As the name says, Firefighters are individuals who literally save people or other things from fire by fighting it. They are chosen among the finest to risk their lives in rescue operations. The same as any other macho image profession, like policemen, who offer risking their lives just to save another. Right after hearing so much of praise regarding these brave people, you should have developed a slight desire to become one yourself.
Table Of Contents
- Average firefighter salary
- Firefighter career outlook
- How to become a firefighter
- Firefighter job description
How Much Does A Firefighter Make In Patriot?
People say that work does not seem like work anymore if you love what you do. On the other hand, passion is not more than enough to sustain a lifestyle. Everybody needs a financial backing to make them live life the way they think fit. Thus, with regards to choosing a career, individuals are always curious about how much they might earn out of it. For some, it is the only motivation each morning to get up and go to work. People in the community service sector don’t get paid as much. But income is not their basis of pleasure and satisfaction. {Let’s see how much a firefighter earns.|Without further ado, let’s determine the income of a firefighter.
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Around $49,000 is the mean yearly income a firefighter would make. A median of around $46,000 is the median. The figures may vary depending on the what state he is in or his education degree or his skills and experience. As we go further, you’ll know aspects affecting earnings.
Location Matters
Firefighter’s wage can be decided by the place of the department you are assigned. This is due to a number of aspects like – population size, availability of firemen and frequency of fighters. A place where spontaneous wildfires are likely, have a higher need for firemen than any other areas. Currently, New York pays their firemen the most at around 70% above the national mean. On the contrary, Columbia pays the smallest at 38% below the national average.
Education Qualification
To be a firefighter, one normally just needs to have studied a course relevant to fire science in high school. However, education is highly valued in this area. There are 2 major reasons for this. One is that it is proof of your know-how in the field. Another one is for the department to spend less on you before becoming an asset in the government. Therefore, they could afford to pay you more. A bachelor’s degree or an associate’s degree in fire science will help you advance your career as well as earn a lot more. How much more when you have a graduate credentials in firefighting.
Length of Work Experience
Experience is usually a major key in determining someone’s revenue. As being a firefighter, your revenue can rise around 50% with experience in the field of 20 years. This is extremely high when compared to other careers which commonly see a 15-20% rise in the same period of time.
Accreditations
Even the fundamentals of EMT, it’s still needed by a fireman. Nonetheless, you can choose to pursue the medical field a bit more and become a paramedic or get advanced EMT training. Possessing a deeper list of accreditations and trainings provide you with a chance of having a bigger salary. Besides, this also provides you another option should you opt shift careers later.
Industry
When all’s said and finished, you must receive your income. Per BLS records, it is not the government employers who pay firefighters more, but it’s the private companies. Included are companies coping with production in oil, manufacturing of metal products and also waste management. No matter, the local as well as state government are still needing firefighting individuals.
Other Advantages
In case you are a government employee, one of the advantages you get is the benefits you can claim. Being a firefighter, you obviously get benefits like dental and health care insurance. However you also get covered sick leaves as well as reimbursement for a few specific tuition fees. But nonetheless, benefits may vary from what department you’re into.
As you could see, the monetary scope of a fireman isn’t as good as that of a health care professional. However, by the end of the day, you become a hero in someone’s eyes. Learn the requirements to becoming a firefighter and be the man, the fireman, the hero!
Patriot Firefighter Employment Outlook
The job outlook is an essential aspect while determining which career to get into. You would not want to pick your favorite career choice simply to realize that it going down the drain in a few years. You can find out such info from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The career outlook for public servants is always on the rise since due to the growing population. Consequently, what does the future hold for the common fireman? Let’s find out.
[asd_program_button /]There are presently about 300,000 firemen appointed in the USA. There’s a steady advancement of 5% for the next couple of years till 2024. This is the average growth rate of any normal career. Which means that there would be about 12,000 new jobs by 2024. But, this also means that there would be that much more individuals hoping to get the job also. As a result, there would be some competition. This is primarily due to the low education requirements and the attractions of a public service job. The pay may not be extremely high, however the benefits make up for that. It’s approximated that there may be about 100 people competing for the same job by 2024.
How To be A Firefighter
Just like any other professional career to follow, a procedure is important to follow. The most important part of these procedures would be to complete the education specifications. Without these specifications, hardly any employer would be happy to hire you. Being a firefighter, there are not too many education requirements that one needs to have. Alongside, education you need to pass other exams like physical, medical as well as legal test. Let’s explore these in detail.
Education Requirements
The basic prerequisite becoming a firefighter would be to complete high school and get a relevant degree. Subjects you earned don’t matter much. However, possessing some courses in fire sciences does help your cause. It will also educate you on how to become a better firefighter.
