What does a fire fighter do?
Firefighters are responsible for controlling, putting out fires, and responding to emergencies involving life, property, and the environment. They operate firetrucks and other emergency vehicles, along with track down and save victims in burning buildings or other emergency situations. Also, they tend to the sick or injured individuals and produce written reports on emergency incidents. Additionally, they distinguish fires using water hoses and pumps as well as fire extinguishers, scrub and maintain equipment, and execute drills and physical fitness training.
Fire fighter responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real fire fighter resumes:
- Lead infantry teams in combat operations, providing tactical and technical guidance to subordinates and professional support to superiors.
- Administer medical care to injure people, providing CPR, first aid, as well as other emergency responses.
- Task with testing SCBA, centrifugal pump systems, foam induction systems, structural gear inspections and HAZMAT equipment.
- Cut and clear brush, dig trenches in order to create fire lines, using axes, chainsaws or shovels.
- Maintain SCBA equipment and records.
- Serve as paramedic on ALS transport ambulance.
- Perform various ICS duties on an incident.
- Provide ALS care to sick and injure pt's.
- Service, clean and fill all SCBA packs after fires.
- Perform building fire inspection to insure compliance with NFPA and OSHA.
- Receive trained pertaining to FAA rules and regulations of standard operating procedures.
- Control the use, maintenance and inspection of fire hose, grind and aerial ladders.
- Truck driving, pump operations/maintenance, HAZMAT containment, SCPA certify, fire police, etc.
- Respond to house fires, airplanes without landing gears, car accidents, and haz-mat situations.
- Start as a volunteer firefighter and have progressed to a current status of full time FAE.
Fire fighter skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Fire Fighters are proficient in CPR, Public Safety, and Non-Emergency Calls. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Listening skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Fire Fighters that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CPR, 7%
Fire and Building Inspector * Developed Department Community CPR Class * Maintained Department false alarm nuisance alarm files and billing system
- Public Safety, 7%
Perform firefighting operations, including regular drills, handling emergency responses, and ensuring public safety.
- Non-Emergency Calls, 6%
Provide customer service, education and respond to emergency and non-emergency calls.
- Fire Prevention, 5%
Participated in fire and life safety inspection activities and other fire prevention and public education activities as assigned.
- Fire Suppression, 4%
Perform Fire Suppression and Emergency medical duties* Supervise other firefighters and volunteers* Help conduct shift training and fire hydrant maintenance
- Hazmat, 4%
Tasked with testing SCBA, centrifugal pump systems, foam induction systems, structural gear inspections and HAZMAT equipment.
Common skills that a fire fighter uses to do their job include "cpr," "public safety," and "non-emergency calls." You can find details on the most important fire fighter responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a fire fighter to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "fire inspectors must notice minutiae when inspecting sites for code violations or fire risks or for investigating the cause of a fire." Fire fighters often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide engine and truck operations provide public safety details"
Problem-solving skills. fire fighters are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to fire fighter responsibilities, because "fire inspectors must be able to recognize code violations and fire risks and recommend a way to fix them." A fire fighter resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "utilized the skills and knowledge to aid in resolution in emergency situations. "
Physical strength. Another crucial skill for a fire fighter to carry out their responsibilities is "physical strength." A big part of what fire fighters relies on this skill, since "fire investigators may have to move debris at the site of a fire in order to get a more accurate understanding of the scene." How this skill relates to fire fighter duties can be seen in an example from a fire fighter resume snippet: "maintain physical condition necessary to perform efficiently in emergency situations. "
Communication skills. While "communication skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to fire fighter responsibilities. Much of what a fire fighter does relies on this skill, seeing as "fire inspectors must clearly explain fire code violations to building and property managers." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of fire fighters: "fire fighter level 1 hazmat awareness hazmat operations team work, communication, work under pressure,"
The three companies that hire the most fire fighters are:
- CARE2 fire fighters jobs
- NASCAR2 fire fighters jobs
- City of Houston2 fire fighters jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable fire fighter resume templates
Build a professional fire fighter resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your fire fighter resume.
Compare different fire fighters
Fire fighter vs. Driver engineer
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between fire fighters and driver engineer. For instance, fire fighter responsibilities require skills such as "non-emergency calls," "fire suppression," "hazmat," and "responder." Whereas a driver engineer is skilled in "c #," "os," "debugging," and "c." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Driver engineers earn the highest salaries when working in the automotive industry, with an average yearly salary of $61,461. On the other hand, fire fighters are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $59,387.On average, driver engineers reach higher levels of education than fire fighters. Driver engineers are 6.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Fire fighter vs. Apparatus operator
Each career also uses different skills, according to real fire fighter resumes. While fire fighter responsibilities can utilize skills like "non-emergency calls," "fire prevention," "fire suppression," and "hazmat," apparatus operators use skills like "emergency calls," "training classes," "water flow," and "certifications."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Apparatus operators tend to reach higher levels of education than fire fighters. In fact, they're 5.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fire fighter vs. Rescue worker
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, fire fighters are more likely to have skills like "public safety," "non-emergency calls," "fire prevention," and "fire suppression." But a rescue worker is more likely to have skills like "incident command system," "gps," "direct supervision," and "safety policies."
Rescue workers typically earn similar educational levels compared to fire fighters. Specifically, they're 3.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 11.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fire fighter vs. Fireman
Updated January 8, 2025
