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Fire pro­tec­tion in the US has always been a mixed bag because there are very few uni­ver­sal guide­lines. Fire depart­ments are usu­al­ly munic­i­pal, rather than state or fed­er­al. But, orga­ni­za­tion is dif­fer­ent from one town to anoth­er. Across the US, fire depart­ments may be vol­un­teer or pro­fes­sion­al. Admin­is­tra­tive posi­tions like fire chief, fire inspec­tor, and fire mar­shal may be elect­ed offices. Some­times they are appoint­ed or hired. Find­ing a pro­fes­sion­al job as a fire­fight­er or admin­is­tra­tor is com­pli­cat­ed. On the oth­er hand, find­ing qual­i­fied fire­fight­ers and fire ser­vices lead­ers is challenging.

With all of these vari­a­tions, edu­ca­tion for fire­fight­ers runs the gamut. Fire­fight­ers may have associate’s degrees or diplo­mas from com­mu­ni­ty col­leges, or just a train­ing course orga­nized by the fire depart­ment. In recent years, though, fire­fight­ing is becom­ing much more pro­fes­sion­al­ized. Larg­er cities and regions are begin­ning to expect fire­fight­ers and admin­is­tra­tors to have at least a bachelor’s degree. Fire sci­ence degrees pro­grams are becom­ing a stan­dard all over the US. Stu­dents inter­est­ed in a career in fire pro­tec­tion ser­vices would be smart to start there.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Fire Science Degree Programs

To rank the top tra­di­tion­al, on-cam­pus Fire Sci­ence col­leges in Amer­i­ca, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors began by seek­ing out accred­it­ed pro­grams in fire sci­ence, fire ser­vice admin­is­tra­tion, and relat­ed fields. Next, we ranked schools accord­ing to five main factors:

  • Aver­age Alum­ni Salary
  • Employ­ment Rate
  • Grad­u­a­tion Rate
  • Rep­u­ta­tion
  • Tuition Cost

Data comes from Col­lege Score­card, IPEDS, and Niche.

With these five cri­te­ria, stu­dents can be sure they’re get­ting a bach­e­lor’s in fire sci­ence root­ed in all-around qual­i­ty, strong stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion, and a sol­id ROI. Stu­dents should con­sid­er finan­cial aid and gen­er­al edu­ca­tion requirements.

1. University of Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida’s BS in Fire Safe­ty & Emer­gency Ser­vice degree pro­gram is avail­able on cam­pus or online from the School of Con­struc­tion Man­age­ment. Stu­dents are required to com­plete 120 cred­it units; of which 60 cred­its must be upper-lev­el course­work. Degree can­di­dates can opt to spe­cial­ize in EMS Man­age­ment, Emer­gency Man­age­ment, and a Fire Specialization.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da was estab­lished in 1853 under the Mor­rill Land Grant Act. UF is one of only a select group of uni­ver­si­ties that are a space grant; land grant and sea grant insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing. UF is the senior mem­ber school of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da sys­tem. US News rec­og­nizes the Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da as among the 10 best pub­lic insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing in the country.

What We Like: UF’s fire sci­ence degree pro­gram has been received a recog­ni­tion cer­tifi­cate from the Fire & Emer­gency Ser­vices High­er Edu­ca­tion (FESHE) –a des­ig­na­tion of excel­lence.
Degree: Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida

2. Providence College

Prov­i­dence Col­lege offers a BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram that has received a FESHE Cer­tifi­cate — denot­ing the qual­i­ty of the on-cam­pus or online pro­gram. FESHE is an inte­gral part of the country’s Nation­al Fire Acad­e­my. Stu­dents grad­u­ate pre­pared for a career as a Fire Chief, A Bat­tal­ion Fire Chief, a Fire Inspec­tor, or a Fire­fight­er, among oth­ers. Prov­i­dence College’s emer­gency man­age­ment degree pro­gram offers a gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy of up to 75 cred­it units.

