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First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in firefighting and fire prevention and control.

Related: Fire Inspectors & Investigators Fire-Prevention & Protection Engineers Firefighters First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers Forest Fire Inspectors & Prevention Specialists

Industries: Government

Summary
Details

Perform administrative duties, such as compiling and maintaining records, completing forms, preparing reports, or composing correspondence.
Serve as a working leader of an engine, hand, helicopter, or prescribed fire crew of three or more firefighters.
Assign firefighters to jobs at strategic locations to facilitate rescue of persons and maximize application of extinguishing agents.
Direct the training of firefighters, assigning of instructors to training classes, and providing of supervisors with reports on training progress and status.
Recommend equipment modifications or new equipment purchases.
Evaluate the performance of assigned firefighting personnel.
Drive crew carriers to transport firefighters to fire sites.
Inspect stations, uniforms, equipment, or recreation areas to ensure compliance with safety standards, taking corrective action as necessary.
Supervise and participate in the inspection of properties to ensure that they are in compliance with applicable fire codes, ordinances, laws, regulations, and standards.
Schedule employee work assignments and set work priorities.
Inspect stations, uniforms, equipment, or recreation areas to ensure compliance with safety standards, taking corrective action as necessary.
Evaluate fire station procedures to ensure efficiency and enforcement of departmental regulations.
Serve as a working leader of an engine, hand, helicopter, or prescribed fire crew of three or more firefighters.
Perform administrative duties, such as compiling and maintaining records, completing forms, preparing reports, or composing correspondence.
Recommend personnel actions related to disciplinary procedures, performance, leaves of absence, and grievances.
Instruct and drill fire department personnel in assigned duties, including firefighting, medical care, hazardous materials response, fire prevention, and related subjects.
Monitor fire suppression expenditures to ensure that they are necessary and reasonable.
Direct firefighters in station maintenance duties, and participate in these duties.
Provide emergency medical services as required, and perform light to heavy rescue functions at emergencies.
Assign firefighters to jobs at strategic locations to facilitate rescue of persons and maximize application of extinguishing agents.
Maintain fire suppression equipment in good condition, checking equipment periodically to ensure that it is ready for use.
Study and interpret fire safety codes to establish procedures for issuing permits to handle hazardous or flammable substances.
Direct investigation of cases of suspected arson, hazards, and false alarms and submit reports outlining findings.
Assess nature and extent of fire, condition of building, danger to adjacent buildings, and water supply status to determine crew or company requirements.
Supervise and participate in the inspection of properties to ensure that they are in compliance with applicable fire codes, ordinances, laws, regulations, and standards.
Provide emergency medical services as required, and perform light to heavy rescue functions at emergencies.
Communicate fire details to superiors, subordinates, or interagency dispatch centers, using two-way radios.
Inspect and test new and existing fire protection systems, fire detection systems, and fire safety equipment to ensure that they are operating properly.
Perform maintenance and minor repairs on firefighting equipment, including vehicles, and write and submit proposals to modify, replace, and repair equipment.
Direct firefighters in station maintenance duties, and participate in these duties.
Study and interpret fire safety codes to establish procedures for issuing permits to handle hazardous or flammable substances.
Participate in creating fire safety guidelines and evacuation schemes for nonresidential buildings.
Direct investigation of cases of suspected arson, hazards, and false alarms and submit reports outlining findings.
Maintain fire suppression equipment in good condition, checking equipment periodically to ensure that it is ready for use.
Maintain required maps and records.

Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.

Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

Education

Postsecondary certificate

Work Experience

Less than 5 years work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

125640/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

60.41/hr

Currently Employed

2,600

Yearly Projected Openings

210

Enterprising: People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business. They do well at jobs that need:

Integrity
Leadership
Stress Tolerance
Dependability
Concern for Others
Adaptability/Flexibility

Acoustic sensors
Agricultural tractors
Air bags for loading
Air exhausters
All terrain vehicles tracked or wheeled
Anemometers
Armored recovery vehicle
Binoculars
Bolt cutters
Busses
Cargo trucks
Claw hammer
Desktop computers
Digital camcorders or video cameras
Electrocardiography EKG units
Electronic blood pressure units
Fans
Fire escape equipment
Fire extinguishers
Fire fighting chemical truck
Fire fighting ladder truck
Fire fighting water tank truck
Fire fighting watercraft
Fire hoses or nozzles
Fire pump sets
Fire retardant apparel
Fire suppression hand tools
Flares
Flatbed trailers
Gas generators
Geological compasses
Global positioning system GPS receiver
Glucose monitors or meters
Goggles
Hard hats
Hazardous material protective apparel
Hazardous material protective footwear
Heat tracing equipment
Intubation laryngoscopes
Ladders
Life rings
Life vests or preservers
Lighters
Manlift or personnel lift
Medical acoustic stethoscopes
Medical gas cylinders or related devices
Mercury blood pressure units
Metal cutters
Minivans or vans
Mobile medical service intravenous IV kits
Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles
Mobile medical services basket stretchers
Mobile medical services cervical or extrication collars
Mobile medical services first aid kits
Mobile medical services litter
Mobile medical services spine boards
Mobile medical services suction antichoke devices
Mowers
Multi gas monitors
Notebook computers
Nylon rope
Personal computers
Pneumatic hammer
Power saws
Protective gloves
Pry bars
Psychrometers
Pulse oximeter units
Rescue truck
Respiration air supplying self contained breathing apparatus or accessories
Respirators
Resuscitation masks
Safety glasses
Safety harnesses or belts
Safety helmets
Saws
Shovels
Sledge hammer
Specialty wrenches
Surface thermometers
Track bulldozers
Two way radios
Utility knives
Weapon or explosives detectors and supplies
Weather stations
Wheel chocks
Wheel nut or lug wrench
Winches

Analytical or scientific software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Geographic information system
Helpdesk or call center software
Internet browser software
Map creation software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

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First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers

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