• Find a bachelor's degree




    Bachelors Degree Center is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

Fire­fight­ing is one of the most dan­ger­ous occu­pa­tions in the world – and in much of the US, it’s a vol­un­teer posi­tion. In most larg­er cities and munic­i­pal­i­ties, though, the fire pro­tec­tion ser­vice is high­ly pro­fes­sion­al­ized, and that is becom­ing more and more com­mon. Fire pro­tec­tion is com­plex, from the tech­nol­o­gy and tech­niques of actu­al fire-fight­ing to the orga­ni­za­tion­al chal­lenges of col­lab­o­rat­ing between cities, espe­cial­ly for major events like for­est fires. That’s why more fire ser­vices are requir­ing a bachelor’s degree for fire­fight­ers and admin­is­tra­tors, and work­ing pro­fes­sion­als are under pres­sure to catch up.

Col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties have devel­oped all sorts of ways to make an online fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree con­ve­nient for work­ing fire­fight­ers. In addi­tion to accel­er­at­ed sched­ules (cours­es that take only 6–8 weeks instead of the con­ven­tion­al 16), fire sci­ence pro­grams offer gen­er­ous cred­it trans­fers. Since many fire­fight­ers already have associate’s degrees, they are halfway to a bachelor’s; they can fin­ish in as lit­tle as 18 months. When cred­it for work expe­ri­ence and cer­ti­fi­ca­tions is added in, a fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree can take as lit­tle as a year.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Online Fire Science Degree Accelerated Programs

For our rank­ing of the Fastest Online Fire Sci­ence Degree pro­grams, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter began with a list of all rep­utable, accred­it­ed online fire sci­ence degree pro­grams, as well as fire and pub­lic ser­vices admin­is­tra­tion, fire inves­ti­ga­tion, and relat­ed pro­grams. From there, we searched for fire sci­ence online degree pro­grams that took the needs of work­ing fire ser­vice pro­fes­sion­als seri­ous­ly, with accel­er­at­ed class­es, help­ful trans­fer pro­grams, and oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties to speed up the process.

Final­ly, pro­grams were ranked accord­ing to five fac­tors: Cost, Grad­u­a­tion Rate, Job Place­ment Rate, Rep­u­ta­tion, and Salary Expec­ta­tions. Data came from IPEDS, Col­lege Score­card, and Niche, for a rank­ing that focus­es on job mar­ket val­ue and returns on invest­ment. These are the best in fire and emer­gency ser­vices high­er education.

1. American Public University

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University’s BS in Fire Sci­ence Man­age­ment degree pro­gram can be com­plet­ed 100% online. Stu­dents explore the the­o­ry and prac­tices of the fire sci­ence dis­ci­pline. Amer­i­can Pub­lic University’s Fire Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 120 cred­it units in the areas of pre­ven­tion, safe­ty, fire sup­pres­sion, and fire behav­ior. APU offers a gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy that allows for up to 90 eli­gi­ble credits.

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in 1991 and oper­ates inde­pen­dent­ly of the Unit­ed States fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. APU is a pri­vate, for-prof­it insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing where more than 55+% of the 48,000+-student pop­u­la­tion have pre­vi­ous­ly served in the US mil­i­tary. APU is accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion and endorsed by the Coun­cil on Edu­ca­tion for Pub­lic Health, the Soci­ety for Human Resource Man­age­ment, and the Nation­al Coun­cil on Fam­i­ly Rela­tions. Wendy B. Lawrence, a space shut­tle vet­er­an, is a fac­ul­ty mem­ber at the Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

Degree: BS in Fire Sci­ence Man­age­ment
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

2. Anna Maria College

One of the few col­leges with a ded­i­cat­ed School of Fire & Health Sci­ences, Anna Maria Col­lege offers an online BS in Fire Sci­ence degree pro­gram that is avail­able entire­ly online. The FESHE approved course­work (AMC was the first in the coun­try to earn this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion) includes fire dynam­ics, fire­fight­ing skills, haz­ardous mate­ri­als han­dling, and man­age­ment the­o­ries. Anna Maria College’s trans­fer cred­it pol­i­cy accepts up to 900 eli­gi­ble cred­its. They also offer stu­dents an accel­er­at­ed Mas­ter of Pub­lic Admin­is­tra­tion that can be earned dur­ing an agreed-upon 5th Year of instruction.