Prov­i­dence Col­lege (PC) was estab­lished in 1917. The school’s 100+-acre cam­pus sits on the city of Providence’s high­est point — Smith Hill and is home to more than 3,800 stu­dents. The school is orga­nized among four schools — Arts & Sci­ences, Busi­ness, Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies, and Con­tin­u­ing Education.

What We Like: The school holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the only insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing in the Unit­ed States that is over­seen by the Domini­can Fri­ars
Degree: BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

Prov­i­dence College

3. University of North Texas at Dallas

The Col­lege of Health & Pub­lic Ser­vice offers the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas at Dal­las’ BS in Emer­gency Admin­is­tra­tion & Plan­ning degree pro­gram. UNT-Dal­las’ emer­gency man­age­ment degree pro­gram is one of just a few fire sci­ence degree pro­grams that holds the FESHE cer­tifi­cate of qual­i­ty assur­ance. Stu­dents have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to study abroad in Asia, South Amer­i­can, and many oth­er countries.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas at Dal­las was estab­lished in 2000 as a state uni­ver­si­ty. The school’s 250+-acre urban cam­pus is home to more than 3,500 (most­ly part-time) stu­dents. The stu­dent body is quite diverse with African Amer­i­can and His­pan­ic stu­dent account­ing for 75% of total enrollment.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas at Dal­las is the only pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion sit­u­at­ed with­in the city lim­its of Dal­las.
Degree: BS in Emer­gency Admin­is­tra­tion and Plan­ning
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas at Dallas

4. Holy Family University

Holy Fam­i­ly Uni­ver­si­ty offers BS in Fire Sci­ence & Pub­lic Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram in a ful­ly online for­mat. Course­work includes Pub­lic Risk Analy­sis, Mod­ern Pub­lic Safe­ty Con­cerns, and Inci­dent Analy­sis, among oth­ers. Stu­dents must com­plete 27 cred­it hours of class­es specif­i­cal­ly required by the Fire Sci­ence major. Stu­dents grad­u­ate with risk man­age­ment, lead­er­ship, busi­ness knowl­edge, and lead­er­ship skills.

Holy Fam­i­ly Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in 1954 and is affil­i­at­ed with the Roman Catholic Church. The school’s stu­dent enroll­ment, near­ly 2,000 stu­dents, stud­ies from Holy Fam­i­ly University’s four schools/colleges — Busi­ness, Edu­ca­tion, Nursing/Allied Health Pro­fes­sion, and Arts & Sci­ences. Holy Fam­i­ly Uni­ver­si­ty holds the dis­tinc­tion as being the youngest of Philadelphia’s four Catholic universities.

What We Like: Holy Fam­i­ly is one of a select few fire sci­ence degree pro­grams that has received accred­i­ta­tion by IFSAC — The Inter­na­tion­al Fire Ser­vice Accred­i­ta­tion Con­gress.
Degree: BS in Fire Sci­ence and Pub­lic Safe­ty Administration

Holy Fam­i­ly University

5. Lewis University

Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Fire Ser­vice Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram in on-cam­pus, online and accel­er­at­ed for­mats. Course­work includes Ethics In Fire Ser­vice, Legal Aspects of Fire Ser­vice, Labor Man­age­ment Medi­a­tions, Fire Ser­vice Admin­is­tra­tion, and Emer­gency Med­ical Ser­vices, among oth­ers. Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty offers a gen­er­ous trans­fer cred­it pol­i­cy. Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty has received accred­i­ta­tion from the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion (HLC).

The Arch­dio­cese of Chica­go estab­lished Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty in 1932. The school is rec­og­nized as a Lasal­lian, Roman Catholic insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion. Lewis University’s sub­ur­ban cam­pus is home to more than 4,600 stu­dents study­ing for degrees offered by the university’s five colleges/schools. Dur­ing WWII, the cam­pus was con­vert­ed to a mil­i­tary area to train pilots.

