midnight, helping three households, turning gas leaks off, freeing sims from debri and breaking down doors.  That was pretty cool and he still managed, on two of them, to get an A.   Needless to stay, he stayed busy.  Now for a meteor shower, lol.

[AriaGirl77]

Wouldn't ya know, right after I complain that I haven't had any earthquakes or meteor showers I log into my game and BAM an earthquake!     It was pretty fun actually, now for the meteors...

[ik]

Wouldn't ya know, right after I complain that I haven't had any earthquakes or meteor showers I log into my game and BAM an earthquake!    It was pretty fun actually, now for the meteors...

Oh, so you mean all I have to do is complain so i will finally get something different than just small and large house fires? My level 10 firefighter is a week away from being an elder (normal lifespan) and so far has only had one gnome invasion and one emergency at the criminal headquarter, all other workdays were house fires . I meant to switch her to another career once she has seen some of the rare types of emergency, but right now it looks like she will be at the end of her life before that happens *sigh*.

Another thing that is bugging me about the firefighter career: Being level 10, she has her own fire engine and fire alarm at home which she keeps in shape, but the game still complains that the fire engine and alarm at the station are in bad shape, so I effectively have to go up to the station at least every other day to fix them. Plus her roommate tends to go off with her firetruck whenever he wants to go to into town, so she suddenly is at home without transportation, which does not feel right during work hours. Did anybody else notice this?

[jmz95]

Something I noticed just yesterday while I was playing my legacy: If you have a wish for putting out X amount of fires and you get a fire on your home lot and your sims puts it out, it counts as one fire put out. If that's confusing, here's what happened to me.

The wife was cooking breakfast and the husband was upgrading the toilet. Suddenly, the oven caught fire and the husband came over to put it out (he's brave so that's just his thing). Before putting out the fire, the counter for the wish I mentioned was at 7; after the fire was out, it was at 8. So apparently non-job fires that you put out count as well. When the NPC fireman came (I had a fire alarm installed so it was automatic), he said something like, "good job for putting out the fire before we got here" yet he still threw his little tantrum. Thought that was funny and I'd never had that happen before.

[bshag]

My first adventure into firefighting was when my sim met his current love interest when he had a fire at his home.  Being a daredevil, he put the fire out himself and met the firefighter, Marie, who happens to be the only non incredibilty ugly sim in Twinbrook.   Anyway, they got together on a Friday and she moves in.  I thought, great...I can now play the fireman's career.  She had no skills, so I sent her around town getting athletic, handy and cooking classes as well as getting the books so she would have some reading material.  She was up to lvl 4 handy, lvl 3 athletic when she returned to work on Monday.  The first emergency was a small house fire.  (Why does the fire truck have the same speed as the Twizy??)  I love the dramatic, alarm, music while you're on the way to the fire.  Really gets the adrenlaine to rushing there.   After all this, she rushes into the house where there is a small fire in a kitchen.  She puts out the fire and instead of getting an A, the music continues, 2 adult sims inside and 2 adult sims outside in the yard continue to freak-out.   I look for about 3 sim hours, til she's down to a D grade and still there is no fire.  She watches a little tv while all this is going on.  Never did find any more fire, so I guess there was a glitch.  Not real impressed with the firefighter career so far.   I got so disgusted I quit without saving.

She would probably make a real good PI.

[AriaGirl77]

My first adventure into firefighting was when my sim met his current love interest when he had a fire at his home.  Being a daredevil, he put the fire out himself and met the firefighter, Marie, who happens to be the only non incredibilty ugly sim in Twinbrook.   Anyway, they got together on a Friday and she moves in.  I thought, great...I can now play the fireman's career.  She had no skills, so I sent her around town getting athletic, handy and cooking classes as well as getting the books so she would have some reading material.  She was up to lvl 4 handy, lvl 3 athletic when she returned to work on Monday.  The first emergency was a small house fire.  (Why does the fire truck have the same speed as the Twizy??)  I love the dramatic, alarm, music while you're on the way to the fire.  Really gets the adrenlaine to rushing there.   After all this, she rushes into the house where there is a small fire in a kitchen.  She puts out the fire and instead of getting an A, the music continues, 2 adult sims inside and 2 adult sims outside in the yard continue to freak-out.   I look for about 3 sim hours, til she's down to a D grade and still there is no fire.  She watches a little tv while all this is going on.  Never did find any more fire, so I guess there was a glitch.  Not real impressed with the firefighter career so far.   I got so disgusted I quit without saving.

