# Firefighters

> Control and extinguish fires or respond to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk. Duties may include fire prevention, emergency medical service, hazardous material response, search and rescue, and disaster assistance.

- **SOC code:** 33-2011.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-2011-00
- **Also known as:** Fire Engineer, Fire Equipment Operator, Firefighter, Wildland Firefighter, Fire Fighter, Fire Management Specialist, Fire Technician (Fire Tech), Forest Fire Suppression Specialist
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Rescue survivors from burning buildings, accident sites, and water hazards.
- Dress with equipment such as fire-resistant clothing and breathing apparatus.
- Assess fires and situations and report conditions to superiors to receive instructions, using two-way radios.
- Move toward the source of a fire, using knowledge of types of fires, construction design, building materials, and physical layout of properties.
- Respond to fire alarms and other calls for assistance, such as automobile and industrial accidents.
- Create openings in buildings for ventilation or entrance, using axes, chisels, crowbars, electric saws, or core cutters.
- Drive and operate fire fighting vehicles and equipment.
- Inspect fire sites after flames have been extinguished to ensure that there is no further danger.
- Position and climb ladders to gain access to upper levels of buildings, or to rescue individuals from burning structures.
- Select and attach hose nozzles, depending on fire type, and direct streams of water or chemicals onto fires.
- Operate pumps connected to high-pressure hoses.
- Maintain contact with fire dispatchers at all times to notify them of the need for additional firefighters and supplies, or to detail any difficulties encountered.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Public Safety and Security _(knowledge)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Education and Training _(knowledge)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Building and Construction _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Mechanical _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(ability)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Telecommunications _(Specialized Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Chemistry _(Specialized Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Windows _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Affiliated Computer Services ACS FIREHOUSE
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Email software
- Fire incident reporting systems
- Geographic information system GIS software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 13th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 8th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 22nd percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 18th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 32nd percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.4% growth (About average); 27.1k annual openings; 344.9k → 356.7k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $59,530; 332,240 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-33-2011-00_