Keep your chin up! I have lived in Florida all my life, and although most fire departments run EMS down south, there are still plenty of countys that are seperate. I believe polk county is seperate, and most countys in north Forida are. I have to agree with you though that a lot of fire medics were forced to become paramedics and some despise it. Florida is a tough place to find a job, I recently just got my 10th rejection letter by the hospital where I live. And as far as nursing and even fire academy, have you looked online? I know you can attend fire school online, and I'm sure the same is true of nursing. Worse comes to worse you'll have to settle for a private taxi service, but a lot of those companies in the bigger cities actually answer 9-11 calls or at least have mutual aid agreements. Don't give up and eventually something will pan out!