Anna Maria is a pri­vate insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing that was estab­lished in 1946. The school was found­ed by the Sis­ters of Saint Anne and remains affil­i­at­ed with the Roman Catholic Church. The school’s 175+-acre rur­al cam­pus is home to near­ly 1,500 stu­dents. The school is locat­ed in the beau­ti­ful cen­tral por­tion of Mass­a­chu­setts. Boston, Cape Cod, Con­necti­cut, Albany, Ver­mont, and Even New York City are with­in dri­ving distances.

Degree: BS in Fire Sci­ence
For­mat: Online — accel­er­at­ed — FESHE Certificate

Anna Maria College

3. Bowling Green State University

Bowl­ing Green State University’s BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion (FIAD) can be com­plet­ed 100% online. BGSU’s pro­gram is rec­og­nized among the best online fire sci­ence degree pro­grams in the region. The school allows for up to 90 trans­fer cred­its for incom­ing stu­dents. BGSU holds the dis­tinc­tion as being the State Fire School since the ear­ly 1970s. The program’s cur­ricu­lum includes requires the com­ple­tion of 122 cred­it units and a cap­stone cul­mi­nat­ing project; which is com­plet­ed, on aver­age, in two-three years.

Bowl­ing Green State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was estab­lished in 1910. US News, Forbes, and Wash­ing­ton Month­ly have nation­al­ly rec­og­nized Bowl­ing Green State Uni­ver­si­ty. The school oper­ates with mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es but over­all, the school’s stu­dent enroll­ment nears 23,000. The school is home to the Dorothy and Lil­lian Gish Film Theater/Museum, a col­lec­tion of keep­sakes ded­i­cat­ed the Gish sis­ters of ear­ly film.

Degree: BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion
For­mat: Online — only 30 cred­its at BGSU

Bowl­ing Green State University

4. Eastern Kentucky University

East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Fire, Arson, and Explo­sion Inves­ti­ga­tion that can be com­plet­ed online entire­ly. The Inter­na­tion­al Fire Ser­vice Accred­i­ta­tion Con­gress (IFASAC) accred­its the fire admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­grams offered by East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty. EKU’s fire sci­ence bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 120 cred­it units. EKU’s allows for the trans­fer of up to 90 cred­it hours and reduce tuition prices for active ser­vice mem­bers. US News & World Report rec­og­nizes East­ern Ken­tucky University’s fire sci­ence pro­gram among the top online pro­gram in the nation.

East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic, region­al insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing that was estab­lished in 1874. EKU is a dis­tance-learn­ing school and also offers on-cam­pus class­es on sev­er­al cam­pus­es in Rich­mond, Lan­cast­er, Corbin, Man­ches­ter, and Haz­ard. Includ­ing online learn­ers, East­ern Ken­tucky is home to near­ly 17,000 stu­dents. US News, Forbes Mag­a­zine and the Chron­i­cle of High­er Edu­ca­tion have rec­og­nized many degree pro­grams offered by East­ern Ken­tucky University.

Degree: BS in Fire, Arson and Explo­sion Inves­ti­ga­tion
For­mat: Online — trans­fer up to 90 credits

East­ern Ken­tucky University 

5. Lewis University

Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty offers an online BA in Fire Ser­vice Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram that is deliv­ered as an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram. Stu­dents expe­ri­ence real-world fire-relat­ed cir­cum­stances along­side pro­fes­sion­al fire­fight­ers in the Chica­go area. Core cours­es include Fire Ser­vice Ethics, Fire Ser­vice Risk Man­age­ment, Fire Ser­vice Finan­cial Man­age­ment, and Emer­gency Med­ical Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion, among others.

Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty that was estab­lished in 1932 by the Arch­dio­cese of Chica­go. The school’s sub­ur­ban cam­pus is home to more than 4,600 stu­dents study­ing from the more than 75 degree pro­grams offered by Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty. LU’s fire admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram requires incom­ing stu­dents to be a min­i­mum of 24 years old, and either 3 years of full-time work or hold an asso­ciates degree in a fire-relat­ed sub­ject. The school accepts up to 72 eli­gi­ble trans­fer cred­it units.

Degree: BA in Fire Ser­vice Admin­is­tra­tion
For­mat: On-Cam­pus or Online — Accelerated

Lewis Uni­ver­si­ty

6. Liberty University

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram that is avail­able 100% online. LU’s fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 120 cred­it units across 3.6 to 4 years. Course­work includes Fire Pre­ven­tion, Fire Ser­vice Orga­ni­za­tions, Lead­er­ship in Fire Ser­vices, Inci­dent Com­mand, and Emer­gency Plan­ning, among oth­ers. Lib­er­ty University’s fire admin­is­tra­tion degree allows for the trans­fer of up to 90 cred­it units and pre­pares grad­u­ates for a career in the field of fire ser­vice, fire admin­is­tra­tion, and emer­gency ser­vices management.

LU is an evan­gel­i­cal Chris­t­ian insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was estab­lished in 1971. The school’s sub­ur­ban cam­pus is home to more than 15,000 stu­dents; how­ev­er, Lib­er­ty University’s online stu­dent enroll­ment exceeds more than 94,000. Lib­er­ty University’s recent­ly built Free­dom Tow­er holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the tallest struc­ture in Lynch­burg, VA.

Degree: BS in Fire Admin­is­tra­tion
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

Lib­er­ty University

7. Neumann University

Neu­mann University’s offers a BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram that is avail­able online, and in an accel­er­at­ed for­mat through the Adult Edu­ca­tion divi­sion. The school offers trans­fer cred­its of up to 90 and cred­it for pre­vi­ous­ly earned cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Stu­dents attend­ing Neu­mann University’s fire sci­ence degree pro­gram either online, or on-cam­pus fol­low the Fran­cis­can tra­di­tion of social respon­si­bil­i­ty, envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, and respect for everyone.

The Fran­cis­can Sis­ters from the City of Broth­er­ly love – Philadel­phia estab­lished Neu­mann Uni­ver­si­ty in 1965. The school is affil­i­at­ed with the Fran­cis­can Roman Catholic Church and was ini­tial­ly an all-girl insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing. The school is orga­nized into five divi­sions cov­er­ing the dis­ci­plines of Nurs­ing, Edu­ca­tion, Busi­ness, Arts & Sci­ences, and Pro­fes­sion­als Stud­ies. The school’s south­east­ern Penn­syl­va­nia cam­pus is home to more than 3,000 students.

Degree: BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion
For­mat: Online — accelerated

Neu­mann University

8. Northern Arizona University

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty offers an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Bach­e­lor of Applied Sci­ence degree pro­gram in Emer­gency Man­age­ment that is avail­able com­plete­ly online. Stu­dents attend­ing the fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree explore the con­cepts of Emer­gency Plan­ning, Dis­as­ter recov­ery, Home­land Secu­ri­ty, and Inci­dent Man­age­ment, among oth­ers. The school’s gen­er­ous trans­fer cred­it pol­i­cy allows for up to 90 eli­gi­ble cred­its that can be applied to the program’s 120-cred­it unit requirement.

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty is a research insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was estab­lished in 1889. The school’s 700+-acre ‘small city’ cam­pus is home to more than 31,000 stu­dents and sits at near­ly 7,000 feet above sea lev­el. NAU holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the first uni­ver­si­ty that applied cred­its to degree pro­grams for life expe­ri­ence. North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty ranks among the top world­wide .5% uni­ver­si­ties accord­ing to the Cen­ter for World Uni­ver­si­ty Rankings.

