Caribou Maine Firefighter Salary And Job Requirements

By definition, firefighters are skillfully trained individuals to save lives as well as properties in case of fire. They are selected among the best to risk their lives in rescue operations. Similar to any other macho image profession, like policemen, who offer jeopardizing their lives just to save another. You see the accolades these professionals get, would you not like to become like these fearless firefighters?

firefighter career summary Caribou Maine
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Table Of Contents

How Much Money Does A Firefighter Make In Caribou?

People express that work doesn’t seem like work anymore if you love what you are doing. Nonetheless, this passion is not more than enough to supply your finances like basic needs as well as life style. Everybody needs a financial resources to help them live life the way they deem fit. That’s why when you pick a profession to pursue, it is unquestionable that you think also how much money you could gain from it. Genuinely, undeniably that’s the motivation you set your alarm clock to get you ready for the job daily. People in the community service sector don’t get paid as much. But income is not their basis of happiness and fulfillment. {Let’s see how much a firefighter earns.|Without more ado, let’s determine the wages of a firefighter.

firefighter salary Caribou Maine
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

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Somewhere 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 based on the what state he is in or his education degree or his abilities and experience. As we go more, you’ll find out components affecting salary.

Location Matters

Firefighter’s wage can be determined 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 location just where fire takes place frequently is likely to get higher salary compared to less occurrence of fire areas. Currently, New York pays their firemen the most at around 70% above the national mean. While Columbia pays the lowest at 38%.

firefighter average salary by state Caribou Maine
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Education Qualification

If you have been through a study in fire science in high school, you will be eligible to apply as being a firefighter. In this area of firefighting, having attained a college degree is favourable. There are 2 major reasons for this. This shows you have the required understanding as well as expertise in firefighting. The 2nd is that the government will need to expend considerably less on you to develop you as being an asset. Consequently, 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 quite a bit more. A master’s degree might help a lot more.

Length of Work Experience

Experience is usually a major key in deciding someone’s salary. As being a firefighter, your income can rise about 50% with experience in the area of Twenty years. This is extremely high when compared to other jobs which commonly see a 15-20% rise in the same length of time.

Accreditation and Training

As being a fireman, you will have to learn the basics of EMT to even apply for the job. Nonetheless, you may choose to pursue the medical field a bit more and be a paramedic or get advanced EMT training. Having a deeper list of certifications and trainings give you a chance of having a better salary. Besides, this also gives you another choice should you decide shift careers later.

Industry

At the end of the day, your company signs your paycheck. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest paying employers for this career are not the government but private contractors. Included are companies handling production in oil, manufacturing of metal products and waste management. On the other hand, the local and the state government still hire the most number of firefighters.

Other Advantages

In case you are a government worker, an advantage you obtain is the benefits you can claim. You get the services such as insurance in your health or dental check-up. You may also get sick leave benefits. The exact benefits differ from department to department.

Being a medical professional may have a better earning in comparison with being a fireman. However a fireman has got the accolades of an instant savior. Consequently, if you want to be that hero, know the requirements to be a firefighter now!

Caribou Firefighter Job Outlook

firefighter job outlook Caribou Maine
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The job outlook is a crucial factor while determining which career to get into. You wouldn’t want to pick your favorite career option just 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 obviously on the rise since because of the growing population. So, what does the future hold for the common fireman? Let us find out.

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There are currently about 300,000 firemen appointed in the USA. There’s a steady development 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. However, this also means that there will be that much more people trying to get the job also. As a result, there will be some competition. This is primarily due to the low education specifications and the attractions of a public service job. The pay might not be very high, but the benefits make up for that. It’s approximated that there might be about 100 people competing for the same position by 2024.

firefighter job outlook by state Caribou Maine
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How To be A Firefighter

Much like any other expert career to pursue, a process is crucial to follow. The most important part of these processes would be to accomplish the education requirements. Without these requirements, hardly any employer would be willing to hire you. As being a firefighter, there are not too many education prerequisites that you need to possess. However, there are a lot of other requirements such as physical, medical as well as legal that one needs to have to qualify for being a firefighter. Let’s explore these in detail.

Education Qualification

High school diploma along with a degree in higher education are the fundamental prerequisites to be qualified being a firefighter. The subjects do not matter as such. However , if you have fire fighting related subjects earned, that would be very helpful. That will give you a backgrounder of the profession you’re about to go into.

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A lot of those who intended to become a firefighter, they decide to pursue a degree in college after earning their diploma in high school. You need to be at least EIGHTEEN years old to meet the age qualification. Therefore, one could not elect to be a firefighter right out of high school. If you want to have choices later if you decide to be a firefighter, much better pick a degree with subjects in firefighting, you may need them. There are subjects in a curriculum of the degree picked that teach you how to save lives, handle devices required in firefighting along with other related technical issues.

