Doylestown Pennsylvania Firefighter Salary And Job Requirements

By definition, firefighters are professionally trained individuals to save lives and properties in case of fire. They are strong individuals who can perform rescue operations with style as well as panache. Often loved by women, these pros are not afraid of anything and literally lay down their lives daily just like policemen. You see the accolades these experts acquire, would you not like to become like these fearless firefighters?

firefighter career summary Doylestown Pennsylvania
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Table Of Contents

How Much Money Does A Firefighter Make In Doylestown?

People say that work does not seem like work anymore if you love what you are doing. Nonetheless, this passion is not enough to provide your finances like basic needs as well as life style. Everyone requires a financial backing to help them live life the way they deem fit. Consequently, with regards to selecting a profession, people are always curious about how much they might earn from it. Reality check, undeniably that’s the motivation you set your alarm clock to get you ready for the job everyday. People who do community outreach don’t earn much. But income is not really their basis of joy and fulfillment. {Let’s find out how much a firefighter earns.|Without further ado, let us figure out the income of a firefighter.

firefighter salary Doylestown Pennsylvania
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

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The mean annual income of a firefighter is around $49,000 with the median somewhere around $46,000. There are various factors which affect this number such as the size of the population and also the education that a firefighter has gone through. Below is a list of these aspects and how they could increase or decrease your salary as a firefighter.

Location Matters

The precise location of the fire department is a major factor in deciding someone’s salary. This is due to a few factors like – population size, availability of firemen and frequency of fighters. A place exactly where fire takes place often probably will get higher income compared to less event of fire areas. New York has the greatest rate among firefighters with 70% above the national mean. While Columbia pays the cheapest at 38%.

firefighter average salary by state Doylestown Pennsylvania
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Education Qualification

To be a firefighter, one usually just needs to have studied a course relevant to fire science in high school. In this field of firefighting, having attained a college degree is favourable. There are two main reasons for this. One is the reason is proof of your know-how in the field. Another one is for the department to spend less on you just before becoming an asset in the government. Thus, they could afford to pay you more. If you have a degree, whether it is a bachelor’s or an associate’s degree, that will help you gain added benefit. Just how much more when you have a graduate credentials in firefighting.

Length of Work Experience

Experience is commonly a major key in deciding someone’s earnings. In case a firefighter has a field experience of around Twenty years, his income may rise to 50% That percentage is quite in comparison with other job which is at 15% to 20% even they have got the same length of experience.

Accreditation and Training

Even the fundamentals of EMT, it’s still required by a fireman. Nevertheless, you can pick to pursue the medical field a bit further and be a paramedic or get advanced EMT training. Possessing a deeper list of certifications and trainings provide you with a chance of having a bigger earnings. Besides, this also provides you another option should you opt shift careers later.

Industry

When all’s said and finished, you have to receive your paycheck. Per BLS records, it’s not the government employers who pay out firefighters more, but it’s the private companies. This includes firms that deal with waste management, coal and oil production, and metal product manufacturing. Nevertheless, the local and also the state government still hire the most number of firefighters.

Other Advantages

If you are a government personnel, an advantage you get is the benefits you can claim. Being a firefighter, you definitely get benefits like dental and medical insurance. You may also acquire sick leave benefits. The exact benefits differ from department to department.

Being a physician might have a better earning as compared with being a fireman. Nonetheless, by the end of the day, you become a hero in someone’s eyes. Consequently, if you would like to be that hero, figure out the prerequisites to be a firefighter now!

Doylestown Firefighter Employment Outlook

firefighter job outlook Doylestown Pennsylvania
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The job outlook is an essential aspect while choosing which profession to get into. You would not want to choose your favorite career choice simply to realize that it going down the drain in a couple of 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. Consequently, what does the future hold for the common fireman? Let us discover.

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There are presently about 300,000 firemen employed in the USA. There is a steady advancement of 5% for the next couple of years till 2024. This is the average growth rate of any normal profession. This means that there would be about 12,000 new jobs by 2024. Nonetheless, this also implies that there would be that much more people hoping to get the job also. As a result, there would be some competition. This is mainly because of the low education requirements and also the attractions of a public service job. The pay may not be extremely high, however the advantages make up for that. It’s approximated that there might be about 100 individuals competing for the same job by 2024.

firefighter job outlook by state Doylestown Pennsylvania
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

Steps To Becoming a Firefighter

You need to follow a specific procedure to join any profession. Primary requirement is you should have the necessary education. Without these requirements, hardly any employer would be happy to hire you. Although education is the main requirement, you must not be worried mainly because employer just needs at least one degree completed. However, there are many other needs like physical, medical as well as legal that one should have to qualify for being a firefighter. Let’s explore these in detail.

Education Requirements

High school diploma and a degree in higher education are the fundamental prerequisites to be qualified being a firefighter. The subjects do not matter as such. However, acquiring some courses in fire sciences does help your cause. It will also show you how to become a more effective firefighter.