What We Like: Lewis’ loca­tion in sub­ur­ban Chica­go gives fire sci­ence grad­u­ates ample job oppor­tu­ni­ties in a huge met­ro­pol­i­tan region.
Degree: BA in Fire Ser­vice Administration

Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty

6. University of Nebraska Omaha

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka Omaha’s BS in Emer­gency Sci­ence-Fire Ser­vice Man­age­ment con­cen­tra­tion comes from the Col­lege of Pub­lic Affairs & Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice. UNO’s fire ser­vice degree’s cur­ricu­lum includes Fire Strat­e­gy, Pub­lic Fire Pro­tec­tion, Inspec­tions and Codes, Emer­gency Ser­vices Man­age­ment, among oth­ers. A fire ser­vice man­age­ment major explores the respon­si­bil­i­ties of the pro­fes­sion­als in emer­gency and fire services.

The Oma­ha Pres­by­ter­ian The­o­log­i­cal Sem­i­nary estab­lished the Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka Oma­ha in 1908. The school became a pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing in 1930. Near­ly 40 years lat­er, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka Oma­ha became a mem­ber school of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka system.

What We Like: UNO’s Peter Kiewit Insti­tute hous­es the only $65+ mil­lion state of the com­put­er sys­tem in the area that sup­ports the school’s bioin­for­mat­ics and man­age­ment infor­ma­tion sys­tems at a pre­mi­um lev­el.
Degree: BS in Emer­gency Man­age­ment — Fire Ser­vice Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka Omaha

7. Western Illinois University

West­ern Illi­nois University’s School of Law Enforce­ment & Jus­tice Admin­is­tra­tion offers a BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion (that can be com­plet­ed online) or a BS in Fire Sci­ence degree pro­gram (which is an on-cam­pus pro­gram). WIU’s emer­gency man­age­ment degree pro­gram has received cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by the Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices High­er Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (FESHE). The fac­ul­ty is made up entire­ly of retired or active fire­fight­ers and admin­is­tra­tors who have real-world expe­ri­ence, and can pro­vide top-notch men­tor­ship — not to men­tion job mar­ket connections.

West­ern Illi­nois Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in 1899 as a teacher train­ing school with land donat­ed by the city’s Freema­sons. West­ern Illi­nois University’s small-town cam­pus is home to more than 8,000 stu­dents. The Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places acknowl­edges Sher­man Hall’s his­to­ry — the first build­ing on campus.

What We Like: WIU offers stu­dents tuition rates (and oth­er expens­es) that remain fixed for four years — the first guar­an­tee of this kind in Illi­nois.
Degree: BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion (online) or Fire Sci­ence (on-cam­pus)
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

West­ern Illi­nois University

8. California State University Los Angeles

The Depart­ment of Tech­nol­o­gy offers Cal State Los Ange­les’ BS in Fire Pro­tec­tion Admin­is­tra­tion & Tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­gram. The online fire sci­ence degree offers a com­pre­hen­sive overview that explores both the admin­is­tra­tive and tech­ni­cal skills required by fire sci­ence pro­fes­sion­als. Stu­dents vying for their Cal State LA emer­gency man­age­ment degree are required to com­plete 120 cred­it units in total — of which 72 cred­it units are direct­ly relat­ed to the fire sci­ence major.

The Cal­i­for­nia Leg­is­la­ture estab­lished Cal State LA in 1947. Cal State LA and is a mem­ber school of the Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. Cal State LA is rec­og­nized as a His­pan­ic serv­ing insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion and a land grant school. The school’s urban cam­pus is home to near­ly 28,000 students.

What We Like: The school is home to NASA-part­nered CHARTER pro­gram — SPACE — the first gov­ern­ment-fund­ed pro­gram in the coun­try.
Degree: BS in Fire Pro­tec­tion Admin­is­tra­tion and Technology

Cal State Los Angeles

9. Jefferson College of Health Sciences

Jef­fer­son Col­lege of Health Sci­ences offers a BS in Emer­gency Ser­vices degree pro­gram in con­junc­tion with the Car­il­ion Clin­ic that can be com­plet­ed on cam­pus or entire­ly online. The Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices High­er Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (FESHE) accred­its Jef­fer­son Col­lege of Health Sci­ences’ emer­gency man­age­ment degree pro­gram. The Vir­ginia Depart­ment of Health/Office of Emer­gency Med­ical Ser­vices (VAOEMS) also accred­its the Jef­fer­son Col­lege of Health Sci­ences’ fire sci­ence degree program.

