A Day in The Life of a Firefighter

There are more than 900,000 fire apparatus responses to fires, medical, and other emergencies. Being a firefighter can be a very dangerous job when it comes to illness and injury. Being a firefighter has a lot of risks and different requirements for each state. Firefighters also do more than put out fires they also do stuff to help schools and students on what to do if there’s a fire. There is a lot that goes into being a firefighter, such as getting a fire science degree and basic EMT skills also the duties and responsibilities you take.

Being a firefighter is considered one of the most dangerous jobs. Firefighters take a risk of becoming trapped or becoming severely ill when they are working in burning buildings and can’t see. Also when firefighters respond to fires and start working inside carcinogens begin to coat the uniforms. When firefighters have to cut ventilation holes in the roof to allow smoke to escape they have to be careful not to fall through the roof as it is weaker due to the structure being burned. Firefighters respond to over 900,000 fire apparatus and medical calls a year. The more often a firefighter is exposed to carcinogens they can get a risk of getting cancer or have breathing problems. But in addition to being a firefighter, you can also volunteer and get paid depending on your local departments choice.

Because being a firefighter is a dangerous job. Firefighters must be well trained lives of people depend on them.

Having juniors around the station can also help in training. Firefighters also take tests of: strength, coordination, and agility. Because being inside a burning building can be dangerous firefighter must be able to have clarity of hearing and speaking for sufficient and rapid fire in person and radio communications also good health and vision. For the past 35 years fires in the U.S. have decreased more than 40%. Firefighters have one of the highest illness and injuries of all occupations. But because firefighters work 10/14 hour shifts they make a salary of 43.4k-56k per year. Employment of firefighters is projected to grow 7 percent from 2012 to 2022 slower than average. About 2/3rds of firefighters were volunteers in 2015, volunteers also sharing the same duties as a full time firefighter. Over the many years firefighters could tell you that two out of three calls are medical also to advance to fire chief you will need at most a master’s degree.

So since being a firefighter is such a dangerous job.

Being a firefighter is considered one of the most dangerous jobs out of all occupations. There has been an increase of deaths of firefighters over 9.6% from 2008 there has been 3,320 death and in 2017 there was 3,400. If a firefighter does not follow the list of requirements they are to do it could lead to another fatality, NYFD responds to more than 60,000 structure fires each year. Hazardous Response team is comprised of hazardous material experts who specialize in detecting, containing, and removing any release or potential release of hazardous substances in order to control or stabilize an incident. HAZWOPER is one of the training components of a Hazmat team.

There are some differences between firefighter/emt and firefighter/paramedic. The amount of education they receive, emt’s complete about 120-150 hours while paramedics courses can be between 1,200 to 1,800 hours. Firefighter also do more than just respond to calls they also participate in public educational activities within local community on what to do in the event of certain fires and how to prevent them. To become a volunteer firefighter for your local community you can go to the fire station and ask for an application but you must remain at least a c average in all your classes and any young men or women can join the roster.

A Day in the Life of a FireFighter‒Even if you are a volunteer firefighter you would still require the same amount of time and training as a full time firefighter. There are some challenges that firefighters face such as the location at which your located, and not every fire department’s training is the same so some obstacles are harder than others. Even if you may not be interested in firefighting volunteers are resources of young men and women who sacrifice their lives so that you don’t have to risk yours and being a firefighter is just a career it’s also like a second family to some others.

Works Cited

1. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2015). A Day in the Life of a Firefighter.
2. National Fire Protection Association. (2019). Fire Loss in the United States During 2017. Retrieved from https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/Firefighter-deaths-in-the-United-States/Firefighter-deaths-in-the-United-States
3. National Fire Protection Association. (2021). U.S. Fire Department Profile. Retrieved from https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/US-fire-department-profile
4. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard.
5. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Firefighters.
6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Firefighters. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/firefighters.htm
7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Firefighters: How to Become a Firefighter. Occupational Outlook Handbook.
8. U.S. Fire Administration. (2019). Fire Department Calls.