Career Details :: Forest Fire Fighting and Prevention Supervisors
Description
Supervise firefighters who control and suppress fires in forests or vacant public land.
Experience
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education
A bachelor's degree is the minimum formal education required for these occupations. However, many also require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Training
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Tasks
- Dispatches crews according to reported size, location, and condition of forest fires.
- Parachutes to major fire locations and directs fire-containment and -suppression activities.
- Trains workers in parachute jumping, fire suppression, aerial observation, and radio communication.
- Maintains radio communication with crews at fire scene to inform crew and base of changing conditions and learn of casualties.
- Directs loading of fire-suppression equipment into aircraft and parachuting of equipment to crews on ground.
- Observes fire and crews from air to determine force requirements and note changing conditions.
Related Careers
- Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists
- Forest Firefighters
- Municipal Fire Fighting and Prevention Supervisors
- Municipal Firefighters
- Railroad Inspectors
- Ship and Boat Captains
- Transit and Railroad Police
Important Abilities
General Work Activities
- Coordinating Work & Activities of Others
- Monitor Processes, Material, Surroundings
- Communicating With Other Workers
- Getting Information Needed to Do the Job
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
Important Skills
- Coordination
- Implementation Planning
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Instructing
Frequent Work Context
- Responsible for Others' Health & Safety
- Consequence of Error
- Responsibility for Outcomes and Results
- Job-Required Social Interaction
- Frustrating Circumstances
Related Majors
| Major | Add to XapPack |
|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Science |  [ add ] |
| Fire Administration Management | [ add ] |
| Fire Protection Administration/Technology | [ add ] |
| Fire Science | [ add ] |
| Fire Science/Public Safety | [ add ] |
| Fire Services Administration | [ add ] |
Institutions Offering Related Majors
No institutions found.