Firefighter
Firefighter
Male firefighting Sim with an axe
The Firefighter occupation is a profession in The Sims 3: Ambitions. Firefighters work at the Fire Station lot.
Athleticism andhandiness are useful in this profession.[1] In-depth tasks include upgrading and maintaining both the station's alarm system and fire truck as well as socializing with fellow co-workers. The Fire Station is a robust lot that can fulfill all your Sim's needs and provide skill training when on standby, but when the fire alarm goes off, it means dropping everything and racing to the site of the emergency which might be a small house fire, large house fire, gnome invasion, earthquake, or rabbit hole based emergencies such as an experiment gone catastrophically wrong at the science lab.[1] Firefighters are given a letter grade (A through F) based on how quickly they are able to deal with an emergency. Handy Sims can upgrade the fire alarm to respond sooner to emergencies, upgrade the fire truck in 3 increments to increase its speed, and upgrade their personal fire extinguisher to put out fires faster.
Instead of being paid per hour, Firefighters are paid a weekly stipend with a cash bonus after every emergency they handle. Additionally, the 'job performance' bar has been exchanged for a 'job experience' panel, that must be filled before a Sim can receive a promotion. The job experience panel is filled by Sims handling emergencies, increasing Athleticism and Handiness, and befriending coworkers. Experience is drained when sims miss work, are unfriendly to co-workers or fail to handle an emergency.
The two most common emergencies are small and large house fires. For small house fires, a firefighter need only to locate and extinguish a fire on a designated lot. However, during a large house fire, several new elements are introduced including window fires, breaking down doors and evacuating victims. Window fires must be put out before the firefighter attempts to break down any doors obscuring the way down with an axe which is hastened by having ranks in Athletics. Victims trapped inside will remain in one place panicking until they are rescued or die. Once a firefighter has reached a victim, they must use the "Convince to Run" interaction to get them to leave the building. Babies, toddlers, and children must be carried out by the firefighter as they are too scared to run on their own. Less than moral firefighters can also choose to steal objects in the confusion when no one is watching.
The appearance of the firefighter uniform in the trailer and screenshots appears drastically different than the one on the game cover and those seen in the base game. The clothes seen in earlier trailers are new outfits, while firefighter Sims will wear a uniform while on duty, and the base game's firefighter suit when responding to an emergency.
Note: There is currently a glitch with the firefighting career where your Sim puts out all the fires, captures all the gnomes, leaves the venue after one hour, etc, but the mission clock still runs. Sims around the house will still be doing the Simlish fire dance and the mission will never end until you leave the lot, resulting in mission failure and loss of job experience. It can't be helped for now, but the issue may be fixed in a future update. This glitch can also occur in the ghost hunting career track, where you catch all the spirits but the mission doesn't end. Loss of job experience can be prevented using the Professional Slacker Lifetime Reward.
Types of Jobs
Small House Fire
Flames appear in a random household, the firefighter must put them all out.
The sim must accomplish this task in under 3 hours for an A ranking.
Large House Fire
1-4 Sims are trapped inside a burning building. Your sim is tasked with saving their lives and putting out the fire. Firefighter tasks include:
- Putting out fires on building windows (must be done before the firefighter may enter the building).
- Extinguishing flames within and outside of the structure.
- Breaking open doors.
- Convincing trapped adults to escape the building.
- Carrying children out of the building.
The firefighter has 4 hours to achieve an A ranking in this type of task.
Angry Gnome Attack
A household will be 'attacked' by Mysterious Mr. Gnomes. The firefighter simply needs to capture 2-5 gnomes.
The gnomes teleport if left for too long without being captured. Also feel free to kick the angry gnomes.
Building Disaster
Can happen in any rabbithole in the city. Firefighter simply goes into the rabbithole and comes out when the job is done. Disasters include:
- Mutant Plant Attack
- Air Conditioning Malfunction
- Rogue Simbot
- Evil Plan Backfire
- Space-Time Rift
- X-Ray Disaster
- Gas Leak
The sim has 3 hours to finish this event for an A ranking.
Epic Building Disaster
This disaster only happen at these specific rabbitholes on the city when your sim has reach specific level on firefighter career. If your sim is promoted before completing this disaster, they can never complete it again unless they got demoted. Your sim will get a reward after completing this disaster.
- Space Time Rift
- Rabbitholes: Science facility
- Level required: 7
- X-Ray Malfunction
- Rabbitholes: Hospital
- Level required: 9
- Evil Plot Backfire
- Rabbitholes: Abandoned warehouse
- Level required: 10
Earthquake
This is the most difficult task of them all.
This event can happen at any time. The player's screen shakes and a message appears prompting the firefighter to check out the fire station to see if they need help. One house at a time, the firefighter must:
- Put out several fires
- Clear rubble to save trapped sims
- Repair a gas leak at the kitchen stove
Usually the firefighter must rescue 3 households before the earthquake event is finished. The event timer restarts after the firefighter completes the previous house.