Jef­fer­son Col­lege of Health Sci­ences was estab­lished in 1982. JCHC oper­ates with four aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions — Arts & Sci­ences, Nurs­ing, Reha­bil­i­ta­tion & Well­ness, and Com­mu­ni­ty Health Sci­ences. The school is home to more than 1,000 stu­dents who are rep­re­sent­ed by Jeff, JCHC’s St. Bernard Mas­cot. The school holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the longest oper­at­ing hos­pi­tal-based insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion in the state of Virginia.

What We Like: JCHC stu­dents expe­ri­ence a rota­tion of intern­ships in var­i­ous EMS and First Response facil­i­ties in and around the Roanoke vicin­i­ty.
Degree: BS in Emer­gency Ser­vices
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

Jef­fer­son Col­lege of Health Sciences

10. University of New Haven

The Uni­ver­si­ty of New Haven’s BS in Fire Sci­ence degree pro­gram has received accred­i­ta­tion from The Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices High­er Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (FESHE). Stu­dents explore the fire’s life cycle and the strate­gies to extin­guish the flames. From the Col­lege of Crim­i­nal Jus­tice & Foren­sic Sci­ences, UNH’s fire sci­ence degree pro­gram offers stu­dents two aca­d­e­m­ic paths: Arson/Fire Inves­ti­ga­tions, or Fire Administration.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of New Haven was estab­lished in 1920. UNH’s sub­ur­ban cam­pus is sit­u­at­ed between the city of West Haven and the Long Island Sound, and home to near­ly 7,000 stu­dents. The school oper­ates with six schools/colleges that offer degrees in Fine Arts, Busi­ness, Engi­neer­ing, Arts & Sci­ences, Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Health Sciences.

What We Like: The school over­looks the Long Island Sound and is only 1–1/2 hours from New York City and 2–11/2 hours from Boston — both prime job mar­kets for fire­fight­ers.
Degree: BS in Fire Sci­ence
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

Uni­ver­si­ty of New Haven

11. Southern Illinois University — Carbondale

South­ern Illi­nois Uni­ver­si­ty-Car­bon­dale offers a BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Man­age­ment degree pro­gram that main­tains an accred­i­ta­tion cer­tifi­cate from The Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices High­er Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (FESHE) and the Inter­na­tion­al Fire Ser­vice Accred­i­ta­tion Con­gress. SIU’s emer­gency man­age­ment degree pro­gram is designed for stu­dents who have already earned a min­i­mum of 26 cred­it units, or hold an associate’s degree from a region­al­ly accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion of high­er learning.

South­ern Illi­nois Uni­ver­si­ty-Car­bon­dale was estab­lished in 1869 and holds the dis­tinc­tion as the flag­ship mem­ber school (and the third old­est) of the South­ern Illi­nois Uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. The school oper­ates with sev­er­al cam­pus­es in Car­bon­dale, Edwardsville and Spring­field IL. SIU is orga­nized with ten schools/colleges, includ­ing the Col­lege of Applied Sci­ences & Arts, that offer near­ly 250-degree programs.

What We Like: South­ern Illi­nois University’s library sys­tem is rec­og­nized among the top 50-aca­d­e­mic/re­search libraries in the coun­try.
Degree: BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Man­age­ment
FESHE Cer­ti­fied

South­ern Illi­nois University-Carbondale

12. Hampton University

The Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege at Hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty degree pro­gram with a Fire Admin­is­tra­tion con­cen­tra­tion. Hamp­ton University’s fire sci­ence degree pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 122 cred­it units to grad­u­ate. Course­work includes Legal Prob­lems Impact­ing Fire Inves­ti­ga­tions, Ethics & Lead­er­ship, Com­mu­ni­ty Fire Risks, Dis­as­ter Inci­dent Com­mand, and Fire Analy­sis, among oth­ers. Degree can­di­dates com­plete their stud­ies with a cul­mi­nat­ing safe­ty cap­stone project.

Hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in 1868 and is rec­og­nized as a His­tor­i­cal­ly Black school (HBCU). Book­er T Wash­ing­ton began study­ing at Hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty when he was 16 years old (1872). Hamp­ton Uni­ver­si­ty is home to the old­est muse­um in the state of Vir­ginia. The school’s 300+-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus is home to more than 4,600 students.

What We Like: Hamp­ton is also rec­og­nized for an estab­lished edu­ca­tion pro­gram ded­i­cat­ed to Native Amer­i­cans that oper­at­ed for approx­i­mate­ly 50 years.
Degree: BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty — Fire Administration

Hamp­ton University

13. Salem State University

The Bertolon School of Busi­ness offers Salem State University’s BS in Fire Sci­ence Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram, which meets the edu­ca­tion stan­dards set forth by the Nation­al Fire Pro­tec­tion Asso­ci­a­tion (NFPA). Stu­dents study­ing for Salem State University’s fire sci­ence degree must com­plete 120 cred­it hours to grad­u­ate. Course­work includes Fire Ser­vice Law, Arson Pre­ven­tion, Emer­gency Scene Prac­tices, and Fire Sci­ence Man­age­ment, among others.

Salem State Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished under the super­vi­sion of Horace Mann in 1854 as a nor­mal school. Their sub­ur­ban cam­pus is just north of Boston and oper­ates with six cam­pus­es that offer degree pro­grams to near­ly 9,400 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate stu­dents. Salem State Uni­ver­si­ty offers an inno­v­a­tive series of speak­ers which has includ­ed in the past Ger­ald Ford, Bill Clin­ton, George HW Bush, Jay Leno, Tom Brady, Maya Ange­lo, and Robert Redford.

What We Like: Fire sci­ence degree can­di­dates are required to par­tic­i­pate in a fire sci­ence intern­ship, with numer­ous oppor­tu­ni­ties through­out the greater Boston region.
Degree: BS in Fire Sci­ence Administration

Salem State University

14. Lake Superior State University

Lake Supe­ri­or State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Fire Sci­ence degree pro­gram that offers a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or non-cer­ti­fi­ca­tion aca­d­e­m­ic path. Stu­dents have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to apply fire sci­ence the­o­ry to real-world appli­ca­tions through the school’s required cul­mi­nat­ing senior project that often coor­di­nates with local communities.

Lake Supe­ri­or State Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished, in 1946 as the Salem Nor­mal School. Lake State is Michigan’s small­est pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing. They oper­ate with sev­er­al cam­pus­es locat­ed in Escan­a­ba, Gay­lord, Petoskey and Dear­born, MI. They also par­tic­i­pate in joint aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams with two insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing in Ontario, Cana­da — Algo­ma Uni­ver­si­ty & Sault Col­lege. Lake Supe­ri­or State Uni­ver­si­ty is sit­u­at­ed near the US-Cana­di­an bor­der. As a result, Lake State is home to many Cana­di­an students.

What We Like: Lake State’s fire sci­ence degree pro­gram holds the dis­tinc­tion as being the first inter­na­tion­al­ly accred­it­ed emer­gency degree pro­gram in the nation.
Degree: BS in Fire Science

Lake Supe­ri­or State University

Becoming A Fire Protection Engineer: Fire Protection Engineering Jobs

Some jobs in fire pre­ven­tion and haz­ardous mate­ri­als need only a high school diplo­ma, but oth­ers need a full degree.

One of the most desir­able jobs with­in the fire depart­ment in most cities is the fire pro­tec­tion engi­neer posi­tion. The duties of fire pro­tec­tion engi­neer­ing jobs vary wide­ly. Gen­er­al­ly, those who hold these jobs with­in the fire depart­ment often ensur­ing the usage of non-flam­ma­ble mate­ri­als in con­struc­tion, engi­neer fire escape routes in build­ings, and some­times work on the equip­ment that pro­tects fire­fight­ers when they are putting out a fire. These fire jobs are gen­er­al­ly a bit hard to come by, as each fire depart­ment jobs hir­ing com­mit­tee may only be look­ing for one or two.

