Brendan Kowalczyk Firefighter and Paramedic, NREMT #P2144038 Milwaukee, 53207, United States [email protected] · (414) 555-0742
16 September 2026
Ms. Corinne Bachmann Deputy Chief of Operations Marquette Bay Fire Department Green Bay, United States
Application for Firefighter and Paramedic, Marquette Bay Fire Department
Dear Deputy Chief Bachmann,
I am applying for the Firefighter and Paramedic posting at Marquette Bay Fire Department. I hold Firefighter I and Firefighter II to NFPA 1001 with an IFSAC seal, HazMat Technician on a county team, Fire Instructor I, and a current NREMT Paramedic certification, and my Candidate Physical Ability Test card is current. I am state certified and would arrive able to ride rather than needing a full academy cycle.
For the last eight years I have ridden as the company paramedic on Engine 12 at Lakeshore Ridge, a first due engine averaging about 1,780 incident responses a year. The work I would most want to bring to Marquette Bay is what we did with cardiac arrest: I rewrote the company position assignments so the same four seats do the same four jobs every time, and the protocol is now in use at three stations in the battalion. I have also precepted 11 new paramedics from hire through field release, each a documented 400 hour internship with competency sign-off, which is the part of the job I would want to keep doing.
I have followed your move to a three station response model and the station 3 build, and I know the district you are staffing runs a heavy medical load. That is the work I have done for eight years, and I would be glad to take on the precepting or the drill calendar alongside a line assignment. I have also served on the county hazardous materials team through 19 activations, including two rail incidents, and would put my name forward for your team if it has room.
My paramedic certification is current through March 2028, my fire certifications carry IFSAC and Pro Board seals, and I can start on any academy or orientation date you set. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Brendan Kowalczyk, NRP
Summary
A firefighter cover letter states which certifications you already hold, who accredited them, what emergency medical level you can work at, and one measured thing you have done on an apparatus. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the evidence that counts when your work is measured in calls, what changes between an academy application and a lateral transfer, and the openings that get a strong file read twice.
Firefighter cover letter examples by experience level
A firefighter cover letter is a one-page letter telling a chief which certifications you hold, who accredited them, what medical level you can work at, and one thing you have done on an apparatus with a number attached.
It is a strange document to write, because most fire department hiring is scored rather than read: the written exam, the physical test and the credential review all happen on forms. The letter is the only place where you choose what the department notices first, so do not spend it on how long you have wanted the job.
Guide to a firefighter cover letter
This guide and the corresponding firefighter cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why the certification stack belongs in the first two sentences
- What counts as evidence when work is measured in calls
- How the letter changes between an academy and a lateral application
How to write a firefighter cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The posting, your certification level, your medical level | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One assignment, one volume, one thing you changed | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something specific about that department, and what you would add | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Currency of certifications, availability, thank you | 2 sentences |
Put the certification stack in the first two sentences
A deputy chief opening applications is holding a roster with holes in it, an academy start date, and a budget that assumes a certain number of recruits arrive already certified. So the first two sentences should answer what decides whether you are cheap or expensive to hire: which certification level you hold and who accredited it, and whether you are an EMT, a paramedic or neither. Write it as the standard writes it. "Firefighter I and II to NFPA 1001 with an IFSAC seal, and a current NREMT Paramedic certification" is a sentence a chief can act on. "Fully certified and highly trained" is one they have read two hundred times this month.
A firefighter cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Deputy Chief Bachmann,
I am applying for the Firefighter and Paramedic posting at Marquette Bay Fire Department. I hold Firefighter I and Firefighter II to NFPA 1001 with an IFSAC seal, HazMat Technician on a county team, Fire Instructor I, and a current NREMT Paramedic certification, and my Candidate Physical Ability Test card is current. I am state certified and would arrive able to ride rather than needing a full academy cycle.
For the last eight years I have ridden as the company paramedic on Engine 12 at Lakeshore Ridge, a first due engine averaging about 1,780 incident responses a year. The work I would most want to bring to Marquette Bay is what we did with cardiac arrest: I rewrote the company position assignments so the same four seats do the same four jobs every time, and the protocol is now in use at three stations in the battalion. I have also precepted 11 new paramedics from hire through field release, each a documented 400 hour internship with competency sign-off, which is the part of the job I would want to keep doing.
I have followed your move to a three station response model and the station 3 build, and I know the district you are staffing runs a heavy medical load. That is the work I have done for eight years, and I would be glad to take on the precepting or the drill calendar alongside a line assignment. I have also served on the county hazardous materials team through 19 activations, including two rail incidents, and would put my name forward for your team if it has room.
