Firefighter Exams: Looking For Fire Service Jobs

This guide explores some of the many career paths and jobs available in fire service. In addition to municipal firefighter, these include firefighting positions at the federal and state levels, other jobs in municipal or county departments, and related opportunities in the private sector.
The firefighter's job is necessary and noble. It's also dangerous, physically demanding and stressful. But it's not the only job you can do in the fire service field, even if that's where you want to start out.
Some people go through firefighter training at a fire service academy and make fighting fires their lifelong career. Others may join up with a municipal or county department and then move into a more specialized position, which may or may not involve active firefighting. Or they may consider instead the mostly seasonal firefighting jobs offered through a state or federal agency.
In general, firefighter training offers a good, basic background for other fire service careers. Certain career paths involve returning to college or even graduate school for more in-depth study of subjects, such as biology and chemistry, only touched on by firefighting academies. There are also ''civilian" career paths in fire service that have specific higher education or certification requirements, but don't necessarily require fire academy training.

Fire service is a wide-open and expanding field which offers numerous career choices, whatever your basic interests and abilities may be.

Municipal/County Departments:
Post-Academy Career Options
Academies represent only the beginning levels of training available to firefighters. Among other specialized duties, fire departments need people who are trained to do the following:

drive fire apparatus (trucks and emergency vehicles), operate and maintain pumps, maintain automotive engines, maintain fire equipment (such as ladders and hydraulics), and serve as dispatcher and fire-alarm dispatcher. Training for these types of positions is available to firefighters within the department itself.

Personnel needs also vary from department to department. Cities on harbors or rivers, for example, often have fire boats, and thus trained personnel are needed to captain and maintain the ships and their equipment. Search and rescue (S&R) teams are needed to handle emergencies in the water or in areas that require descents down cliffs or bluffs. Other S&R teams specialize in what is called ''confined space" rescue, which has teams working their way through collapsed buildings or being dropped into open wells.
Municipal and county fire departments offer other career opportunities beyond fighting fires and rescuing people. Many of these are geared more toward fire prevention or investigative work, or toward administering more sophisticated medical care than the average firefighter is trained to deliver. Here is a sampling:
 

Fire investigators or marshals investigate fires to determine their origin, whether fire laws have been violated, and whether a fire is the result of criminal negligence or arson. Marshals test sites for flammatory gases or liquids and are trained to evaluate burn patterns to show where a fire started and how it burned. They often report their findings to the district attorney if criminal charges should be filed.
Fire inspectors examine private, commercial premises and industrial plants to eliminate fire hazards, and also monitor fire protection equipment (such as sprinkler systems, extinguishers, and alarms) to ensure it is operable. Inspectors also patrol plant areas to determine if hazardous and combustible materials are stored properly.
Fire prevention specialists work mostly with home and business owners to ensure that vegetation around buildings and homes are cut down and that open spaces between structures are not overgrown with long, dry grassthe fuel of those large wildfires that plague many parts of the country every year.
Firefighter EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians or paramedics) are trained to provide emergency medical care, including ambulance services. They also respond to emergency situations other than fires, for example, to assist victims of natural disasters or spills of hazardous materials.
Fire code enforcement officers oversee the more technical aspects of fire prevention (as compared to fire inspectors), which can include reviewing building plans to designate and ensure compliance with fire safety codes and protection systems. They also assess the number and placement of fire exits and establish the maximum number of occupants allowed in a building.
Fire protection engineers apply advanced courses in mathematics, physics and chemistry to gain empirical and scientific knowledge used in the research, design, installation and operation of physical systems related to fire safety. (Fire protection engineers often work outside fire departments, usually in the private sector. )
Outside of fire protection engineers, generally most of the positions above are filled by people who began their careers as firefighters. Again, specialized training and additional education are needed to gain the necessary skills and/or certification in these fields. Fire protection engineers have a more advanced educational background that typically includes a bachelor of science degree in a traditional engineering field and a master's degree in fire protection. A great majority of fire protection engineers do not begin their careers as firefighters.

