Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists
Enforce fire regulations, inspect forest for fire hazards, and recommend forest fire prevention or control measures. May report forest fires and weather conditions.
- Median pay
- $56,870
- Doing it now
- 3,000
- By 2035
- Up 13.1%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
400 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Relay messages about emergencies, accidents, locations of crew and personnel, and fire hazard conditions.
- Direct crews working on firelines during forest fires.
- Estimate sizes and characteristics of fires, and report findings to base camps by radio or telephone.
- Administer regulations regarding sanitation, fire prevention, violation corrections, and related forest regulations.
- Extinguish smaller fires with portable extinguishers, shovels, and axes.
- Locate forest fires on area maps, using azimuth sighters and known landmarks.
- Maintain records and logbooks.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Fire ProtectionSee 52 colleges that teach it
- Environmental/Natural Resources Management and PolicySee 99 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $56,870 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.