Degree: BAS in Emer­gency man­age­ment
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 credits

North­ern Ari­zona University 

9. St Thomas University

St Thomas Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Emer­gency Ser­vices Man­age­ment degree pro­gram that is avail­able online and in an accel­er­at­ed for­mat. STU’s course­work mir­rors the stan­dards set forth by FESHE — the Fire and Emer­gency High­er Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram. Cur­ricu­lum course­work includes Res­cue Oper­a­tions, Fire Sup­pres­sion, Con­flict Res­o­lu­tion, Fire Ser­vices Tech­nol­o­gy, and Emer­gency Ser­vices Per­son­nel Man­age­ment, among others.

The Arch­dio­cese of Mia­mi estab­lished St Thomas Uni­ver­si­ty in 1961. St Thomas Uni­ver­si­ty traces its roots to Havana Cuba in the mid-1940s. The school’s 150-acre urban cam­pus is home to near­ly 4,700 stu­dents and min­utes from the infa­mous Mia­mi beach­es and the Mag­ic City’s nightlife. Col­lege Fac­tu­al rec­og­nizes STU’s fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree among the top 15% of Law Enforce­ment, Home­land Secu­ri­ty and Fire­fight­ing online pro­grams countrywide.

Degree: BS in Fire and Emer­gency Ser­vices Man­age­ment
For­mat: Online — Accelerated

St Thomas University

10. University of Maryland University College

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty College’s Glob­al Cam­pus offers a BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion degree pro­gram that deliv­ers all the flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience of a qual­i­ty dis­tance-learn­ing pro­gram. The Glob­al Cam­pus’ fire sci­ence bach­e­lor degree pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 120 cred­it units – of which up to 90 eli­gi­ble cred­its can be trans­ferred. Course­work includes Pub­lic Safe­ty Ethics, Pub­lic Safe­ty Lead­er­ship, Legal Issues, Pub­lic Pol­i­cy, and Pub­lic Ser­vice Tech­nol­o­gy, among oth­ers. FESHE — the Fire and Emer­gency High­er Edu­ca­tion over­sight pro­gram — accred­its UMUC’s pub­lic safe­ty bac­calau­re­ate degree program.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege is a pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing that focus­es on online edu­ca­tion. UMUC’s online stu­dent body totals more than 90,000 stu­dents, world­wide. UMUC is one of eleven mem­ber schools of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Sys­tem. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege is con­sid­ered a pio­neer in dis­tance edu­ca­tion as it orig­i­nal­ly offered dis­tance-learn­ing pro­grams using dial-up access.

Degree: BS in Pub­lic Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion
For­mat: Online — trans­fer 90 cred­its — FESHE Certificate

Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty College

What If I Don’t Want a Full Bachelor’s Degree?

You don’t need a full Bachelor’s degree to start your fire safe­ty career. After all, how long does a fire sci­ence degree take? Instead, you can earn a cer­tifi­cate of fire safe­ty by get­ting your fire sci­ence cer­tifi­cate online. A fire safe­ty offi­cer course can jump­start your career. Keep in mind that a cer­tifi­cate is a bit dif­fer­ent from a Bachelor’s degree. For one thing, a cer­tifi­cate takes far less time to earn. Instead of stay­ing in school for four years, you could earn your cer­tifi­cate in two years or less. While a Bachelor’s degree requires some core cours­es, a cer­tifi­cate does not. Instead, you only take the cours­es that are absolute­ly required for your cer­tifi­cate of fire safe­ty. Instead of study­ing math, Eng­lish, and oth­er sub­jects, you’ll go straight to your online fire pro­tec­tion courses.

There’s one more dif­fer­ence between get­ting a bach­e­lor of sci­ence and get­ting a fire sci­ence cer­tifi­cate online. Bachelor’s degrees come from col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. Cer­tifi­cates, on the oth­er hand, come from a licens­ing orga­ni­za­tion. With either choice, you’ll learn all of the basics and gain rel­e­vant skills to get your career off the ground. That said, you should note that a Bachelor’s degree is required for cer­tain pro­mo­tions. Those who reach the high­est offices in fire safe­ty usu­al­ly have a Bachelor’s degree or high­er. How­ev­er, online fire pro­tec­tion cours­es pro­vide great places to start.

