Firefighters

People in this career often have these skills:

• 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• 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.
• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• 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.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

People in this career often have talent in:

• 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 that there is a problem.
• Static Strength - The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
• Stamina - The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
• Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
• Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
• Multilimb Coordination - The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
• Reaction Time - The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
• Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
• Dynamic Strength - The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Spatial Orientation - The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Rescue people from hazardous situations.
• Provide first aid or rescue assistance in emergencies.
• Treat medical emergencies.
• Implement advanced life support techniques.
• Select tools, equipment, or technologies for use in operations or projects.

• Locate fires or fire danger areas.
• Operate firefighting equipment.
• Respond to emergencies to provide assistance.
• Request emergency personnel.
• Attend training to learn new skills or update knowledge.
• Maintain professional knowledge or certifications.
• Prepare hoses or water supplies to fight fires.
• Communicate with other workers to coordinate activities.
• Train personnel on proper operational procedures.
• Demonstrate activity techniques or equipment use.
• Assess characteristics of fires.
• Relay information about incidents or emergencies to personnel using phones or two-way radios.
• Examine debris to obtain information about causes of fires.
• Patrol natural areas to ensure safety or enforce regulations.
• Protect property from fire or water damage.
• Prepare investigation or incident reports.
• Inspect facilities to ensure compliance with fire regulations.
• Inspect equipment to ensure safety or proper functioning.
• Collaborate with law enforcement or security agencies to respond to incidents.
• Maintain fire fighting tools or equipment.
• Educate the public about fire safety or prevention.
• Participate in physical training to maintain fitness.

• First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers

• Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters

• Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers

• Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

• Ship Engineers

• First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers

• Commercial Divers

• Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

• Hazardous Materials Removal Workers

• Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas