Overview of a Firefighting Career

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Firefighting: Career
Firefighting is a profession that is more complex than simply putting water on a fire. Firefighting is complex, difficult, and unforgiving. Even though firefighting sounds terrible, it is considered one of the greatest careers in the world, it is a job that has minimal entrance requirements, a nice salary for newcomers, and a challenge that holds rewards.
There are a large amount of firefighting jobs. A majority of firefighting jobs come from the municipal government, where the firefighter works for the city. This paper will be limited to just municipal firefighting. In the olden days, firefighting was exactly what it sounded like, fighting fires. Fire extinguishment was the main focus of those firefighters and was achieved through simple suppression with water. Today’s firefighters have a more complex list of chores in their job description. “By the late 200s, it was becoming clear that the role of fire departments had greatly expanded to include not only fire protection but also medical and mutual aid calls” (Fire Protection, 3101) This means that new recruits will go to an academy and learn how to do almost everything, including forcible entry, ventilation, dealing with smoky environments, and escaping dangerous situations (Byrne, 16). Although the name implies a single task, it is actually a jack of all trades career, requiring vast knowledge and skill. The modern inventions that prevent fires are diminishing bread and butter of the fire department. Now firefighters are taking more and more responsibilities and become well versed in any sort of accidents and natural disasters. This does not mean that fires are no longer a problem, but rather, are now a less vital part of the firefighting career. The job o...

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...e wants to become a firefighter, they must know that it is a demanding job. Firefighters work odd hours, have a rigorous and long list of tasks in the job description, get paid somewhat well, but do it all for the joy of helping out someone else.

Works Cited
Bruegman, Randy R. "The Colonial Fire Experience." Fire Administration I. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. 6. Print.
Byrne, Paul. "Blaze A Path Into Firefighting." Career World 38.1 (2009): 14-18. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Brunacini, Alan. "Advice To Young Firefighters, Part 7." Fire Engineering 165.3 (2012): 48-50. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"Fire Protection." Encyclopedia of American Industries. Ed. Lynn M. Pearce. 6th ed. Vol. 3: Finance, Service & Public Administration Industries. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 3099-102. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

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