She would probably make a real good PI.

It sounds like those people inside you were supposed to "convince to run" or whatever that action is.

[AriaGirl77]

Another thing that is bugging me about the firefighter career: Being level 10, she has her own fire engine and fire alarm at home which she keeps in shape, but the game still complains that the fire engine and alarm at the station are in bad shape, so I effectively have to go up to the station at least every other day to fix them. Plus her roommate tends to go off with her firetruck whenever he wants to go to into town, so she suddenly is at home without transportation, which does not feel right during work hours. Did anybody else notice this?

You could buy another vehicle for the other family member, and then have him make the other vehicle his preferred vehicle.

The alarm at your house is connected to the one at the fire station, so you only need to maintain one and it takes care of both.  The fire truck at the station will need constant repair I'm afraid.  Although recently I discovered that once the station truck reaches 0% you stop getting those silly messages.

[Saltypaws]

My first adventure into firefighting was when my sim met his current love interest when he had a fire at his home.  Being a daredevil, he put the fire out himself and met the firefighter, Marie, who happens to be the only non incredibilty ugly sim in Twinbrook.   Anyway, they got together on a Friday and she moves in.  I thought, great...I can now play the fireman's career.  She had no skills, so I sent her around town getting athletic, handy and cooking classes as well as getting the books so she would have some reading material.  She was up to lvl 4 handy, lvl 3 athletic when she returned to work on Monday.  The first emergency was a small house fire.  (Why does the fire truck have the same speed as the Twizy??)  I love the dramatic, alarm, music while you're on the way to the fire.  Really gets the adrenlaine to rushing there.   After all this, she rushes into the house where there is a small fire in a kitchen.  She puts out the fire and instead of getting an A, the music continues, 2 adult sims inside and 2 adult sims outside in the yard continue to freak-out.   I look for about 3 sim hours, til she's down to a D grade and still there is no fire.  She watches a little tv while all this is going on.  Never did find any more fire, so I guess there was a glitch.  Not real impressed with the firefighter career so far.   I got so disgusted I quit without saving.

She would probably make a real good PI.

It sounds like those people inside you were supposed to "convince to run" or whatever that action is.

I was talking to Bshag, her fire was a small house fire and the interaction to "convince to run" is if you have the fires that you have to save people or break their door down. She did not get the that interaction at all. I guess we can add this one to the list of more bugs.

[ik]

Another thing that is bugging me about the firefighter career: Being level 10, she has her own fire engine and fire alarm at home which she keeps in shape, but the game still complains that the fire engine and alarm at the station are in bad shape, so I effectively have to go up to the station at least every other day to fix them. Plus her roommate tends to go off with her firetruck whenever he wants to go to into town, so she suddenly is at home without transportation, which does not feel right during work hours. Did anybody else notice this?

You could buy another vehicle for the other family member, and then have him make the other vehicle his preferred vehicle.

Why did I not think of that? Thank you so much for the suggestion, he will get his own vehicle asap.

[bshag]

Okay, another addition to my story.  

I made another of my sims a firefighter in Sunset Valley and she put out her first small house fire successfully in under an hour.  Whoppee!  It works!  

My other sim will become a Private Investigator...I can't handle any more unsuccessful fires.

[jmz95]

The other day when I was playing, I got my first large house fire. However, it took me over 6 hours to complete! Does anyone know a fast way to finish large house fires? What I did was put out the window fires to get inside, and there were 3 people to convince to run. I guess the thing that slowed me down was the fact that it took me three tries to break down one door, and overall I had 3 failed door breaking attempts. I got a C on the emergency, but does anyone know the maximum time to get an A on a large house fire?

On another note, for some reason my job panel thing that tells me what I have to do at an emergency has disappeared. I used to get the box coming from my firefighter's picture with little check boxes that told me how many people to save and such; now it won't appear. Is it because I already have an uncompleted opportunity?

[AriaGirl77]

I know that if you hover over the grade it will tell you the times you need to reach certain grades.  I think it's under 3 hours to get an A on a large house fire.

