I have lots of friends (including my roommate) who work for Hall. It is definitely a career oriented organization. They have some of the best equipment you will find in a private company.
American of Fresno is also a career oriented organization. It is really large and runs lots of units. They are pretty strict from what I have heard from medics working for them
As for how the cities are, I do not know much about Fresno, but from the time I have spent there, I am not a fan of it.
I live in Bakersfield. The town is not bad. It's not a trendy large city like LA/Bay Area, but it is still nice. There are some very nice neighborhoods that are affordable. They have a mall, the same chain restaurants you will find anywhere. (BJs, Elephant Bar, California Pizza Kitchen, Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, ect). As I said before, housing is affordable, there is almost no traffic. The people are nice. If you want to go to a gastropub then to the opera, then you might be disappointed.
If you are into outdoors activities we have a ton to offer. Hiking, fishing, hunting, white water rafting, rock climbing, OHV, camping ect. We have forests, lakes, deserts, mountains, ect. It is a more outdoor oriented, country type of environment. I grew up in LA and am actually happier out here than I was in LA.