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A lot of those who planned to become a firefighter, they elect to pursue a degree in college after earning their diploma in high school. The minimum age requirement is 18 years. Therefore, one cannot elect to be a firefighter right out of high school. College degrees in fire sciences are a huge plus if you’re planning to be a part of the field. There are subjects in a curriculum of the degree picked that teach you how to save lives, handle machines needed in firefighting and also other related technical issues.

If wanted, you can also choose to finish an associate’s, bachelor’s or a master’s degree in the same. The graduate studies you attain can help you land a promotion. Simultaneously, keep in mind that the maximum age qualification is kept at 28-30 years of age. Thus, if you want to spend most of your life as being a firefighter, you should never concentrate too much on education.

Required Training in Paramedic

Each and every firefighter is needed to have an EMT certification. The one required is the EMT-B or the EMT-Basic. This helps firefighters tend to victims in accidents or fires. The training may last for up to 12 months. Should you chose to become a paramedic at later time, you need to earn education in the area of Emergency Medical Services. The benefits of entering this direction are possible increase in income or added edge over other applicants. Additionally, there are a few medical expert firefighters who can take better care of people after they have been rescued from the fires.

Pennsylvania State Driving License

In many states, hiring of firefighter requires an applicant to possess experience in driving. A driving license to each and every applicant is necessary so they could be useful in case of emergency where for an instance no other fire truck driver is available. It also functions as an ID proof to verify the applicant’s age.

Free of Criminal Record

In a few cases, a firefighter is compared as a policeman. They carry out an extensive background check before they are hired. It certainly required that an aspiring firefighters must have a clean record, no criminal record. If its found that there was one, or the firefighter was previously arrested, then that applicant is promptly disqualified. Nonetheless, there are cases where a pardoned individual of his violations are approved however, not all department perform that.

Doylestown Physical Requirements

Firefighters need to be physically fit to do thier job always. They need to have the high upper body strength to be able to lift objects and people to help them in rescue situations. Not just body strength is need, firefighter’s endurance should be high as they should deal a lot of factors like running even in harsh surroundings. All firefighters undertake rigorous physical examinations both in the academy and before it.

Free From Healthcare Problems

Firefighters should deal with a lot of suffocating cases. They’re usually supplied with masks to help them cope with such cases however, not always are they so lucky. People having respiratory conditions could not handle such heavy machinery with precision under suffocating circumstances. That’s why it’s important that an applicant should be clear from any of that respiratory ailments.

There a number of boxes that need to be ticked while selecting a firefighter. Certainly, the list is long, so find out how long will it take you turn into a firefighter!

Doylestown Firefighter Job Description

Firefighters are the unsung heroes who risk their lives to save other lives. They’re also in command of rescue actions for common daily challenges. This means that the image of firefighters saving a kitten stuck on a tree usually shown on televisions is actually true. Apart from the usual job they do, firefighters help instruct individuals to avoid fire from happening. In many cases, they are supposed to inspect causes of fire and dig deep into the case due to the possibility of an arsonist.

Extinguishing Fires

This is the main function of firefighters. When on-duty, these individuals stay in their firehouse to interact to a call as soon as possible. When they get a call, they rush to the area in one of their firetrucks which may contain hoses or ladders. A few of the fire trucks are just meant to deliver injured people.

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At the scene of the fire, every person has a different task. A particular firefighter maybe responsible for controlling the ladder and hose. Others are in command of controlling the water flow as well as extinguishing the fire. These individuals work under the order of their respective commanding officers. They work in shiftings, because of that, each shifting unit has its corresponding officers.

Saving People

A certification in EMT is required to all firefighters. This is important given that one of the main jobs of the firefighters are to rescue people. A firefighter might need this technical know-how if a victim is cornered in fires. Not all rescue procedures are fire related. Firemen or perhaps firewomen are the first on the scene with a few police officers wherever there are any casualties. These casualties might be caused because of natural disasters, motor accidents or several other reasons. Firefighter should work to save the victim. This is certainly where a firefighters knowledge in EMT comes in handy.

Educating People

Fire science is one of the expertise a firefighter possesses. Their know-how may vary as to how further firefighters go after this field. By sharing what they know, they help people by teaching them how to prevent fire from taking place. Firefighters usually do it right after visiting an extinguished fire scene. In a few other instances also, they go to schools or other public areas to teach and sometime perform demonstration on what to perform in case of fire.

Fire Investigation

It is also imperative to know the origin of fire. They have to distinguish what caused it so they could avoid further such scenarios. Cases like criminals set the first to explode are possible. It is then the task of the firefighters to check out and provide more clues to the law enforcement officers about who started it. Firefighters expert in investigations associated with fire are called arson investigators. They work with the police to catch arsonists.

There is no doubt why we must not call them our life savers and unsung heroes. While extinguishing fires in various areas, they ignite one in our hearts. Therefore, if learning about their duties fired you up, see what education specifications you should become one!