Fire Captain Overview
Working as a Fire Captain
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fire captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.72 an hour? That's $72,222 a year!
What Does a Fire Captain Do
There are certain skills that many fire captains have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, problem-solving skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a fire captain, we found that a lot of resumes listed 17.4% of fire captains included emergency, while 8.0% of resumes included safe operation, and 6.2% of resumes included fire prevention. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the fire captain job title. But what industry to start with? Most fire captains actually find jobs in the government and technology industries.
How To Become a Fire Captain
If you're interested in becoming a fire captain, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.3% of fire captains have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.9% of fire captains have master's degrees. Even though some fire captains have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a fire captain. When we researched the most common majors for a fire captain, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on fire captain resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a fire captain. In fact, many fire captain jobs require experience in a role such as emergency medical technician. Meanwhile, many fire captains also have previous career experience in roles such as fire lieutenant or fire apparatus engineer.
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Fire Captain Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a fire captain can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as instructor, progress to a title such as officer and then eventually end up with the title operations officer.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Fire Captain
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
City of Coconut Creek Fire Captain Fire Captain | City of Coconut Creek City of Coconut Creek | 01/27/2021 01/27/2021 | $74,03101/27/2021 $74,031 |
City of Coconut Creek Internal Margate Only-Fire Captain Internal Margate Only-Fire Captain | City of Coconut Creek City of Coconut Creek | 12/27/2020 12/27/2020 | $74,03112/27/2020 $74,031 |
Sacramento County Fire Captain, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Fire Captain, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting | Sacramento County Sacramento County | 10/21/2020 10/21/2020 | $87,69610/21/2020 $87,696 |
Polk County Fire Company Captain Fire Company Captain | Polk County Polk County | 04/29/2020 04/29/2020 | $53,49304/29/2020 $53,493 |
City of Porterville Fire Captain-City of Fire Captain-City of | City of Porterville City of Porterville | 03/10/2020 03/10/2020 | $66,48003/10/2020 $66,480 |
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Top Colleges for Fire Captains
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Public
3. University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE • Public
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH • Public
6. Holy Family University
Philadelphia, PA • Private
7. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
8. The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Knoxville, TN • Public
9. Siena Heights University
Adrian, MI • Private
10. University of Akron
Akron, OH • Public
Top Skills For a Fire Captain
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.4% of fire captains listed emergency on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and problem-solving skills are important as well.
- Emergency, 17.4%
- Safe Operation, 8.0%
- Fire Prevention, 6.2%
- EMT, 5.9%
- Fire Suppression, 4.8%
- Other Skills, 57.7% See All Fire Captain Skills
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