The Feds & The States:
Hunting Wildfires
For those who want to fight fires and do nothing but fight fires, perhaps the best means to that end can be found in federal and state agencies.
Every year, those agencies responsible for state and federal lands have to deal with the threat of wildfiresfast-spreading burns that can scorch thousands and thousands of acres. These fires are often in remote regions with limited access, which makes it perilous and brutal work. Fires on this scale are not controlled by fire hoses, but by limiting where and how much they burn.
For example, crews will be rushed into an area that is threatened and told to ''scrape it down to mineral." This means that all the vegetationdried grass, plants, dead wood and anything else that would burnhas to be scraped clean to the dirt. Essentially, they are trying to stop the fire by cutting back its fuel. In the wilds, this work could involve a four-man crew scraping an eight-foot wide path for two miles. And doing it fastin hot, dry conditions, as the front of the fire approaches.
These jobs tend to have very basic entrance requirements because wages can be relatively low and there can be a high turnover rate. The emphasis is on having a good work record and being physically fit. If you have any firefighting training under your belt, you've got an extra advantage.
At the state level, the California Department of Forestry calls itself the largest fire department in the country because it employs from 2,500 to 3,500 firefighters every fire season. They have 21 Ranger units of firefighters spread around the state.
These firefighters are registered as Firefighter I, an entry-level position that pays anywhere from $9.50 to $11 per hour. They are usually guaranteed a certain amount of overtime per month. It's seasonal work with no guarantee for rehire. In other words, after three to six months, these firefighters are released as the need for their services decreases, and there's no promise they will be hired again the following fire season.
The state posts its openings for firefighters each year, and in 1996 more than 10,000 applications were received. So it's highly competitive. The filing deadline is usually in January or early February, and if you miss it, you'll have to wait till the following year to sign up. Many states, though, such as those in the southeast, often find themselves running short of personnel, particularly during the peak of the fire season.
In terms of getting experience, seasonal firefighting offers great opportunities. However, it can be tedious, unpredictable work that, at around $1,600 a month in base pay, isn't overly rewarding financially when you consider that it's usually for a stint of three to four months.
Working in large-scale operations to battle wild-land burns that are as hot as gasoline fires does take a person with a lot of stamina and strength. Fires on this level are like wars - fire fighting crews are flown and trucked in, air tankers are coordinated with the ground troops, support crews providing food, medical and mail services converge on the scene. The shifts can run 16 hours or more of hard physical labor in heavy gear as the air temperature often exceeds 100 degrees.
State and federal crews can be quite busy during the summer months and are often flown around to battle fires in other states. Some of these firefighters have done seasonal shifts on state and federal crews for years. With hazard and overtime pay figured in, they typically make much more than $9.50 an hour.
The federal and individual state forest services do the majority of seasonal hiring. But the Bureau of Land Management, the federal and state park services, and even the Department of Defense also all have firefighting positions.

Prevention & Control:
Fire Protection Engineers
If you want to work in fire service, but don't find the actual act of firefighting all that appealing, you could look to some great opportunities in fire prevention instead.
One growing area is fire protection engineering. Job opportunities in this arena far exceed the number of fire protection engineering graduates each year. Several colleges offer degrees in fire engineering. Starting salaries have proved to be competitive and generally above the overall engineering-profession average.
Fire protection engineers can be called upon to provide a broad range of services. Some perform fire safety evaluations of building and industrial complexes to determine the risks of fire loss and how best to prevent them. Others design systems that automatically detect and suppress fires and explosions as well as fire alarm, smoke control, emergency lighting, communication and exit systems. Fire protection engineers perform research on materials and consumer products or the computer modeling of fire and smoke behavior. Some investigate fires or explosions and prepare technical reports or provide expert courtroom testimony in civil litigation cases.
Many fire protection engineers are hired to oversee the design and operation of safety procedures for large companies. This area is of major concern to complex manufacturing facilities, such as refineries, chemical plants and multinational business networks. These companies know that a million dollars spent in prevention and preparation can save tens of millions in clean-up costs and finesnot to mention the invaluable savings in terms of presenting a good image to the public.
Fire engineers also work for insurance companies, surveying major facilities and performing research, testing and analysis. As the computer and electronics industry grows, its special needs of fire prevention expand as well. When a room full of high-tech gear is threatened by fire, the best course of action usually is not to turn on the fire sprinklers. Finding new ways to prevent and suppress fire and save costly equipment is proving to be a new viable avenue for employment.
Aside from private-sector companies, fire protection engineers can be found at all levels of government around the world. They also work for architectural and engineering firms and specialty consulting groups. Other interesting jobs that use their expertise can be found in trade associations, testing laboratories, and at colleges and universities.