Some things you can do to speed up your time.  Upgrade your fire engine to speed up how long it takes you to get to the emergency.  And upgrade your fire extinguisher, you can do this by clicking on your Sim.  The option will come up when you have a high enough mechanical skill.

I think if you work on your athletic skill it will become easier to break down the doors.

[jmz95]

I know that if you hover over the grade it will tell you the times you need to reach certain grades.  I think it's under 3 hours to get an A on a large house fire.

Some things you can do to speed up your time.  Upgrade your fire engine to speed up how long it takes you to get to the emergency.  And upgrade your fire extinguisher, you can do this by clicking on your Sim.  The option will come up when you have a high enough mechanical skill.

I think if you work on your athletic skill it will become easier to break down the doors.

Right, but the house that had the fire was literally next door to the fire station (this is in SV), but athletic skill probably would have helped. The extinguisher would have helped also, but I already knew about that stuff. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks to help out with time. Also, where would I hover the pointer over? Is it in the job box thing that shows up when handling an emergency? I know that shows what your current grade is, but like I said before, that won't show up for me.

[TommyT]

Start with fires first, because they will spread and create more work.  The Sims will always be there so I keep them for last.  If there are any ground fires outside the house I'll take care of them ASAP then move on to window fires.  Once those are out I can break in and work on the interior fires.  Save the adult Sims first because they run out under their own power, save children and infants last since you have to physically carry them out.  It all seems kinda backwards from how it's done in real life lol.

[Metropolis Man]

....save children and infants last since you have to physically carry them out.  It all seems kinda backwards from how it's done in real life lol.

Yeah, really. "Ma'am, please..stop screaming at me. Let me put out this window fire and then I'll go in and get your child."

[jmz95]

So, what if a Sim dies because I didn't get to them fast enough? Then what am I supposed to do, live with the guilt?   But seriously, if someone dies, don't you automatically get a lower letter grade, or an F?

[Saltypaws]

I finally had to get my firefighters wife a car.  She had taken the firetruck on a shopping excursion and the alarm went off.  The fire was not very far from where he lived, so he ran to the fire, now I am thinking in a non-sim way, if he does not have his fire truck, how is he going to put out the bigger fires in the window.  I clicked on the wife to get the truck to the fire and was shocked to see her run over and use the hose to help put out with the fire.    I guess maybe this was her way of making up for the fact she had the truck.  Needless to say, when they got home, I bought her a car. lol.

[Branr]

The only thing that's really annoying me is having to upgrade the personal extinguisher after almost every use.

[TommyT]

So, what if a Sim dies because I didn't get to them fast enough? Then what am I supposed to do, live with the guilt?   But seriously, if someone dies, don't you automatically get a lower letter grade, or an F?

I've actually never seen that.  Now that I'm thinking about it I don't think I've seen a fire in a room with a trapped Sim, maybe just for this reason.

[revstevew]

My solution was to have my sims sign up as a firefighting husband and wife.  With both of them working for the fire you get the option to "Attend the emergency with" and then select your partner.  This way the one would go on to auto pilot putting out fires while the other could be sent to what you want them to do.

It worked for both of them up to lvl 10, although only got the one fire engine for at home.

[AriaGirl77]

My solution was to have my sims sign up as a firefighting husband and wife.  With both of them working for the fire you get the option to "Attend the emergency with" and then select your partner.  This way the one would go on to auto pilot putting out fires whilste the other could be sent to what you want them to do.

It worked for both of them up to lvl 10, although only got the one fire engine for at home.

Wow!  That's really a great idea to have a duo in the same career.  Especially makes since for firefighting.

By the way, welcome to the forum!

[revstevew]

I thought so.   My next plan is when the children are old enough seeing if an entire family can fire fight, then try it with the other "emergency profession" ghostbusting.  Just wish there was a career vehicle for that.

[Icemink]

So, what if a Sim dies because I didn't get to them fast enough? Then what am I supposed to do, live with the guilt?   But seriously, if someone dies, don't you automatically get a lower letter grade, or an F?

Funny thing, my first big house fire I hadn't figured out about the window fires (I had walls down so I didn't see them) so I was having a hard time getting in. There was an elderly Sim in the living room, and she actually died of old age while I was trying to find the window fires.  My own mistakes took me so long I got an F but the counter for number of Sims to save simply changed from 4to 3 so if I'd known what I was doing I think I still could have pulled off an A. 

