What does a Firefighter/Paramedic do?

Firefighters/paramedics handle emergency triage, ensure patient stability, and acute medical assessment. These professionals provide emergency medical care to infant, child, and adult trauma and medical patients based on assessment findings. They manage paramedic/EMT continuing education programs. They are trained in HAZMAT response and do exercises on a monthly basis. It is their responsibility to coordinate blood-borne infection and CPR yearly skills training and re-certification for county volunteers and employees.
Firefighter/paramedic responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real firefighter/paramedic resumes:
- Teach the public about fire safety, precept and instruct both paramedic and EMT students during there rides with the department.
- Participate in continuing education opportunities for up-keeping of EMT certifications and recent medical procedures.
- Train in HAZMAT response and perform monthly exercises.
- Provide 9-1-1- BLS and ALS attention to the residents of the city of Chicago.
- Respond to but not limit to fire, medical, haz-mat, aircraft emergency.
- Identify persons requiring immediate care, provide life-saving ALS & BLS procedures for emergency care.
- Operate as the lead paramedic on a med unit and an ACLS engine, as required.
- Operate fire and rescue apparatus to include: ambulance, rescue pumper and aircraft rescue/firefighting apparatus.
- Conduct business inspections, teach community information classes such as CPR, first aid and fire extinguishers.
- Respond to and mitigation of fires, haz mat incidents, ems calls and any other emergency.
- Teach crew on first aid, health information, blood borne pathogens and other medical and safety topics.
- Remove sutures, apply splints, collect specimens, and transport patients to various units and diagnostic testing areas.
- Conduct CPR education programs for community members and fire department personnel.
- Transport and care for medically ill and traumatically injure patients in emergency and non-emergency situations.
- Communicate with patient and love ones to provide information and assurance that care is being given, and to show compassion.
Firefighter/paramedic skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Firefighter/Paramedics are proficient in Patients, CPR, and EMT. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Interpersonal skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Firefighter/Paramedics that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 7%
Rendered advanced paramedical care to injured or ill patients as required ensuring compliance with department regulations, protocol, and procedure.
- CPR, 6%
Conducted CPR education programs for community members and fire department personnel.
- EMT, 6%
Prepare and submit performance reports for all EMT and probationary employees concerning conformance to MFD protocols and state laws.
- Fire Suppression, 5%
Worked in fire suppression* Worked in fire prevention/public education* Conducted origin and cause investigations* Worked in fire rescue
- Medical Services, 5%
Administered emergency medical services such as advance life support in extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations.
- Firefighting, 5%
Maintained station & equipment, assured proper working order of personal protective equipment, tested firefighting equipment.
"patients," "cpr," and "emt" are among the most common skills that firefighter/paramedics use at work. You can find even more firefighter/paramedic responsibilities below, including:
Compassion. One of the key soft skills for a firefighter/paramedic to have is compassion. You can see how this relates to what firefighter/paramedics do because "emts and paramedics must be able to provide emotional support to patients in an emergency, especially patients who are in life-threatening situations or extreme mental distress." Additionally, a firefighter/paramedic resume shows how firefighter/paramedics use compassion: "key achievement #1; 32 year ems career key achievement #2; conscientious, compassionate, thorough pt. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform firefighter/paramedic duties is interpersonal skills. Firefighter/paramedics responsibilities require that "emts and paramedics usually work on teams and must be able to coordinate their activities closely with others in stressful situations." Firefighter/paramedics also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintain positive interpersonal relationships with colleagues, ems representatives, hospitals and the community, etc. "
Listening skills. firefighter/paramedics are also known for listening skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to firefighter/paramedic responsibilities, because "emts and paramedics need to listen to patients to determine the extent of their injuries or illnesses." A firefighter/paramedic resume example shows how listening skills is used in the workplace: "communicated effectively and passionately with patients and other medical professionals. "
Problem-solving skills. For certain firefighter/paramedic responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a firefighter/paramedic rely on this skill, as "emts and paramedics must evaluate patients’ symptoms and administer appropriate treatments." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what firefighter/paramedics do: "responded to emergency scenes and provided emergency care and applied rapid problem-solving skills. "
Speaking skills. A commonly-found skill in firefighter/paramedic job descriptions, "speaking skills" is essential to what firefighter/paramedics do. Firefighter/paramedic responsibilities rely on this skill because "emts and paramedics need to clearly explain procedures to patients, give orders, and relay information to others." You can also see how firefighter/paramedic duties rely on speaking skills in this resume example: "represented the phoenix fire department while working with vendors and traveled to various locations to evaluate medical equipment and manufacturing facilities. "
Physical strength. Another skill commonly found on firefighter/paramedic job descriptions is "physical strength." It can come up quite often in firefighter/paramedic duties, since "emts and paramedics need to be physically fit." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day firefighter/paramedic responsibilities: "respond to medical emergencies; perform primary and secondary physical assessment of ill or injured. "
The three companies that hire the most firefighter/paramedics are:
- Xator
4 firefighter/paramedics jobs
- University of Alaska2 firefighter/paramedics jobs
- City of Oceanside2 firefighter/paramedics jobs
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Firefighter/paramedic vs. Emergency responder
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a firefighter/paramedic are more likely to require skills like "fire suppression," "customer service," "ventilation," and "fire prevention." On the other hand, a job as an emergency responder requires skills like "emr," "ems," "compassion," and "medical facilities." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Emergency responders tend to reach similar levels of education than firefighter/paramedics. In fact, emergency responders are 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Firefighter/paramedic vs. Ambulance driver
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, firefighter/paramedic responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "emt," "fire suppression," "firefighting," and "customer service." Meanwhile, an ambulance driver has duties that require skills in areas such as "patient transport," "medical appointments," "stretchers," and "ems." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Ambulance drivers tend to reach similar levels of education than firefighter/paramedics. In fact, they're 2.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Firefighter/Paramedics in the next 3-5 years?
Firefighter/paramedic vs. Emergency doctor
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from firefighter/paramedic resumes include skills like "patients," "emt," "fire suppression," and "firefighting," whereas an emergency doctor is more likely to list skills in "infectious disease," "emergency room," "data collection," and "physical examinations. "
When it comes to education, emergency doctors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to firefighter/paramedics. In fact, they're 0.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 65.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Firefighter/paramedic vs. Outdoor emergency care technician
Types of firefighter/paramedic
Updated January 8, 2025