Springfield Massachusetts Firefighter Salary And Job Requirements

As the name says, Firefighters are those who literally save people or other objects from fire by fighting it. They’re picked among the finest to risk their lives in rescue actions. Often loved by girls, these professionals are not frightened of anything and literally lay down their lives everyday like policemen. You see the accolades these professionals get, would you not like to become like these courageous firefighters?

firefighter career summary Springfield Massachusetts
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

Table Of Contents

Just How Much Does A Firefighter Make In Springfield?

People express that work does not seem like work anymore if you love what you do. Nonetheless, passion is not enough to sustain a life-style. We all need bucks so we can move, after all money is everything. Therefore, in terms of choosing a profession, people are always curious about how much they might earn out of it. Genuinely, undeniably that’s the inspiration you set your alarm clock to get you ready for the job day to day. Individuals who perform community outreach don’t earn much. Nonetheless, they do have a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. {Let’s find out how much a firefighter earns.|Without further ado, let us find out the income of a firefighter.

firefighter salary Springfield Massachusetts
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

[asd_program_button /]

Around $49,000 is the mean annual income a firefighter makes. A median of around $46,000 is the median. There are many factors that affect this number such as the size of the population as well as the education that a firefighter has gone through. Below is a listing of these components and how they can increase or decrease your income as a firefighter.

Location Matters

Firefighter’s salary can be determined by the location of the department you are assigned. Factored to that are the need of the population of fighters. A place exactly where fire takes place frequently will probably have higher income compared to less occurrence of fire areas. Currently, New York pays their firemen the most at around 70% above the national mean. However, Columbia pays the smallest at 38% below the national average.

firefighter average salary by state Springfield Massachusetts
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

Education Qualification

To become a firefighter, one normally just needs to have studied a course related to fire science in high school. Nevertheless, education is extremely valued in this field. Here’s 2 reasons why. One is the reason is evidence of your expertise in the field. The 2nd is that the government will have to expend considerably less on you to develop you being an asset. Resulting to paying 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. Just how much more when you have a graduate credentials in firefighting.

Length of Work Experience

Experience is commonly a major key in determining someone’s revenue. If a firefighter has a field experience of approximately 20 years, his income may rise up to 50% This is quite high when compared to other jobs which normally see a 15-20% rise in the same amount of time.

Accreditations

Even the basics of EMT, it’s still required by a fireman. On the other hand, apart from learning the basic, you can go more and learn the advanced accreditations. Having a deeper list of accreditations and trainings give you a chance of having a higher salary. Besides, this also gives you another option should you opt shift careers later.

Industry

At the end of the day, your employer signs your paycheck. Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the biggest paying employers for this career are not the government but private contractors. This includes firms which deal with waste management, coal and oil production, and metal product manufacturing. No matter, the local and state government are still looking for firefighting people.

Other Benefits

Among the best things about possessing a government work is that there is a bunch of other advantages that are included with it. As being a firefighter, you certainly get perks like dental as well as health care insurance. You can also avail sick leave benefits. But nonetheless, advantages may differ from what department you’re into.

As you could see, the monetary scope of a fireman isn’t as nice as that of a physician. However a fireman has the accolades of an instant savior. Learn the prerequisites to becoming a firefighter and be the man, the fireman, the hero!

Springfield Firefighter Job Outlook

firefighter job outlook Springfield Massachusetts
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

The job outlook is an important aspect while choosing which profession to get into. You wouldn’t want to choose your favourite career choice simply to realize that it going down the drain in a couple of years. You will find out such information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The career outlook for public servants is definitely on the rise since because of the growing population. So, what does the future hold for the common fireman? Let us find out.

[asd_program_button /]

There are currently 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 progress rate of any normal profession. This means that there will be about 12,000 new jobs by 2024. But, this also implies that there will be that much more individuals hoping to get the job also. Thus, there would be some competition. This is mainly due to the low education specifications and the attractions of a public service job. The pay might not be quite high, but the benefits make up for that. It’s approximated that there might be about 100 individuals competing for the same position by 2024.

firefighter job outlook by state Springfield Massachusetts
*Image Credit – BLS.gov

Steps To Becoming a Firefighter

Much like any other professional career to follow, a process is imperative to follow. Main requirement is you need to have the necessary education. You have to have your diploma or you will never get hired. Though education is the main requirement, you shouldn’t be worried mainly because employer just needs at least one degree completed. Nevertheless, there are a lot of other needs like physical, medical as well as legal that one must have to qualify for being a firefighter. We’ll go further in details to better understand the requirements.

Educational Qualification

High school diploma and a degree in higher education are the fundamental requirements to be qualified as being a firefighter. The subjects do not matter as such. Nevertheless, having some courses in fire sciences does help your cause. That will provide you a backgrounder of the profession you are about to go into.

