Public safety
What does a Firefighter do?
Turning up when something has gone wrong, and taking charge of it.
What the day is like
- Outside, in the weather.
- Tools, materials, your body.
- People all day.
- Right or wrong, to a standard.
- No two days alike.
The facts
- Pay
- $59,280 a year, median
- Firefighters, May 2025
- Usually needs
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- A year or two, often while earning something.
- Jobs
- +4% projected change in jobs, 2025-2035 projections
- Demand looks growing slowly
What is good about it
- No two days are the same, if that is what you want from a week.
- You can see what you did at the end of the day.
What people find hard about it
- Broken sleep on shift
- Traumatic incidents
- Long stretches of waiting and training
Selection is competitive and physical standards are strict and ongoing.
Will machines take this job?
Hard for machines to take over. Reporting and monitoring are exposed; the part where a person takes responsibility in the moment is not.
How to find out whether it suits you
Visit a station, try the fitness standard, and ask about the quiet hours.
Would this actually suit you?
CareerDNA works that out from what you choose rather than from what you say about yourself: two minutes of choosing between real jobs, a few puzzles, and some questions about what you are like. It is free, it saves as you go, and it will tell you plainly where the answer is thin.