Like all fire jobs, appli­cants with a fire sci­ence degree stand a bet­ter chance of being con­sid­ered for fire pro­tec­tion engi­neer­ing jobs. All fire depart­ment jobs, includ­ing the few fire pro­tec­tion jobs with­in the fire depart­ment, are very com­pet­i­tive. This is some­thing that prospec­tive fire sci­ence stu­dents should keep in mind when look­ing at fire depart­ment jobs.

Arson Investigator Jobs & Fire Inspector Jobs

Arson inves­ti­ga­tors, also known as fire inspec­tors, inves­ti­gate sus­pi­cious fires to deter­mine whether or not they were set on pur­pose. After ‘What does an arson inves­ti­ga­tor do?’ the next ques­tion is often ‘Where do I find these jobs?’ Arson inves­ti­ga­tor jobs are gen­er­al­ly found with­in police and fire depart­ments. Many fire inspec­tor jobs can be found in fire insur­ance companies.

Arson inves­ti­ga­tion posi­tions are among the most sought-after fire sci­ence degree jobs. Many peo­ple want to go into this pro­fes­sion because they find the answer to the ques­tion ‘What does an arson inves­ti­ga­tor do?’ chal­leng­ing and inter­est­ing. How­ev­er, peo­ple look­ing at fire sci­ence degree jobs should keep in mind that arson inves­ti­ga­tion jobs can be hard to come by.

Fire Department Administration

Fire and emer­gency ser­vices admin­is­tra­tion jobs are very desir­able, as they gen­er­al­ly offer rel­a­tive­ly lucra­tive salaries. Also, fire ser­vice admin­is­tra­tion jobs are usu­al­ly not as dan­ger­ous as fire­fight­ing jobs. Fire and emer­gency ser­vices admin­is­tra­tion jobs almost always require a fire sci­ences degree or sim­i­lar. Expe­ri­enced fire­fight­ers may be able to get fire ser­vice admin­is­tra­tion jobs with­out a degree or with an AAS.

High-Level Fire & Emergency Services Administration Jobs (Fire Chief & More)

High-lev­el emer­gency and fire ser­vice admin­is­tra­tion jobs will require at least a bachelor’s degree. For those want­i­ng to go into fire depart­ment admin­is­tra­tion, a fire sci­ence degree is an excel­lent choice. While a bachelor’s degree may be enough, some depart­ments will require a master’s degree.

Fire Safety Jobs: Fire Marshal

Fire mar­shals have among the most vis­i­ble fire safe­ty jobs. They are respon­si­ble not for putting out fires, but for pre­vent­ing and mit­i­gat­ing them. For exam­ple, the fire safe­ty offi­cer job descrip­tion includes set­ting the max­i­mum num­ber of peo­ple who are allowed in a build­ing at any one time with­out it becom­ing a fire haz­ard. The fire safe­ty offi­cer job descrip­tion also includes giv­ing edu­ca­tion­al pre­sen­ta­tions and more.

There are many oth­er fire-relat­ed career oppor­tu­ni­ties. If you’re ask­ing ‘What can I do with a fire sci­ence degree?’ you may have to think out­side the box to find the job you want. There are many careers involv­ing fire sci­ence besides fire safe­ty engi­neer­ing and arson inspec­tion. When it comes down to it, ‘What can I do with a fire sci­ence degree?’ may include advanced fire­fight­ing posi­tions. Of course, these posi­tions require more expe­ri­ence than most careers involv­ing fire sci­ence. Also, dif­fer­ent fire depart­ments will like­ly have dif­fer­ent advanced fire­fight­ing posi­tions. These dif­fer­ent posi­tions will like­ly be cre­at­ed based upon the fire safe­ty chal­lenges of the area.

Con­sid­er a career in emer­gency response, home­land secu­ri­ty, human resource man­age­ment, para­medic, pub­lic admin­is­tra­tion, and lead­er­ship posi­tions in emer­gency ser­vices orga­ni­za­tions. With pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, gov­ern­ment agen­cies like the U.S. Fire Admin­is­tra­tion and also an option.

Relat­ed Rank­ings:
25 Best Online Fire Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams
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