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

What is a fire officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fire officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.26 an hour? That's $52,547 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 1,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFire OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,547

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.8

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.03%

Asian 2.24%

Black or African American 5.53%

Hispanic or Latino 8.01%

Unknown 5.87%

White 77.32%

Gender

female 5.69%

male 94.31%

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

9.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fire officer

Explore fire officer education requirements

Most common fire officer degrees

Bachelor's

73.3 %

Associate

11.5 %

Master's

7.6 %

Start to develop specific fire officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Incident Command	13.93%
Fire Safety	11.60%
Medical Emergencies	10.40%
Combat	5.99%
CPR	5.94%

Complete relevant fire officer training and internships

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

Research fire officer duties and responsibilities

Achieve advance levels of Fire/EMS management certification.
Inspect new and operating facilities for NFPA fire code regulation and compliance.
Ensure NFPA and OSHA codes are kept current to ensure facility compliance with industry standards.
Research, develop, and present numerous proposals for high-level HAZMAT equipment for local and countywide use.

Prepare your fire officer resume

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

Build a professional fire officer 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 officer resume.