[asd_program_search_bar /]

Many of those who planned to be a firefighter, they elect to pursue a degree in college right after earning their diploma in high school. The minimum age qualification is 18 years. That is one of the reasons why many of the aspirants aren’t be eligible after graduating in high school. College degrees in fire sciences are a huge plus if you’re planning to join the field. There are subjects in a curriculum of the degree chosen that teach you how to save lives, operate devices required in firefighting along with other related technicalities.

It’s optionally available, you may pursue a graduate studies in that same field. The graduate studies you attain can help you land a promotion. While earning your education, you always remember that age limit requirement of 28 to 30 years of age limit for you to be qualified also. That’s why you shouldn’t over concentrate on getting too much education in order to meet the requirements.

Paramedic Training

Each and every firefighter is required to have an EMT certification. It can be either of these Two, EMT-B or the EMT-Basic. This helps firefighters tend to victims in accidents or fires. A year is required to be able to finish this training. Should you chose to be a paramedic at later time, you need to acquire education in the area of Emergency Medical Services. Some great benefits of going into this direction are possible increase in salary or added edge over other applicants. Additionally, there are several medical professional firefighters who are able to take better care of individuals after they have already been rescued from the fires.

Qualified to Drive Vehicle In Massachusetts State

Many states require the candidates to be able to drive. A driving license to every applicant is necessary so they could be useful in case of urgent situation where for an instance no other fire truck driver is available. The driver’s license also validate other details needed in application just like for instance the age.

Clean Record

Firefighters are vetted almost as thoroughly as police officers. Just like policemen, firefighters also undergo lifestyle check just before getting employed. To get employed, the firefighters could not have a criminal history. If you think you possess previous records, then better not to pursue this profession as you will right away be disqualified. Nevertheless, there are cases where a pardoned individual of his crimes are accepted but not all department perform that.

Springfield Physical Prerequisites

Firefighters must be physically active to carry out thier responsibility all the time. Instances like lifting fire victims or objects to free victims arise most of the time in rescue missions, therefore, firefighter’s upper body strength is important. They are also supposed to have the high endurance to deal with the excessive running around they need to do. No one become a firefighter without undergoing heavy and extremely thorough physical assessments.

Springfield Medical Prerequisites

Firefighters must deal with a lot of suffocating scenarios. They are normally provided with masks to help them manage such cases but not always are they so fortunate. Individuals having respiratory problems could not handle such heavy machinery with precision under suffocating circumstances. That’s why it’s a must that an applicant must be clear from any of that respiratory conditions.

There a lot of boxes that need to be ticked while selecting a firefighter. Without a doubt, the list is long, so find out how long will it take you turn into a firefighter!

Springfield Firefighter Work Description

Firefighters are your daily heroes who work together to set out fires and also help people if they get stuck in such situations. They’re also in control of rescue actions for common daily challenges. The same as what you see in films, a firefighter saving a kitten in a tree. Besides this, they are also accountable for educating individuals to prevent further fires. In many cases, they are supposed to check sources of fire and dig deep in to the case due to the possibility of an arsonist.

Putting Out Fires

Obviously, fire extinguishing is their main task. When on-duty, these people stay in their firehouse to interact to a call as quickly as possible. When they get a phone call, they rush to the area in one of their firetrucks which might contain hoses or ladders. Several of the fire trucks are simply meant to deliver wounded people.

[asd_program_button /]

Firefighting is a team work. Every single member already has its specified task. A particular firefighter maybe responsible for controlling the ladder and hose. Another firefighter is only for extinguishing the fire, while other do the rescue of fire victims. Just like any other team which has a leader commanding the operation, their group is in the direction by their commanding officer. 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 necessary given that one of the primary jobs of the firefighters are to save people. Most of the time this comes in handy when taking care of those who are stuck inside the fires. Not all rescue procedures are fire related. There are cases that a fireman comes first in the scene. Casualties maybe caused natural phenomena or road accidents. Firefighter must work to rescue the victim. This is where a firefighters knowledge in EMT comes in handy.

Teach People

Fire science is one of the expertise a firefighter has. The amount of know-how will depend on which degree they have pursued in the area or which course they have studied. By sharing what they know, they help individuals by teaching them how to avoid fire from occurring. Firefighters normally do it after visiting an extinguished fire scene. Otherwise, they also visit schools and also other locations to positively educate individuals about fires, how to prevent fires and if necessary, how to extinguish them.

Investigating Fires

To teach people on how to avoid fires, the firemen/firewomen should first find the cause of the fire. They have to distinguish what caused it so they can prevent further such circumstances. Instances like criminals set the first to explode are probable. It is then the job of the firefighters to investigate and provide more hints to the law enforcement officers about who started it. There are firefighters who are also called arson investigators which specialize fire investigation. They work with law enforcement to catch arsonists.

As you could see, there is a large number of reasons to contact these people our everyday heroes. They do save lives through extinguishing fires and they develop also our admiration to them. So, if you feel you wish to be like them, begin filling up the list!