My paramedic certification is current through March 2028, my fire certifications carry IFSAC and Pro Board seals, and I can start on any academy or orientation date you set. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Brendan Kowalczyk, NRP
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I have wanted to be a firefighter since I was a child | I hold Firefighter I and II to NFPA 1001 with an IFSAC seal and a current NREMT Paramedic certification |
| I am writing to express my interest in your firefighter position | I am applying for the Firefighter and Paramedic posting and would arrive able to ride |
| I have extensive experience responding to emergencies | I have ridden as company paramedic on an engine averaging about 1,780 responses a year |
What counts as evidence in a firefighter cover letter
Fire service work does not produce the evidence most cover letter advice assumes. There is no revenue line. What there is, is volume, position, and things you changed about how a company operates.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Call volume | Rode a first due engine averaging about 1,780 responses a year |
| Riding position | Held the nozzle and paramedic positions on one company for eight years |
| Something you changed | Rewrote the company cardiac arrest assignments, now used at three stations |
| People developed | Precepted 11 new paramedics from hire through field release |
Pick one and write it properly, with the before, the after and the period. One developed example beats five listed ones, which only repeat the resume in the chief's other hand.
Academy applicants, lateral transfers and combination departments
Applying to an academy with certifications already in hand, say so in the first sentence: a pre-certified recruit costs the department less time. Lateral, lead with the seal and the reciprocity position, and say whether you have checked the target state's equivalency rules. Combination department, say which shifts and daytime hours you can cover, since daytime staffing is the problem they are trying to solve.
Do not open with why you want the job. Do not describe a call in narrative detail; the chief has run more of them than you have. Do not claim a certification you hold a course completion for but not a certificate. Do not send one letter to a 4,300 incident urban district and a rural department running 300 calls a year.
Two thirds of the work is medical, and the letter should show you know that
The U.S. Fire Administration's Fire Department Overall Run Profile recorded 26,959,000 fire department incident runs in 2020, of which 64.2 percent were emergency medical services and rescue calls and only 3.9 percent were fire calls (U.S. Fire Administration, published June 2022).
The occupation is steady rather than booming: 355,300 firefighter jobs in 2025, 4 percent projected growth through 2035, and about 26,800 openings a year, 87 percent of it local government (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Firefighters, last modified 27 August 2026).
Together those give you the hiring reality. There are enough openings, competition is scored, and the credential that separates candidates is the medical one. A letter that spends its evidence paragraph on a structure fire, for a department running medical calls two days out of three, is answering a question nobody asked.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: brendan-kowalczyk-firefighter-paramedic-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Command staff are listed publicly on nearly every municipal site, and "Dear Sir or Madam" on an otherwise precise file reads like a letter sent to twelve departments the same evening.
Keep every figure identical to your resume. Our firefighter resume example uses the same numbers as the letter above: a credential review that finds a discrepancy between two documents in one file treats both as unverified.
Key takeaways
- Name your certification level, the standard and the accrediting seal in the first two sentences.
- State your medical level early; it is the credential that separates candidates.
- Give one developed piece of evidence with a volume and a time frame.
- Say whether your CPAT card is current.
- Name one real thing about that department, from their own pages or minutes.
- Say what you would take on beyond the line assignment, and address a named officer.
Write your firefighter cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
Firefighter cover letter questions, answered
How long should a firefighter cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Fire department hiring is long and heavily scored, and nobody has time for two pages of narrative before the exam results are in.
Do I need a cover letter if the department uses a civil service application?
Attach one wherever the portal has a field for it. The form collects the same data from every candidate. The letter is the only place you decide what gets noticed first, which should be your certification stack and medical level.
What do I write if I have no fire service experience yet?
Write what a recruit reviewer looks for: certifications with their accrediting seals, your CPAT result, your medical certification, and a physical work history that stands up. Ambulance work, military service, wildland seasons and trades work all count. BLS lists the typical entry requirement as a postsecondary nondegree award, which is the certification itself (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Firefighters, last modified 27 August 2026).
Should I mention my CPAT result in the letter?
One clause is enough: say the card is current and where you took it. The test is pass or fail against 10 minutes and 20 seconds across eight events in a 50 pound weighted vest (International Association of Fire Chiefs, accessed September 2026), so what a chief needs to know is simply that it is done.
How do I write to a department I do not know?
Spend twenty minutes on their own material: the station list and apparatus roster, the annual report, the council minutes where budget and staffing are discussed, and any news about a new station. One accurate sentence about what that department is dealing with beats a paragraph of admiration, and it cannot be reused in the next letter.