A flight attendant turned beauty therapist, an IT project manager and a dental hygienist may not hold obvious similarities but they all made a dramatic career change into firefighting.
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These are just some of the people who applied to join Fire and Rescue NSW in its most recent intake last year, and applications are now open for this year's intake.
Kirsten Burnham's career as a flight attendant took her around the world but an ongoing interest in beauty therapy helped her transition to a nine to five job in Australia.
But as her youngest child approached school age the 37-year-old started to want more.
"I had that overwhelming feeling of 'I could do more, I could do more'," Burnham from Kellyville in Western Sydney told AAP.
"I was involved in everything I could be involved in. But it just didn't feel enough."
After hearing friends who worked for Fire and Rescue NSW talk about the camaraderie of the crews she was sold.
About two years ago James Menere from Maroubra had started to tire from his decades in the corporate sector as an IT project manager.
He decided to give firefighting a go.
"I went from dreading going to work everyday in my old world to actually really jumped out of bed. I'm constantly pinching myself," the 42-year-old told AAP.
He said life experience is useful given you are put in challenging situations.
He's also found skills from his past life have transferred into his new gig, he said.
"You have to be able to adapt and use logic and problem solve," he said.
"It used to be through code whereas now it's a lot more time critical and there's a lot more at risk than a couple of bugs in a computer program."
Kylie Grimes, 37, from the Upper Hunter was a dental hygienist and spent ten years in the army before becoming a firefighter.
After graduating this year she's been on all sorts of jobs including the "standard firefighter job" of rescuing a cat from a tree.
"There's never a dull day. You can have a really quiet day or you can have a day when you have 20 call outs. You can't plan your day it's absolutely brilliant," she said.
Fire and Rescue NSW recruitment closes on August 4.
Australian Associated Press