[asd_program_search_bar /]Many of those who intended to become a firefighter, they decide to pursue a degree in college right after earning their diploma in high school. You need to be at least 18 years old to meet the age qualification. As a result, one cannot choose to be a firefighter right out of high school. College degrees in fire sciences are a huge plus in case you are planning to join the field. Courses which teach you how to save individuals, handle hydraulic tools such as ladders or other related stuff are a major plus.
It is optional, you may pursue a graduate studies in that same field. The graduate studies you attain can assist you land a promotion. Simultaneously, bear in mind that the maximum age qualification is kept at 28-30 years old. That is why you must not over focus on acquiring too much education so as to qualify.
Paramedic Training
Every firefighter is needed to present an EMT certification. The one needed is the EMT-B or the EMT-Basic. This certifies firefighters that they know very well what to complete in the event of fires or in accidents. The training may last for up to 1 year. Should you decided to become a paramedic at later time, you should gain education in the area of Emergency Medical Services. This helps them acquire an edge over other applicants and hopefully, a greater earnings. In most cases, fire victims rescued are attended by medical expert that are firefighters too.
Ohio State Driving License
In most states, hiring of firefighter needs an applicant to have experience in driving. A driving license to every candidate is required so they could be useful in case of urgent situation where for an instance no other fire truck driver is out there. It also functions as an ID proof to validate the applicant’s age.
Clean Record
In certain cases, a firefighter is compared as a policeman. They undergo an extensive criminal background check before they are hired. To get employed, the firefighters could not have a criminal record. If you feel you have previous records, then much better not to pursue this profession as you will instantly be disqualified. However, there are cases where a pardoned individual of his violations are approved but not all department practice that.
Physical Fitness
Firefighters must be physically fit to perform thier job all the time. Cases like lifting fire victims or objects to free victims arise quite often in rescue tasks, therefore, firefighter’s upper body strength is a must. Not only body strength is need, firefighter’s endurance must be high as they need to deal a lot of aspects like running even in harsh environment. All firefighters undertake rigorous physical examinations both in the academy and before it.
Free From Medical Ailments
Firefighters must cope with a lot of suffocating scenarios. Firefighters have masks to conquer those scenarios but even so, if have respiratory condition, this may hinder your chances. People having respiratory problems could not operate such heavy machinery with precision under suffocating conditions. Thus, applicants are checked accurately for any such illnesses that may cause them harm in such circumstances.
When you fill up the forms, a lot of boxes need to be marked. If you feel you tick these boxes, then go and see how long it takes to be a firefighter!
Patriot Firefighter Work Description
Firefighters are your everyday heroes who work together to set out fires and help people if they get stuck in such situations. They are also in command of rescue operations for common everyday challenges. Which means that the image of firefighters saving a kitten stuck on a tree usually shown on televisions is actually true. Besides this, they are also accountable for instructing individuals to prevent further fires. They also carry out the investigation as to the reasons of fire, its origin or cause.
Extinguishing Fires
This is the primary role of firefighters. When on-duty, these individuals stay in their firehouse to take action to a call as soon as possible. When they get a call, they rush to the location in one of their firetrucks which might contain hoses or ladders. Some of the fire trucks are just meant to deliver wounded people.
[asd_program_button /]At the scene of the fire, every individual has a different job. A particular firefighter maybe in charge of handling the ladder and hose. Others are in control of controlling the water flow as well as extinguishing the fire. Similar to any other team that has a leader commanding the operation, their group is in the direction by their commanding officer. They work in shifts, for that reason, every shifting unit has its corresponding officers.
Rescuing People
All firefighters must be qualified as an EMT. This is important given that one of the primary jobs of the firefighters are to save people. A firefighter might need this technical know-how if a victim is cornered in fires. Having said that, not all rescue procedures that the firefighters carry out are fire related. Firemen or firewomen are the first on the scene with some police officers wherever there are any casualties. These casualties may be caused because of natural disasters, motor crashes or a few other reasons. Firefighter has to work to rescue the victim. This is where a firefighters know-how in EMT will come in handy.
Educating People
Firefighters are usually knowledgeable in fire sciences. Their know-how may vary as to how further firefighters go after this field. By sharing what they know, they help people by educating them how to avoid fire from happening. This is commonly carried out just after they visit a fire site and extinguish it. In certain other instances also, they visit schools or other public areas to teach and sometime perform demo on what to perform in case of fire.
Investigating Fires
Also, it is imperative to be aware of the origin of fire. They must distinguish what caused it so they can prevent further such cases. Cases like criminals set the first to blow up are probable. Working together with police officers, it’s firefighter’s task to figure out what causes the fire or who possibly started it. There are firefighters who are also known as arson investigators which specialize fire investigation. They work with the police to catch arsonists.
As you could see, there is a wide number of reasons to call these people our everyday heroes. They do rescue lives by extinguishing fires and they develop also our appreciation to them. Consequently, if learning about their responsibilities fired you up, see what education requirements you need to become one!