Is getting a CDL Now a waste of time in this situation?

CDL won't be useless. Keep the DOT physical up to date though.
Probably find some local work through a staffing agency that hires cdl drivers.

 

If it was me, and I wasn't going to even begin to use that CDL for 6 years. Then I'd wait. Put that money in an account or something to make it earn more. But if you CAN use the CDL. Then go for it right now.

 

It would be hard to pull of legally with a CDL as you need to account for on-duty/working hours that count against your hours available to drive.

Maybe if you were local and didn't travel very far...

Or you could ignore it and gamble you don't get into an accident and some lawyer dosen't check if you were technically legal to be driving...

 

Dont they run BIG hook and ladders? That CDL will come in handly. Not to mention special tuned truck engines way exceeding big horse and torque. I can pick em out listening to them a mile away.

I got a Class A prior to the CDL, then the CDL and worked until the body broke. Then the CDL sits in my pocket while doctors fixed what they could for 15 years. Its NOT useless. Fortunately I am grandfathered in my state. I just run a car license now.

A CDL is a commodity that is getting regulated and harder to get. Might as well get it now. OR... just commit to 6 years of stacking your fire money until retirement. There is so much in trucking that I would call,.... unsuitable, dirty, polluted, stupid or perhaps insane. because a percentage of our current truckers have need of refinement and training. Lipstick on a pig I daresay compared to the Fire Enviroment you are in.

Then again that CDL might get you into the big million dollar hook and ladder cannon truck. Its all yours. Your baby. If thats something that rocks your boat go for it. My pa was part of Baltimore fire for a short time in his life and he has made sure that I was around firemen in Baltimore often. But it was not something that I would go for myself. Because of disabilities etc. You dont want a deaf firefighter. Not that. But they would take a deaf trucker. HA.... ech...

Your situation is rather unique. I say you stack your money, finish up your 6 years. And if then you are still wanting to get involved in this massively regulated industry, you are welcome to have at it with a CDL. But its way better to be around big fire stuff than to be around big 18 wheelers dispatched by people who have never touched a big truck in their life.

In trucking, a HOS (Hours of Service) is limited to 70 hours a week. Thats good for about 3000 miles of useful driving. Coast to coast. If you are stuck in the fire hall for 48 hours on duty at a moment's call at any time, you will not have any hours left to do anything useful OTR with a big rig. Its literally all gone because you have to log all employers each week you work for.

 

Only time getting CDL is waste of time is if you like doing drugs.

 

You could easily rent a class b and pass the test.

 

Experience is not that big of a deal. Boiled down in trucking to two simple thoughts.

Stay with one employer at least your first year without quitting or fired for preventables. (We go through so many in 3 or 6 months)
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Once you managed to keep clean your first year to 18 months or more at one employer you can write your ticket anywhere else in the USA. IF you survived say 3 years solid in trucking? You would be a old timer that companies will fall over themselves to hire in a heart beat.