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

What is a fire management officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

In a fire program, the fire management officer is the one calling the shots. As the leader of the entire program, they are responsible for supervising, budgeting, handling staff, and integrating fire management with other resource areas.

Critical responsibilities for a fire management officer may include directing logistics and maintaining relationships with state agencies. They might also develop and test emergency plans, prepare financial statements, and hire and train fire management staff. Some fire management officers also serve as representatives for the Bureau of Land Management events, particularly topics that relate to fire management and nature conservation.

Fire management offices consider employees with at least 10 to 15 years of experience in fire management, meaning that this position is usually attainable later in your career. Eligible candidates must have a proven track record of increasing responsibility and enough experience and training to handle the responsibilities of the job.

Given the amount of experience and skills that this job entails, a fire management officer's average salary is $74,000 a year and can go up to $96,000 or more.

What general advice would you give to a fire management officer?

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Management, Manhattan College

When job searching, be active and persistent - Network by setting up Zoom informational calls with professionals (alumni, people with whom your family work) to learn about jobs that you are interested in or to learn about organizations where you would like to work and then follow up with them; have someone you trust who is a professional review your resume and social media profile pages; carve out time every day to apply to jobs; use Handshake and LinkedIn as a resource; keep sending out applications; while job searching, volunteer or start your business project that showcases your skillset and then discuss it during your interviews.
When interviewing, be creative - Use experiences from your academic career to demonstrate your capabilities. There are many skills you learn in class that are transferrable to the professional world. For example, as a student, you likely had to pivot to full remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than seeing this as a disadvantage, discuss how the new learning format has prepared you to work remotely as an employee, how small group projects have primed you to collaborate on a virtual team, and how small classes have equipped you to use technology such as Zoom.
When deciding on a job offer, be open-minded - Your first job may not be the one you had imagined or hoped for upon graduation. Still, it may be a stepping stone to your ideal career or a way to build your network of professional connections. You create meaningful and valuable relationships with others who may one day help you get the job you want.
When you land the job, be flexible - Show your employer or your boss that you're willing to step outside your comfort zone and do tasks that you were not necessarily trained for or are unrelated to your degree. Also, when circumstances at work change, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, show that you are willing to step up and do a different job, do someone else's job, or work on another project or team. This flexibility will demonstrate your versatility and how you can adapt to new and unpredictable situations. Lastly, embrace the "gig" economy - be willing to start as a temporary or contract worker with a company to get your foot in the door and build more professional connections.

ScoreFire Management OfficerUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $77,536

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.07%

Asian 10.59%

Black or African American 6.98%

Hispanic or Latino 17.87%

Unknown 6.28%

White 57.22%

Gender

female 27.69%

male 72.31%

Age - 35

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 - 35

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fire management officer

Explore fire management officer education requirements

Most common fire management officer degrees

Bachelor's

60.0 %

Master's

20.0 %

Associate

15.0 %

Start to develop specific fire management officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Logistics	35.28%
Financial Reports	13.54%
BLM	11.62%
Portfolio	8.36%
Performance Standards	6.24%

Complete relevant fire management officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New fire management officers 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 management officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real fire management officer resumes.

Research fire management officer duties and responsibilities

Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
Coordinate with surrounding units to identify and meet their SharePoint requirements.
Provide administration support for UNIX systems including monitoring and user account activities.
Coordinate development and maintenance of Unix and NT standard operating, escalation, and notification procedures.

Prepare your fire management officer resume

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

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