What does a fire technician do?
Fire technicians conduct safety inspections and planning for fire protection systems. Fire technicians recognize fire hazards, apply technical knowledge, and perform services to control and prevent fires. Their job includes assessing the safety of the buildings or at-risk areas, works with various protection measures, such as fire systems, exit signage, flame retardant building materials. The main purpose of a fire technician is to prevent fires as much as possible.
Fire technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real fire technician resumes:
- Lead infantry teams in combat operations, providing tactical and technical guidance to subordinates and professional support to superiors.
- Perform installation by climbing to heights using scaffolding, ladders, and lifts.
- Used ladders, scaffolding, monkey wrenches, and channel locks to connect and hang the pipe to the ceiling.
- Cut, measure and piece PVC pipe.
- Establish reputation as a subject matter expert and technical resource to troubleshoot issues.
- Provide technical support to help customers troubleshoot their device identifying hardware and software issues.
- Read blueprints and have to cooperate with other companies such as electrical and plumbing.
- Climb ladders, tanks, and towers daily to retrieve and inspect every extinguisher proper location.
- Receive first aid, CPR, off road boom and scissor lift licenses, as well as OSHA certification
- Inspect, test, and repair systems such as sprinklers, dry stand pipe systems, and pull systems.
- Measure, cut, thread, and hammer pipe to specification using saws, torches and pipe thread devices.
- Train subordanites and ensure all employees are medically clear to wear require respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Service and install fire extinguishers, commercial kitchen systems and install commercial fire sprinkler systems in accordance to the NFPA.
- Test fire department hose lines to NFPA standards and provide formal documentation to fire departments of pass and fail hose lines.
- Service fire extinguisher and restaurants good sprinklers
Fire technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Fire Technicians are proficient in Fire Protection, Customer Service, and NFPA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Detail oriented, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Fire Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Fire Protection, 23%
Certified Fire Protection Technician dedicated to protecting individuals and properties from fire damage through comprehensive analysis of existing fire protection methods.
- Customer Service, 13%
Provided superior customer service skills while promoting a positive company image.
- NFPA, 12%
Test fire department hose lines to NFPA standards and provide formal documentation to fire departments of passed and failed hose lines.
- Hand Tools, 8%
Use hand tools, water, and foam to put out fires and keep vegetation and structures from burning.
- Life Safety, 8%
Licensed in fire extinguisher inspection, fall protection, and life safety.
- Ladders, 6%
Worked while on ladders up to 20ft.
Common skills that a fire technician uses to do their job include "fire protection," "customer service," and "nfpa." You can find details on the most important fire technician responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a fire technician to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what fire technicians do because "fire inspectors must clearly explain fire code violations to building and property managers." Additionally, a fire technician resume shows how fire technicians use communication skills: "participated in daily team meetings to build strong communication skills and work ethic. "
Detail oriented. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling fire technician duties is detail oriented. The role rewards competence in this skill because "fire inspectors must notice minutiae when inspecting sites for code violations or fire risks or for investigating the cause of a fire." According to a fire technician resume, here's how fire technicians can utilize detail oriented in their job responsibilities: "prepare and write reports detailing specific fire prevention and protection issues such as work performed and proposed review schedules. "
Physical strength. This is an important skill for fire technicians to perform their duties. For an example of how fire technician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "fire investigators may have to move debris at the site of a fire in order to get a more accurate understanding of the scene." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a fire technician: "job skills: certified training in fire damage cleaning and using industrial strength products manufactured from company. ".
The three companies that hire the most fire technicians are:
- Cintas15 fire technicians jobs
- APi Group13 fire technicians jobs
- The Hiller Companies11 fire technicians jobs
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Compare different fire technicians
Fire technician vs. Salvager
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, fire technician responsibilities require skills like "fire protection," "customer service," "nfpa," and "hand tools." Meanwhile a typical salvager has skills in areas such as "safety guidelines," "safety regulations," "aluminum," and "waste materials." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Gas meter installers tend to reach similar levels of education than fire technicians. In fact, gas meter installers are 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Fire technician vs. Gas meter installer
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, fire technician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "fire protection," "customer service," "nfpa," and "hand tools." Meanwhile, a gas meter installer has duties that require skills in areas such as "gas meters," "safety ordinances," "physical structures," and "transmitters." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, meter installers achieve similar levels of education than fire technicians. They're 0.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fire technician vs. Meter installer
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a fire technician is likely to be skilled in "fire protection," "customer service," "nfpa," and "hand tools," while a typical meter installer is skilled in "safety rules," "gas meters," "installation data," and "disconnect."
Gas utility workers typically earn similar educational levels compared to fire technicians. Specifically, they're 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fire technician vs. Gas utility worker
Even though a few skill sets overlap between fire technicians and air valve repairers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a fire technician might have more use for skills like "fire protection," "nfpa," "hand tools," and "life safety." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of air valve repairers require skills like "dot," "osha," "pg," and "general construction. "
The average resume of air valve repairers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to fire technicians. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.Types of fire technician
Updated January 8, 2025
