Pros
Once successful in the recruitment, testing, and interview process, a PFD FF is given every opportunity and resource to define and determine his or her own career path through the department. Whether an individual want's to be a paramedic, apparatus operator, technical rescue and hazmat specialist, or a company officer, the ability to achieve these and other goals within the organization is highly obtainable. If one has the long-ranged desire to transition one day into the management side of the department, both formal and informal direction and guidance is available from the entire command staff. Additionally, dozens of retired members from the PFD have gone on to second careers as fire chiefs, fire service vendors, and subject matter experts providing consulting and leadership development for departments throughout the country. If
Cons
Both the internal culture of the fire service has changed over the past generation, as has the public perception of firefighters. Regionally, this was evident in the last statewide voting cycle, in which many who ran and were elected did so on a platform of pension reform. Anyone hired into the the fire service now (either with PFD or another local dept) faces a career-long battle to recover the retirement benefits slashed by these representatives.