If wanted, you may also choose to complete an associate’s, bachelor’s or a master’s degree in the same. The graduate studies you attain can assist you land a promotion. At the same time, remember that the maximum age requirement is kept at 28-30 years of age. That’s why you must not over concentrate on acquiring too much education in order to qualify.

Paramedic Training

All the firefighters must have this EMT certification. The one required is the EMT-B or the EMT-Basic. This certifies firefighters that they really know what to perform in case of fires or in accidents. A year is needed in order to finish this training. Should you decided to become a paramedic at later time, you need to acquire education in the area of Emergency Medical Services. This helps them gain an edge over other applicants and hopefully, a better income. Additionally, there are a few medical expert firefighters who are able to take better care of individuals after they have been rescued from the fires.

Maine State Driving License

Many states require the candidates to be able to drive. Thus, they need their candidates to be a licensed driver that may help them when person is required to drive the firetruck to the location. It also serves as an ID proof to validate the applicant’s age.

Legal Track Record

Firefighters are vetted almost as meticulously as police officers. They undergo a thorough background check before they are hired. It completely needed that an aspiring firefighters must have a clean record, no criminal record. If you think you have previous records, then much better to not pursue this profession as you will immediately be disqualified. Having said that, there are cases where a pardoned individual of his offences are acknowledged but not all department practice that.

Physical Fitness

One of the main characteristics that a firefighter should have is physical strength. They need to have the high upper body strength to be able to lift objects and individuals to help them in rescue situations. Not only body strength is need, firefighter’s endurance should be high as they need to deal a lot of factors like running even in harsh environment. All firefighters undertake strenuous physical exams both in the academy and before it.

Free From Healthcare Problems

Firefighters should cope with a lot of suffocating cases. Firefighters have masks to overcome those situations but even so, if have respiratory condition, this may hinder your chances. In case you have history in your respiratory, that will affect your efficiency. That’s why it’s a must that an applicant should be clear from any of that respiratory problems.

There a number of boxes that need to be ticked while choosing a firefighter. Indeed, the list is long, so learn how long will it take you become a firefighter!

What Really Does a Caribou Firefighter Do?

Firefighters are your daily heroes who work together to set out fires and also help people when they get stuck in such situations. They’re also in command of rescue actions for common daily challenges. Which means that the image of firefighters saving a kitten stuck on a tree often shown on televisions is really true. Aside from the normal job they are doing, firefighters help educate people to avoid fire from going on. They also do the investigation as to the reasons of fire, its origin or cause.

Extinguishing Fires

This is the primary role of firefighters. They’re always in check waiting for a call for their services. When a distress call is acquired, firefighters along with their devices rush to the fire location to extinguish it. A few of the fire trucks are just meant to deliver wounded people.

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Firefighting is a team work. Each member already has its given task. Some individuals are in charge of controlling the ladder as well as rescue operations. Others are in command 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. Since they work in shifts, every unit has their own commanding officer.

Rescuing People

A certification in EMT is needed to all firefighters. This is required given that one of the major duties of the firefighters are to save people. Most of the time this comes in handy when looking after those who are stuck inside the fires. However, not all rescue operations that the firefighters take on are fire related. Firemen or even firewomen are the first on the scene with a few police officers wherever there are any casualties. These casualties may be caused due to natural disasters, motor accidents or several other reasons. The firefighters are supposed to work together and rescue the victims from additional harm. This is where a firefighters knowledge in EMT comes in handy.

Educating People

Firefighters are usually knowledgeable in fire sciences. The amount of knowledge depends on which degree they have pursued in the field or which course they have studied. Consequently, they help a lot of the people by educating them about ways to avoid fires. This is commonly done right after they visit a fire site and extinguish it. Otherwise, they also visit schools and other places to positively educate individuals about fires, how to prevent fires and if necessary, how to extinguish them.

Fire Investigation

To educate people on how to avoid fires, the firemen/firewomen must first find the source of the fire. Understanding the causes can help firefighters prevent fire for the same scenario happen again. Oftentimes, it’s possible that criminals with malicious intent set such fires. It is then the job of the firefighters to check out and provide more hints to the law enforcement officers about who started it. There are firefighters who’re also called arson investigators that specialize fire investigation. Together with the law enforcement, they work to check into possible arsonists.

As you could see, there is a broad number of reasons to call these people our everyday heroes. They do save 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 have to become one!