[Saltypaws]

I found out the hard way too, that you have to put the walls up to see the window fires.  They should really tell a person that, lol.

[MomOfMany]

The other day when I was playing, I got my first large house fire. However, it took me over 6 hours to complete! Does anyone know a fast way to finish large house fires? What I did was put out the window fires to get inside, and there were 3 people to convince to run. I guess the thing that slowed me down was the fact that it took me three tries to break down one door, and overall I had 3 failed door breaking attempts. I got a C on the emergency, but does anyone know the maximum time to get an A on a large house fire?

On another note, for some reason my job panel thing that tells me what I have to do at an emergency has disappeared. I used to get the box coming from my firefighter's picture with little check boxes that told me how many people to save and such; now it won't appear. Is it because I already have an uncompleted opportunity?

I don't know why it does not appear but this has happened to me before and if you go to the career panel there is a little button so to speak I believe it is under the go to work option that you can click and it will bring that little panel back up for you! Hope that helps!

[Branr]

Found a bug with the personal extinguisher today after testing.  I started with a saved game that had my FF needing to upgrade (again).  Saved after upgrading, saved as... and logged to main menu.  Logged back into the new saved game, and sure enough, the extinguisher needed to be upgraded again.  Loaded the first save, upgraded again, and played out for several hours, checking after each fire and such, and never needed an upgrade.  Checked one last time (fine), saved, logged out and back in again, and sure enough, I needed an upgrade.

Basically, when your game saves, it is NOT saving the upgrade.

For reference, the upgrade I refer to is the one that gives the orange discharge from the nozzle.

[Saltypaws]

Not sure if anyone has had their firefighter retire or not, but after the FF calls on phone to retire, the members of the family clap and have signs and are hooping and hollering, pretty neat and the best thing, is they make almost 10,000 simoleons a week and compared to before ambitions, that is great.

[Pam]

Not sure if anyone has had their firefighter retire or not, but after the FF calls on phone to retire, the members of the family clap and have signs and are hooping and hollering, pretty neat and the best thing, is they make almost 10,000 simoleons a week and compared to before ambitions, that is great.

That's very interesting.  I wonder if that's what happens with all retirements now.

[AriaGirl77]

It does.  My Stylist just recently retired and her family plus neighbors came to cheer and congratulate her.  I think that's so sweet!

[Saltypaws]

In reference to my topic retirement, on the amount, it is not 10,000 a week, it is 10,000 a day.  That is crazy, not sure if it is for real or a bug, but I don't care, I am not complaining.  Talk about compensation, lol.

[TommyT]

As in 70K a week??

[Saltypaws]

Yep, that just boggles my mind.

[RunAmokSims]

Talking about the Fire fighters.....has anyone had a trapped Sim that refused to leave the burning building?  I've had a couple that my fire fighter went up to and told them to run but they just stayed...just a jumping up and down. The fires were out but they were still agitated and stayed where they were.

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, RunAmokSims!

Did the trapped Sims die?

[RunAmokSims]

Thanks for the welcome Pam. I'm pretty new (Jan of this year) to Simming and I have to say I'm addicted.

No they didn't die. Even after all fires were put out the "victim" Sim just stood there jumping up and down as if they were still trapped. I chalked it up to the fact that I'm using Windows 7 on a laptop (can't use cheats and have to work with windows mode) but the friend who introduced me to SIms had the same problem....and she is a long time Simmer. 

[Pam]

I haven't played the firefighter yet, so it's interesting to know that they don't die if you're not able to save them.  I'm fairly new to Sims myself.  Sims 3 is the first one I've played in the Sims series.  I started shortly after it came out last year and I understand about feeling addicted! 

[TommyT]

RunAmokSims did you click on the victim and choose the 'convince sim to run' option?

[freduardo]

Sometimes when you're in a large fire, you can sneak inside a building even though technically you would otherwise have to break down a front/back door.  During this emergency, if you want to save a sim you need to break down a series of doors leading between them and the outside world before you can convince them to run and they count in the number of sims whose lives you have saved.

A couple questions, if you'd all be so kind:
1) Has anybody found a way to fail a fire?  I'm at level 10 in the career right now and, if I go home, my alarm keeps ringing and sending my sim to the fire even if it's literally unwinnable (note: for some fires, you may actually want to have the demolition skill handy).