Promotion Levels
| Level | Name | Description | Work Time | Compensation | Performance Factors | Perks (cumulative) | |||||||
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| 1 | Waterboy/Watergirl | Noble intentions and a heroic stride will only get you so far. Grit, courage, and know-how around the fire station and amidst a five-alarm blaze are the only thing that will earn you a promotion. Watch the alarm and be ready to respond to emergencies. |
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New Uniform / Unlock Firefighter Outfit | |||||||
| 2 | Soot Stripper | You've survived your first few emergencies and the town is still standing! Your service is not going unnoticed, but that doesn't mean you're a true firefighter yet - only time spent in the middle of the fire will earn that title! |
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None | |||||||
| 3 | Fire Safety Instructor | Your fellow fire fighters have begun to respect your savvy and swagger amidst an inferno, which means you have a voice in the station. Teach when possible and stand out as a veteran. |
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New Uniform | |||||||
| 4 | Hose Handler | Bigger fires require a bigger hose. the blazes are getting hotter and the alarms are screaming louder. Keep pushing yourself to protect the citizenry and your valor will not go unnoticed. |
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None | |||||||
| 5 | Fireman/Firewoman | The infernos have grown to the point where holding your breath will no longer cut it. The city has increased its budget to supply you with the latest in breathing tank technology. Equip them, trust them, and rely on them as they are your lifeline in a fire. |
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New Uniform / Unlock Firefighter Hat | |||||||
| 6 | Fire Sergeant | With veterancy and prestige comes rank and seniority. As a fire sergeant your duties have increased and your fellow fire fighters look to you more and more for direction and leadership when the heat is turned up. |
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None | |||||||
| 7 | Fire Captain | It's been a long time coming but as the Captain of the station you are now the expert on frontline fire fighting tactics. Point your team in the right direction and get every cictim out alive. When it's this hot there's no room for error. |
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New Uniform | |||||||
| 8 | Backdraft Specialist | Fire fighters and departments around the world now look to you as the expert on freak fire fighting occurrences, such as building collapses, gas leaks, and of course, backdrafts. Nobody knows the nature of the fire better than you - your reputation precedes you wherever you go. |
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None | |||||||
| 9 | Assistant Fire Chief | The station doesn't run without the Chief or the right hand - you. Make sure transactions with City Hall politicians go smoothly and the needs of the citizens are addressed by the firefighters under your command. |
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New Uniform, Immune to Fire (hiden trait, may pass on to offspring) | |||||||
| 10 | Fire Chief | It's been a long and distinguished career, but the title of Chief has been bestowed upon you. City Hall believes in you, the citizenry relies on you, and your fellow fire fighters trust you without question. Your noble stewardship over the community will not be forgotten by anyone any time soon. |
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Firetruck, Fire Alarm (Work from home) |
Career rewards
- Firefighter's Trophy of Honor : Rescue 2 Sims
- Firefighter's Medal of Aegis : Rescue 10 Sims
- Firefighter's Trophy of Valor: Complete Gnome Invasion
- Firefighter's Trophy of Heroism: Complete Epic Science Facility Disaster
- Firefighter's Medal of Safekeeping: Complete Epic Hospital Disaster
- Firefighter's Ribbon of Bravery: Complete Epic Warehouse Disaster
- Firefighter's Key to The Town: Reach Career Level 10
- Golden Fire Hydrant: Save 12 Sims after Reach Career Level 10
Trivia
- Firefighter co-workers are unreachable via telephone. They are always either at the station or traveling to or from work.
- If the player chooses to Detonate The Woo Woo 4000 at the station, they will be able to continue responding to disasters. The fire engine will not respawn however, so no maintenance or upgrades on it will be possible.
- If a co-worker (or the player) is a celebrity, the Paparazzi may visit the Fire Station at random. The Paparazzi will simply hang around the Station until the Alarm sounds. Once the Alarm is activated, the Paparazzi will attempt to take snapshots of the celebrity who is a Firefighter as they run for the Woo Woo 4000.
- Co-workers can sometimes be disaster victims. They also do absolutely no work. Ever.
- If another co-worker is under your control i.e you have two or more sims that are firefighters you are able to bring them with another Sim. However this is not recommended as the glitch at the top of the page happens a lot more often.
- When your firefighter does maintenance on the alarm in their home, the station alarms also repair. This is not true for The Woo Woo 4000.
- Currently, the upgrade on a firefighter's personal extinguisher appears to be glitchy as it has been reported to reset on game reload for some players. (This seems to have been fixed, though)
- Co-workers are randomly assigned Neighborhood Sims, so don't be surprised if your Sim's grandmother is working with them!
- Playable ghosts may not be the best for this career, as they float to places very slowly, which wastes valuable time going to the firetruck and to the source of the inferno.
- Mummies are afraid of fire, die immediately when burned, and walk very slow, so they make the very worst firefighters.
- SimBots typically make the best firefighters, although they usually walk slower than a normal Sim, they cannot die of fire.
- Along with SimBots, Vampires seem to make amazing Firefighters due to their increased speed and endurance. This makes up for their weakness to fire and sunlight and are very easy to advance in the career since they half their time skill building.
- The firefighting career marks the first time child aged sims are picked up and carried around like younger sims.
- Some large house fires are impossible to complete due to fireplaces being treated as part of a fire and thus not allowing your sim to break down a door to rescue someone.
- Firefighters are able to steal items when they are putting out a fire in a house. The way it works is similar to how sims with the kleptomaniac trait swipe at night.
- After reaching Level 5 (Fireman/Firewoman), you can break down any locked doors your sim comes across, including those they have locked themselves.
References