Fire Safety Technician Job Description, Career as a Fire Safety Technician, Salary, Employment

Education and Training Fire marshall certification

Average Salary $45,000 per year

Job Outlook Fair

Basic Job Description

Fire safety technicians visit various buildings and businesses to look over the floor plan and design and draft a plan for what type of fire safety equipment and escape plan is best for them. They use their knowledge of science, engineering, drafting and design to determine how the building would be affected in the event of a fire and where it needs sprinklers or alarms. They are familiar with legal codes that determine how many alarms a building may need, and can design a plan to meet these legal codes and requirements. They also create customized escape plans for workers or customers who may be in a building in the event of a fire.

Education and Training Requirements

Fire safety technicians must take courses at an accredited school to become certified by the state in the field of fire safety. Many fire safety technicians are also trained to be firefighters, so they have experience with putting fires out which helps them to determine what needs to be done differently in buildings and houses to prevent a fire from occurring in the first place.

Certification for fire safety technicians usually involves taking courses on fire safety in buildings of various sizes and heights, where to place fire alarms, sprinklers and smoke detectors, and how to properly create an evacuation plan to place on each floor of a building. All students in a fire safety program are required to take an examination to become certified through a fire marshall in the area they wish to work.

Getting the Job

The most important quality of a fire safety technician is that they have a passion and desire to help people and keep them safe in the event of a fire. They should be well educated in the field of fire science, engineering and codes and regulations that determine how many sprinklers and fire alarms a building needs as well as where they need to be located.

Fire safety technicians are also able to design effective escape routes for each floor and location of a building so people can easily find them and quickly find out what they need to do to escape. They must have excellent writing skill so they can draw or write out a plan or pattern that can be easily understood by anyone in the building.

Fire safety technicians must also have excellent oral communication skills. They will often need to sit down with the owner of a building and let them know where alarms and sprinklers have been installed, where they have placed escape route maps, and explain the details of maps and escape codes they have created to make sure everyone understands what they should do in the event of a fire.

Job Prospects, Employment Outlook and Career Development

Most fire safety technicians start off working as a fire fighter and then advance their training and certification to become qualified to do the job of a fire safety technician. Once a technician has been in the field for awhile, they can advance to working on larger buildings, factories, and places with a high risk of fire hazards. Some also move on to supervise other technicians or even teach courses for fire fighters who want to become a safety technician. There are many opportunities in the field of fire science for fire fighters and safety technicians to advance and work in larger cities or buildings.

Employment outlook for fire safety technicians is expected to stay relatively steady over the next several years. Many businesses that fire safety technicians would inspect are closing due to the poor economy and therefore giving technicians less businesses to visit. This also depends quite significantly on the area in which a fire safety technician is employed and whether or not the population is increasing. The more a population increases, the more potential the area has for businesses to be built and technicians to be needed for inspection.

Working Conditions and Environment

Fire safety technicians spend most of their time installing fire safety equipment such as sprinklers and alarms, and designing a customized escape plan for businesses and buildings. They also perform inspections regularly and report any violations businesses have in accordance to fire safety laws and regulations.

Fire safety technicians often visit various buildings and businesses in a day and should be comfortable working in all conditions. They will visit office buildings, automotive shops, production factories, and a variety of other businesses. Technicians usually work a set number of hours during the week that are dedicated to these duties. Technicians may occasionally work overtime if they are finishing an inspection on a larger than average building or have to visit a business that is open only in the evening. Some also work as fire fighters for the city, so they may spend some of their time working in that department or as an on-call firefighter.

Salary and Benefits

The average salary for a fire safety technician is about $45,000 per year. Some technicians make more if they work for a larger city, and they will make more if they advance in the field and qualify to inspect larger, more prominent buildings. They can also advance by becoming supervisors or managers which allows for a significant salary increase.

Fire safety technicians are occasionally employed by the city or state, so they receive excellent benefits packages. Technicians receive health insurance, vacation time and sick leave allowance as well as job security if they are working as a city or state employee.

Where to Go for More Information

National Fire Protection Association
1 Batterypark March
Quincy, MA 02169
(617) 770-7471
http://www.nfpa.org

Fire Department Safety Officers Association
PO Box 149
Ashland, MA 01721
(508) 881-3114
http://www.fdsoa.org

National Fire Sprinkler Association
40 Jon Barrett Road
Patterson, NY 12563
(845) 878-4200
http://www.nfsa.org