Fire Prevention & Safety

Types of Degrees Fire Prevention & Safety Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many fire prevention & safety technology/technician graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Associate Degree	1,818
Basic Certificate	1,581
Undergraduate Certificate	414
Bachelor’s Degree	45

What Fire Prevention & Safety Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to fire prevention and safety technology/technician were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician Majors

Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician Majors

fire prevention and safety technology/technician majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician Majors

Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Fire Prevention & Safety Major?

People with a fire prevention and safety technology/technician degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Fire Investigators	7.3%	$62,510
Municipal Fire Fighting and Prevention Supervisors	7.1%	$76,330

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Fire Prevention & Safety?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 90% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of fire prevention and safety technology/technician majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	58
Black or African American	48
Hispanic or Latino	611
White	962
International Students	6
Other Races/Ethnicities	133

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Fire Prevention and Safety Technology/Technician. About 0.3% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Fire Prevention & Safety Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $64,140 to $80,310 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to fire prevention and safety technology/technician. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Fire Prevention & Safety

Some careers associated with fire prevention and safety technology/technician require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to fire prevention and safety technology/technician have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.8%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	30.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	17.5%
Some College Courses	23.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	18.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	9.6%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.8%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.0%

Online Fire Prevention & Safety Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	63	7
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	163	21
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Fire Prevention & Safety Worth It?

The median salary for a fire prevention and safety technology/technician grad is $64,140 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 61% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $484,800 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Fire Prevention & Safety

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to fire prevention and safety technology/technician.

Major	Number of Grads
Fire Science	8,321
Fire Services Administration	1,370
Other Fire Protection	140
Wildl&/Forest Firefighting & Investigation	76
Fire Systems Technology	72
Fire/Arson Investigation & Prevention	60

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.