Hazmat & Safety Concerns:
Environmental Protectors
When we think of hazardous materials (called ''HazMat" in the field), we often envision deadly waste dumped from refineries and chemical or nuclear plants. Dealing with these dangerous situations requires training and equipment. Personnel culled from fire departments who have special training are many times called in to clean up spills or leaks. But there are also private firms who specialize in handling and cleaning up these materials, and these jobs are open to personnel who have a basic understanding of safety procedures that are taught in fire academies.
This is a field heavily regulated by state agencies for proper certification. And it's growing. Specialists outside fire departments are finding their skills and knowledge needed even in smaller private businesses.
Inside large manufacturing companies, Environmental Health Specialists (EHS) who go through some of the same training used in firefighting academiesare employed to monitor workers' exposure to potentially deadly chemicals and gases. This work falls under the general categories of ''industrial hygiene" and occupational health, and it is the job of these specialists to make sure working conditions are safe. EHS personnel also would coordinate efforts with state agencies and private businesses to oversee contractors who are employed to clean up waste or dangerous materials.
These jobs generally require hazard materials certification, which can be achieved through extension programs at state colleges. Many companies then take it upon themselves to train their EHS personnel in their own safety procedures and emergency-response procedures.
A related area of employment involves regulating industry with regard to environmental protection procedures. Environmental Auditors, for example, work for regulation agencies to make sure that industry complies with safety and environmental bylaws. They also assist or consult with lawmakers to write laws that are technically correct.
Many communities understand the need for regulating small businesses and the exposure and removal of hazardous materials. (Dry cleaners, repair shops, and nail salons, for example, use chemicals that put employees and customers at risk.) Taking this a step further, many communities are now offering citizens a place to collect materials that are not necessarily considered hazardouspaint, pesticides and cleaning chemicalsbut need special handling anyway. The people who do this work have to know what they're handling, and the people who advertise this service have to know what they're offering.
All these potential career opportunities point to a concentrated effort by all levels of government and private industry alike to study the risk of potential problemswhether that's the threat of fire, chemical spill or noxious emissions. Specialists, often with college degrees built on the topics and issues raised in firefighting academies, are needed to study what kind of risk a manufacturing facility poses to a community. It can mean everything from training employees in how to deal with emergencies to releasing public information notices to the public. Companies want to prepare their facilities so they can prevent accidents from occurring in the first place, but be able to respond properly if and when accidents do occur.

Other Private Sector Pursuits
If you do want to be a full-time firefighter, you don't have to work for a government agency. Firefighters are needed for oil and chemical refineries, airports, shipyards and airports. A majority of the private-sector jobs for firefighters can be found in companies in the petrochemical, aircraft and aerospace industries, such as Boeing or McDonnell-Douglas. In addition, a growing number of companies are setting up shop to provide firefighters to other companies, sometimes along with other fire prevention and protection services.
Keep in mind, too, that firefighters trained to handle emergency-response situations have a background that's appealing to a wide variety of employers. Knowledge of fire prevention and its equipment is a good starting point for employment with companies that man-