How To Become A Fire Lookout: What It Is and Career Path

What is a fire lookout and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fire lookout. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.2 an hour? That's $44,100 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 1,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFire LookoutUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $44,100

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.90%

Asian 0.95%

Black or African American 4.44%

Hispanic or Latino 7.62%

Unknown 7.30%

White 77.78%

Gender

female 35.29%

male 64.71%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.3

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fire lookout

Explore fire lookout education requirements

Most common fire lookout degrees

Bachelor's

40.0 %

Associate

26.7 %

Master's

20.0 %

Start to develop specific fire lookout skills

Skills	Percentages
Weather Data	100.00%

Complete relevant fire lookout training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New fire lookouts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a fire lookout based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real fire lookout resumes.

Research fire lookout duties and responsibilities

Lead infantry teams in combat operations, providing tactical and technical guidance to subordinates and professional support to superiors.
Lead infantry teams in combat operations, providing tactical and technical guidance to subordinates and professional support to superiors.
Lead infantry teams in combat operations, providing tactical and technical guidance to subordinates and professional support to superiors.

Prepare your fire lookout resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your fire lookout resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a fire lookout resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable fire lookout resume templates

Build a professional fire lookout resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your fire lookout resume.