Public service · Helping & Teaching
Firefighter: what the job actually is
Responding to fires, medical calls and rescues, and spending most of the rest of your shift training, checking equipment and preventing the next one.
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The work
What this job actually is
- Responding to emergencies: fires, medical calls, collisions, alarms and rescues. Many calls are not fires.
- The time between calls is real work too: training, equipment checks, fire prevention and public education, and station duties.
- You work in a crew, living at the station through long shifts, and trust the people around you with your safety.
- Hiring and requirements are set by individual municipalities. Job Bank notes that the level of job opportunities and the requirements are set by municipalities.
- The job asks you to be physically fit, calm in a bad situation and able to see things that are hard to forget.
A Tuesday
What a normal day looks like
Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.
- 7:00 — Shift change. Hand-over from the previous crew about what happened and what is broken.
- 7:30 — Check the truck and your breathing apparatus, every compartment, every time.
- 9:00 — Training drill. Hose, ladders, or a medical scenario, repeated until it is automatic.
- 10:30 — A call. A medical emergency. You get in the truck and go.
- 11:30 — Back at the station. Restock, write the report, clean the equipment.
- 12:30 — Lunch together. The crew cooks. Whoever ate last time does not get to choose.
- 14:00 — Fire prevention visit to a building: check exits, alarms and extinguishers.
- 15:30 — Physical training. It is part of the job, not an optional extra.
- 17:00 — An alarm call. It turns out to be a false one. You go anyway, every time.
- 18:00 — Station chores, and the long wait for the next call that may or may not come.
Honestly
Who loves this, and who should not do it
The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.
- You are calm when things go wrong and you want to be the one who steps in.
- You want to work in a close team where people rely on each other.
- You are willing to train for years for something that is mostly practice.
- You are fit, and you like staying that way as part of the job.
- You want public service work that is varied and tangible.
- You dislike shift work. Shifts include nights, weekends and holidays.
- You are affected by seeing people in crisis or injured. Many calls are sad and some are traumatic.
- You dislike living in close quarters with the same people for long shifts.
- You do not like routine drills and inspections. Most of the job is training and checking.
- You want a quick way in. Hiring involves several stages, and competition can be strong for career jobs.
The route in
How you actually get there in Ontario
Know how the certification works
The Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal trains and certifies firefighters to National Fire Protection Association standards and is the sole authority issuing Ontario firefighter certification. Pre-service programmes at recognised colleges or registered private career colleges cover NFPA 1001 Firefighter Level I and Level II and hazardous materials awareness and operations. After training, candidates take certification examinations and practical skills evaluations administered by the OFM, with three attempts for each written exam before additional training is required. Job Bank says certification for firefighters is compulsory in Ontario.Meet the minimums for a department you want to join
Requirements differ by municipality, so read the department's own recruitment page. As one example, Waterloo's lists being 18 or older, legally entitled to work in Canada, an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, NFPA 1001 Level 1 and 2 certification, an NFPA operations level certification, completion of all three stages of Ontario Fire Administration Inc. candidate testing, valid CPR-BLS certification, an emergency medical responder certification or equivalent, and a valid DZ class driver's licence with no more than three demerit points. Other departments will differ.Expect several hiring stages
Waterloo's steps after the minimums include psychological resiliency testing, a pre-employment medical evaluation and a police vulnerable sector check, with results satisfactory to the city at each stage. Do not assume another department follows the same order, and read theirs.Build a record of service before you apply
Job Bank says prior volunteer firefighting experience may be beneficial, and that physical agility, strength, fitness and vision requirements apply. Volunteer firefighting and community service are common ways to show commitment, and many departments run volunteer or part-time firefighters.
Where this comes from: Ontario.ca — Firefighter training and certification · City of Waterloo — Become a firefighter · Job Bank — Requirements for firefighters in Ontario
The money
What it pays in Ontario
Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.
- $32.00
- Low (hourly)
- $48.53
- Median (hourly)
- $64.58
- High (hourly)
Ontario, NOC 42101. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.
Where it is heading
The outlook for the next three years
Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.
Good4 out of 5 stars
- Employment is expected to remain relatively stable.
- Several positions will become available due to retirements.
- There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.
What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.
What is changing in this work
- The level of job opportunities and requirements are set by municipalities
- Population growth is expected to result in expanded fire services in some areas
- Provincial mandatory retirement age for salaried firefighters should create some replacement needs
- Federal and provincial investments to attract and retain firefighters
Who hires for it
- Majority employed by local or municipal governments, in fire-fighting departments
- Electric power generation, construction, and security systems services also employ a few firefighters.
- 16,800
- people work in this job in Ontario
- 7%
- are women (48% across all jobs)
Source: Job Bank — Firefighters job prospects in Ontario (NOC 42101). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.
Before you leave school
Things you can do now
- Stay fit and play team sports. Fitness and teamwork both matter, and sport builds both.
- Finish your Ontario Secondary School Diploma, since recruitment pages list it as a minimum, and take any first aid or CPR course you can access.
- Look at the recruitment page of the fire department nearest you and read the minimum requirements now, so you can plan years ahead.
- Ask your guidance office whether a co-op placement or a volunteer position with a local fire department is possible once you are old enough.
Test it
Do this before you decide anything
Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.
Read your local department's recruitment page and plan backwards
About 60 minutes- Find the recruitment or careers page for the fire department that serves your area and write down every minimum requirement it lists.
- Sort the list into things you can do now, things you can do after high school, and things you do not yet understand.
- Choose one item from the first group, such as a first aid course, and find out where and when you could do it.
- Find out whether the department takes volunteers, and note the minimum age listed.
What it tells you. If the long list excited you and you started planning, that is a good sign: this career rewards people who prepare for years. If the list felt like a wall, ask yourself which item bothered you. If it was the long hiring process, that is a real part of the path. If it was the idea of the work itself, think about whether another helping job suits you.
Better than any article
Questions for somebody who does this job
Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.
- “What is a normal shift for you, and what share of calls are fires?”
- “How did you get hired, and how long did the process take?”
- “What did you do beforehand that helped most?”
- “How do you cope with the harder calls?”
- “What is the hardest part of living at the station?”
- “Would you recommend volunteering first?”
Could you own one of these?
The part other career sites never mention
Not as a firefighter, because career firefighters work for a municipality. Some people with fire training later build businesses in fire safety inspection, training or equipment, but that is a different job from the one described here.
Not sure this is the right list to be reading
Start from yourself, not from the job.
Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.
Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.
If this appeals, look at these too
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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.