2) Has anybody found a way to 'force' a particular disaster, aside from outright modding the game?  I have gotten the criminal disaster several times, the gnome one and quite a few earthquakes, but still have never seen the x-ray disaster or whatever one may or may not exist at the science facility.

Ahh, the dangers of completionism...maybe I should have just stuck with architectural design.

[RunAmokSims]

Pam,yes they can die. I had one fire where my fire man was able to get in and he carried a child to safety but the adult in the house was standing right at the fire and she was consumed. No drama...just there one minute and gone they next.

TommyT, I sure did. Several times. I'm able to convince most Sims to leave but I've run into three or four that just won't leave...no matter what I do. The fire can be completely gone and they just stay in the room they are in acting as agitated as they were in the fire.

freduardo,that's similar to what happened to my friend. She could not convince a Sim to leave so the fire was not officially over. When he went home the alarm kept going off and her Sims didn't get any sleep that night. She ended up exiting the game without saving to lose that day.





 

[Saltypaws]

That happened to my sister too, where the fire was gone, but people were still going crazy, she had to leave without saving and it was just a small housefire, no one inside, the people outside were still doing their crazy dance.

[AriaGirl77]

My retired firefighter makes 12,000 a day.  Hmmm... so THAT's where all the sim tax money goes! lol

[Saltypaws]

Wow, and I thought 10,000 was alot, wonder why so high, not complaining.  That is a ton more than if they were just working.  What a way to retire, lol.

[AriaGirl77]

I have no idea.  I didn't have him retire right after turning elder because he hadn't completed his LTW of saving 30 people yet, so maybe that extra week or so raised his retirement income?  Who knows.  All I know is that he's living in the lap of luxury now!

Honestly though, this has got to be some sort of mistake on EA's part.  I'm sure they're meant to get that income once a week instead of every day.

[Deborah]

MY Firefighter insisted on standing right in the middle of the fire he was trying to put out!

[Deborah]

I decided to play Sunset Valley last night. The fire vehicles including the engine have disappeared from the station. So I can not work on the engine in between callouts. Any suggestions?

[Slingsby]

I'm suffering from the slow pace of the career path - my Sim is 10 on nearly all skills, is brave and athletic, and yet with one call-out a day it's taking him forever to climb the career path.  I had to turn "ageing off", otherwise he'll die of old age before he gets level 10.

[Slingsby]

A few Firefighter questions for you, folks.  I'm getting really puzzled [and frustrated] with this Profession.

"Upgrade Fire Extinguisher".  I understand you can click on your Sim to do the upgrade ... but our Firefighter doesn't have that option.  He's level 10 skills on just about everything, so does this upgrade option only appear when he reaches a certain career level?  He's only made Level 4 at the moment.

"Career progression" is VERY slow - his professional experience bar hardly moves after each callout, so he's not getting promotions, despite Grade A performances, for simply AGES.  But I tried the career with a different Sim from a different household [with much lower basic skills] and things really buzzed along - that Sim got promoted after his second day!

"Slow Reactions".  The alarm goes off, and our Sim just stands there doing nothing, while everyone else runs around.  On the last call-out it took him 32 minutes to get into the Fire Truck and get it moving!  The same when he gets to a fire - he just stands and looks at things for 5 minutes before tackling the next piece of fire [which of course is spreading all the time].

[Saltypaws]

Mine stands around as well.  I have to click on the star to get him to the fire.  He had managed to get an A on all calls though, which is suprising.  I have only worked with the one fireman, but he zipped right along, in fact I was quite shocked at how fast the bar went up, he was always upgrading something though.  Firetruck was level 4 horsepower first thing.  Not sure what skill level he was when he got the extinguisher, I think 5 or 6, but once upgraded, it sure puts out the fire.  I really enjoyed playing that profession.

[jmz95]

A few Firefighter questions for you, folks.  I'm getting really puzzled [and frustrated] with this Profession.

"Upgrade Fire Extinguisher".  I understand you can click on your Sim to do the upgrade ... but our Firefighter doesn't have that option.  He's level 10 skills on just about everything, so does this upgrade option only appear when he reaches a certain career level?  He's only made Level 4 at the moment.