Most of the time, becom­ing an EMT or para­medic requires only an associate’s degree.

If you want to jump­start your career now, save some mon­ey (and have less in finan­cial aid to pay back), and then get a Bachelor’s degree when you’re ready to move for­ward with your career path, you can absolute­ly do so. Start by search­ing for a fire safe­ty offi­cer course near you.

What Will I Learn in a Fire Science Program?

Whether you get your fire sci­ence degree online or on-cam­pus, your fire sci­ence degree require­ments will cov­er a lot of ground. A fire sci­ence pro­gram will cov­er every­thing from the fire sci­ence def­i­n­i­tion to fire sci­ence tech­nol­o­gy. Essen­tial­ly, you’ll learn every­thing that you need to know to start your fire­fight­ing career. Fire sci­ence degree require­ments vary from one school to the next. How­ev­er, most of these pro­grams are very sim­i­lar to one another.

Com­mon fire sci­ence degree require­ments include cours­es on safe­ty, fire sci­ence tech­nol­o­gy, pre­ven­tion, and com­bus­tion. Keep in mind that the fire sci­ence def­i­n­i­tion cov­ers all aspects of fire. You’ll study how fires start, how they behave, and how they react to dif­fer­ent conditions.

If you’re inter­est­ed in becom­ing a fire inspec­tor or fire chief, a bachelor’s or master’s degree will be real­ly key. Com­bin­ing crim­i­nal jus­tice with fire sci­ence or emer­gency man­age­ment can help get into high­er posi­tions. Choos­ing your elec­tives wise­ly can also help you spe­cial­ize. Look into degree com­ple­tion if you already have an associate’s degree; the admis­sion require­ments are usu­al­ly much eas­i­er when you already have col­lege cred­it for gen­er­al education.

Do I Need a Certification or License to be a Firefighter?

Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, yes. Of course, all munic­i­pal­i­ties and fire depart­ments have their own rules and reg­u­la­tions for their fire­fight­ers. Your best choice is to look up the munic­i­pal­i­ty where you want to work so that you can find out what the require­ments are there. In some places, you need only a high school diplo­ma. In some places, an asso­ciate of applied sci­ence (A.A.S.) from a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege is required. If you’re not sure where you’ll end up work­ing, then it’s best to go ahead and get your fire sci­ence cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Most munic­i­pal­i­ties will require that you do. Even if your munic­i­pal­i­ty doesn’t require it, hav­ing your cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will give you con­fi­dence and a com­pet­i­tive edge.

Fur­ther­more, fire­fight­ing is a dan­ger­ous pro­fes­sion. When you have cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, you can be sure that you have all of the skills that you’ll need to fight fires effec­tive­ly. Get­ting your cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will require tak­ing an exam. An online fire sci­ence bach­e­lor’s degree will help you pre­pare for that exam. With all of the class­es that go into an online bach­e­lor degree, you’ll feel more con­fi­dent when you aim for your fire sci­ence certification.

How­ev­er, you don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly need a full Bachelor’s degree, as stat­ed above. You can find online fire sci­ence class­es to help you study for your fire safe­ty cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online. These often have mul­ti­ple start dates and part­ner­ships with orga­ni­za­tions like the U.S. Fire Admin­is­tra­tion. How­ev­er, when you look for that fire safe­ty cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online, make sure that you only use legit­i­mate sources for your fire sci­ence class­es online. For exam­ple, the Nation­al Fire Pro­tec­tion Asso­ci­a­tion or the Nation­al Fire Acad­e­my are great places to start.

Relat­ed Rank­ings:
25 Best Online Fire Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams
15 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Fire Sci­ence Degree Pro­grams
10 Most Afford­able Fire Sci­ence Degree Bach­e­lor Programs