Firefighter

---

Overview: Firefighters have a job that no community can live without. In this paragraph I will tell you about how a firefighter helps people. In a survey taken by Occupational Outlook Handbook it states thousands of fires break out each year. Firefighters are there to help put out these fires and save people from them before it destroy lots of their property, or more importantly, takes their lives. Firefighters are called to car accident scene lots of times and are also expected to treat the hurt people when the paramedics are not there yet. In the fire department near my school there is a lot of voluntary work that takes place and the paramedics are not always on duty, so they send out the fire trucks. A firefighter on duty must be like minute man, and respond quickly. Firefighters take orders from the chief when dealing with a fire or any other duties that they were given. In the days of the cleanup of the horrible 9/11 attack, many firefighters did not do any work besides cleaning up the disaster. Firefighters work in all different surroundings including urban, suburban, airports, chemical plants,neuclear power plants, and farm areas.
Schooling: Firefighters are in almost every town that you go to. Firefighters must take many series of tests before they can become a firefighter such as a written test, physical test, and a screening test to make sure you are not on drugs or have a criminal background. If you are interested in internship programs, many fire departments have acquired them.  Many firefighters have college degrees.
Salary and Job Opportunities: After passing all of your exams here is what you can make (survey done by Occupational Outlook Handbook http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm): as a fire chief $ 58,156, as a deputy chief $ 52,174, as a battalion chief $ 50,164, as a fire captain
$ 41,816, as a Fire lieutenant $38,875, as a Fire Inspector $37,142, and as a firefighter $29,316. 

If you are interested in this career you may want to:

• stay in good shape
• be a cooperative worker
• go and visit a firehouse to learn what the basic problems and jobs are and to learn about fire safety
• visit the following website: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/home.html

Return to Homepage