"Career progression" is VERY slow - his professional experience bar hardly moves after each callout, so he's not getting promotions, despite Grade A performances, for simply AGES.  But I tried the career with a different Sim from a different household [with much lower basic skills] and things really buzzed along - that Sim got promoted after his second day!

"Slow Reactions".  The alarm goes off, and our Sim just stands there doing nothing, while everyone else runs around.  On the last call-out it took him 32 minutes to get into the Fire Truck and get it moving!  The same when he gets to a fire - he just stands and looks at things for 5 minutes before tackling the next piece of fire [which of course is spreading all the time].

In answer, you have to be level 5, or maybe 6, in the career to get the option to upgraded the extinguisher. As for career progression, it is highly advised that when you join the career, your athletic and handiness skills are very low. You can also try to make friends with your fellow firefighters at the station. To improve your progression, level up your skills, complete emergencies, and be friends with your co-workers. As for the slow reaction, that may have to do with where you are in the station. That's happened to me before as well.

[Slingsby]

Thanks, folks ... that's cleared up a few questions!

1.  When he joined he was already Handiness/10 and Fitness/10 ... for which he gets penalised?!  
Strange way of working - that may also explain his wife's slow progress bar as a PI. 
So what you are saying is that because the "Profession" says 'Improve Logic' or whatever, and you can't improve on 10, you get held back with slow promotion? 
Someone programming that at EA was really having a bad day!

2.  Anyway, if I live long enough, he may reach Level 5 by his next weekend!!    
I'll look for the extinguisher upgrade then.  
When he joined, on his first day, he upgraded the Fire truck all the way.

3.  Oh, and he's friends with the other Firefighters.  
He's Charisma/10, as his last job was Leader of the Free World [he got bored with that!] so making friends is easy.

[jmz95]

Yeah, the max skills you had that were needed for promotions really held you back, but that may be fixed in a patch. Since you also made friends really quickly, the only thing you can do to progress is handle emergencies. Just wait until you start getting earthquakes, and you might have to handle 3 large house fires in one day. That should help with the promotions. Good luck with the rest of your firefighting career!

[Slingsby]

Yeah, the max skills you had that were needed for promotions really held you back, but that may be fixed in a patch. Since you also made friends really quickly, the only thing you can do to progress is handle emergencies. Just wait until you start getting earthquakes, and you might have to handle 3 large house fires in one day. That should help with the promotions. Good luck with the rest of your firefighting career!

Very grateful for all that ... now I shall start worrying about the non-functioning Consignment Store across the street!!  My Firefighter has become a Level 10 Inventor already [he has nothing else to do while on duty!!] and needs somewhere to sell his Widgets!

[Slingsby]

Just to validate that post from jmz95 ...

We used a different family, and sure enough having FEW qualifications is the success route!!  He made 2 promotions on his weekend off by doing related skills an going to the firehouse and talking to the team.  He's now level 5 and he's only been to 2 fires 

EA ... that's some really STUPID programming.

"Hello, I'm an experienced airline pilot with 20,000 hours and the COMPLETE career skill-set, can I have a job?"
"Yup, sure.  You'll be dead of old age before you ever get promoted, though." 

[jmz95]

Just to validate that post from jmz95 ...

We used a different family, and sure enough having FEW qualifications is the success route!!  He made 2 promotions on his weekend off by doing related skills an going to the firehouse and talking to the team.  He's now level 5 and he's only been to 2 fires 

EA ... that's some really STUPID programming.

"Hello, I'm an experienced airline pilot with 20,000 hours and the COMPLETE career skill-set, can I have a job?"
"Yup, sure.  You'll be dead of old age before you ever get promoted, though." 

Lol, I love how you bold my name.

To build on Slingsby's findings, I once had a ghosthunter sim get the job on the first Sunday of playtime, and before she even went to her first "mission", she was level 3 in the career, all from leveling up her logic skill.

[samoht04]

Sorry to revive the thread but I got a picture of my fire-fighter 'rescuing' a woman. Who would you be more afraid of, a fire or some person dressed in yellow and a helmet carrying an Axe?

[sydney511]

My sim can "take" stuff while putting out fires. He is not a klepto. Has anybody else noticed this?

[Pam]

We already have a topic about firefighting, so I'm merging this one with it.

