Profile of the American Firefighter

Firefighters are just like everyone else. They eat, sleep, work and live alongside us in our communities. They go by the professional name of firefighter, but modern firefighters do much more than just fight fires-they operate as emergency medical technicians, handle hazardous materials, respond to natural and man-made disasters and much more.

There are two types of firefighters: volunteer and career. The majority of fire departments in the United States are voluntary. About 21,900 fire departments are all-volunteer, about 6,000 are mixed volunteer and career, and 2,044 are all-career.

The United States Fire Administration estimates that there are more than 1.1 million firefighters across the country, and of those, over 800,000 are volunteers; career firefighters account for about 282,000 positions.

In fact, the sense of family that career firefighters describe as part of their job directly relates to the job’s unique conditions. Work shifts that run in rotations for as long as 24 hours and ever-present life-threatening situations draw members of fire departments together in a way that can only be compared to a tightly knit family.

Demystifying the Work

The men and women who live in our midst as firefighters-whether career or volunteer-are not just the dramatic figures of lore that society has come to know. Most Americans probably have an image of a heroic firefighter burned into their psyche-something along the lines of a strong, handsome man with soot on his face from the fire he just narrowly survived. Behind him, a smoldering building still shoots up some flames as he walks away from the scene with a rescued puppy or small child in his arms.

Behind the simplistic mystique shaped by generations of notions about firefighting, though, lies the modern-day profession with its complex skills and vast amounts of knowledge that firefighters must develop and acquire throughout their careers.

Firefighters are highly trained professionals, many of whom bring to the job a deep dedication to serving and protecting the public. They are required to continually learn new skills and technologies, and in some states like Maryland every career firefighter must also be an Emergency Medical Technician.

Lieutenant Christopher Conroy of the Montgomery County Fire Department in Bethesda, Maryland, has been a professional firefighter for over 20 years.

Lt. Conroy says that he wishes there are some things the public would realize about the job he has devoted so much of his life to. “Hollywood gives us a certain slant that isn’t really accurate-either we’re at the firehouse playing checkers or out fighting a fire. We work with about 80,000 dollars worth of equipment in our jobs, and I don’t think the public really understands what we do.”

The People Who Make the Job

The staff of the approximately 30,000 fire departments in America is a mix of those who come from all walks of life and educational backgrounds, and range in age from young “probies” in their first year to high-ranking career professionals who have worked at what they do for decades.

Many of them enter the profession and work their way up through the ranks, as do career people in the military, over the course of many years.

The average yearly income of a career firefighter is $38,000 plus benefits and retirement according to the United States Fire Administration, and because of the unusual hours that they work, overtime is often an option. Despite this, many firefighters end up working a second job to make ends meet.

Robert Nishiyama, a Firefighter 3 in the Montgomery County Fire Department started out as a volunteer at age 17. After serving in the Marine Corps, he enlisted for another tour of duty-as a firefighter.

According to Nishiyama, it takes a certain type of person to withstand the unique pressures of the job. “With this job, one minute you could be joking around having fun at the firehouse and the next minute you could be holding a dead baby in your armsâÂ?¦things like that have to affect your soul, right?”

The firefighters of today are worlds apart from what our parents and grandparents knew-but the basic principles of the perfect candidates for the job still apply: people who care about what they do, who are willing to put their life on the line for others, who can think clearly in high-pressure and life-or-death situations, and who can make personal and family sacrifices for the demands of the job. And most importantly, at the end of the day they must be ready and willing to come back to do it all over again.