Home
How to Become a Firefighter
The FIREFIGHTER Career Center
We have EVERYTHING you will need to learn how to become a FIREFIGHTER! As you begin your career in the challenging, but rewarding career as a FIREFIGHTER we offer information to help you get started.
We offer information on: training, FIREFIGHTER salaries, jobs, entrance requirements, career advice and much, much more!
How to Become a Firefighter
Being a firefighter is a very noble career to embark on. Just like a policeman, a doctor or a nurse, a firefighter is responsible for saving lives in the event of a very big fire. People look up to you and pin their hopes in saving their lives and their property on you. With the timely actions of a firefighter, people can avoid losing a lot of money’s worth of property. Can you imagine what it’s like to lose your home to a fire? It takes with it everything that you have worked hard for: the money spent for building the home, as well as the money spent in buying the appliances and the things that are found inside your home.
As a firefighter, however, a person is that one thing that stands between total loss and the safety of one’s property. There’s a lot of pressure in it alright, but the honor and the satisfaction you feel at the end of day saving people’s homes and lives from fire is more than worth the price of being a fireman. It’s a good idea to want to learn how to become a firefighter. Now, here are the things that you have to deal with if you are really serious about learning how to become a firefighter and working your way to becoming one.
How to Become a Firefighter: Training, Education & Licensing
If you want to start your path on how to become a firefighter, you must know what the requirements are before you sign up for the basic fireman’s training. The lowest educational attainment that you must have in order to qualify as a fireman-in-training is a GED or a high school diploma. A college education is not necessary. However, if you have college education, you’ll have more employment opportunities as a firefighter. You can also take collegiate courses that focus on the skills necessary that would you as you learn how to become a firefighter: these particular courses include an apprenticeship in firefighting that you could enroll into through the fire department, and a degree specifically in fire science.
Training that show you how to become a firefighter commences immediately after you are recruited into the fire department. You’ll have to participate in rigorous physical training in order to keep fit, and you also have to be drilled in real life situations. In other words, you are going to learn what you’re in for straight from the field. Yes, you have to become a firefighter in order to learn the skills of being one: that’s how trainees learn how to become a firefighter.
In addition to basic fireman’s training, firefighters may also be required to become certified in emergency medical technology. You have to learn how to become a medical technician in the field just in case you need to apply first aid to a person if the paramedics are too far away and have not yet arrived. You are the paramedic on the spot in this case.
How to Become a Firefighter: Firefighter Salaries
Aside from being emotionally satisfying, being a firefighter is also very rewarding financially. You could earn some big bucks here. A firefighter could earn up to $37,000 yearly on average only. The income would grow, apparently, as you climb up in rank as a firefighter. If you’re in a supervisory level, you could earn anywhere between $58,000 to $91,000 annually. That’s a lot of money, plus you feel very good thinking that you have spared people from an otherwise crippling financial loss as a result of the fire.
How to Become a Firefighter: What is the Work Environment?
The work environment when you have become a firefighter can both be tense as well as laid-back. First off, one has to be alert always and quick enough to get up and respond to a fire emergency. People have to be quick on it, after all: minutes wasted mean properties and lives placed in greater risk as every minute passes by. Plus, the stress of combatting fires and the risk that go along with it is high as well. Basically, when you have mastered how to become a firefighter, you are putting your life at risk so that other people’s lives and properties can be saved. You are trained how to lessen those risks, of course.
On the other hand, when there’s no fire to fight, you’ll find that learning how to become a firefighter can become a routine that you will absorb. Basically, you will just be at the fire station performing routine tasks. You will be expected to participate in drills to keep the skills ingrained and fresh, as well as to perform maintenance on your equipment to make sure that they are in top shape and ready for use in any event.
How to Become a Firefighter: Grow Firefighter Career into A Firefighter Management Career
When you become a firefighter, you’ll find that there is more to it than just fighting fire. You can actually build a career out of this. There are ranks that the firefighting service observes and, over time, you can advance from the basic fireman rank to the higher positions. These positions or ranks are, namely:
• Fireman
The most basic rank in the firefighting service.
• Driver
The driver, apparently, operates the fire engine. He is responsible for driving the truck and in operating the pump and the aerial ladder.
• Lieutenant
The fire lieutenant is responsible for supervising three trucks, or companies as the firefighting service refer to them.
• Captain
The Captain is usually the head of a fire station, and supervises several companies. He is the supervisor or direct superior of the Lieutenant.
• Battalion Chief
This is the commander of a battalion, or the equivalent of 5 fire stations. The battalion chief, due to his big responsibility, can be on duty for 24 hours.
• District Chief
The District Chief is responsible for supervising multiple battalions. The Battalion Chiefs report to him.
• Deputy of Assistant Chief
This is a subordinate of the District Chief. In some cases, the Battalion Chief can be a deputy or assistant chief.