[Rowan73]

I came across this inconvenient situation while playing a female Sim as a firefighter:  this Sim became pregnant and was put on maternity leave at the Fire Station, however, when the station had their next emergency she was docked experience points because she failed to respond.  Has anyone else come across this with the Firefighter or other profession?  Am I supposed to waddle my tired, achey, pregnant  Sim to these emergencies?  What happens after the infant is born and she is still on maternity leave?  I can't just leave the baby to go assist in an emergency.  Perhaps the Sims Store will sell some type of Snugglie so my Sim can see to her infant and respond to a call.

[Monolito]

I've started the firefigther career track a long while ago and it progresses VERY VERY slowly! It's starting to annoy me and I don't mean the small cash (my sim is a fat cat with 8 money trees and 1 mln in his pocket - he made it all by himself). How can I speed up the career progress?
I think I've got all skills needed for this career maxed (athletic, martial arts, logic etc.). My sim is brave. Any suggestions? Cheating is not an option of course! (this game is too easy to cheat XD).

Edit My boss at the station seems to be always mad at me :/ What's his problem? I get the "angry" action in the top left corner and my sim goes to his boss.

[Sophie4563]

Monolito, the only skills that affect firefighting that I know of are Athletic and Handiness. I had no problem getting my sim to the top of the career. Besides, emergencies, which you can't control that well the other thing that affects the career is relationships with your coworkers. Also, I was unaware firefighters had bosses. Mine had only coworkers.

[Monolito]

My sim had a wish to deal with 10 emergencies. I did that. I'm level 4 now but it takes so long to get a promotion! 4 days to go past lv 3 :/
I may have been mistaken - this dude was a co worker.

[TommyT]

Sounds like you had skill points before you were a firefighter.  As a brand new recruit you can get to level 7 by maxing athletic alone, but if you already have high athletic your career gain will be bottlenecked.

[Monolito]

That's it! I've got maxed athletic :/ My career is moving very slowly! It wouldn't hut so much if the working hours weren't so long :/ From 9 to 17 and only 400 bucks a day? Gimme a break! This game literally discriminates sims who already have high skills :/

[TommyT]

With the new professions, yes.  At the point you should consider just starting a new Sim or else you're gonna be in for a loooooong ride to the top :\

[Monolito]

I think I'll just leave the firefigther thing. Ghostbusting seems a lot more fun to me
Can anyone tell me if careers from Ambitions look similar to Firefighter, I mean, do I have to complete opportunities in order to advance fast in them? F.e. it's a lot faster to advance if I complete logic opportunities in ghostbusting.

[Sophie4563]

For ghost busting you need to raise your logic and complete jobs. Jobs can be rabbit holes, (Paranormal Investigation), or you go into another sims house and collect spirits. I'm not sure if logic opportunities affect the job. You usually get 2 jobs a night and both pop up at 5 p.m. (1700). Check out the article on the guide http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/careers/ambitions/ghosthunting.php

[Monolito]

I've played as a firefighter a few more days and I have to say - I like it! I'm lv 4 now. My career progress is very slow (10 days to lv 5 I think) and it should be that way! Jobs in sims are way too easy to master! 10? 15 days? That's how long it takes to get to lv 10 in an average job.
It will take me at least 2-3 months of sims time to complete the firefighter track but that's the way it should be! Challenging! I'm staying

[yigsstarhouse]

Hello friends,
 I dont know if I am having a glitch or just a senior moment but, my sim made it to 10 as the firefighter and got the truck, but for the life of me I can find the alarm in my inventory! Am I overlooking something simple? lol more then likely, but I have to ask! I want my sim to work at home, but afraid to keep them there without a alarm... Any tips?

One thing I did do was build a little room and shower for my sim on the first floor and made them both quality. Made it easier and quicker for them to get to a fire, and it also helped keep the rested and squeaky clean!

Anyhow, thanks for the help in advance on my little alarm at home problem!

[Saltypaws]

Did you by some chance look in your family inventory.  I think that is where mine was, but I am not sure, worth a shot anyway.

[AriaGirl77]

Don't forget that the mechanical skill will also help a Fire Fighter. 

[slthomas303]

Okay so... I do have a mod in my game... but I'm at level 9... and in my relationships panel is the FIRETRUCK. The for real firetruck, as an acquaintance! I can click on the picture and it asks me to maintain it! Is this normal, or is it because of my mod glitching? Or am I the first to notice?