What Can You Do With a Fire Technology Degree?
Work with county and municipal fire departments to make communities safer and respond to local emergencies. You can also fight fires with state and federal agencies. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the U.S. Fire Service need trained professionals. With this degree you learn fire prevention and emergency medical response, too. You can make a difference in many ways.
Go to Work
While this degree empowers you to work as a firefighter for local, state, or national services, it also opens doors to other public safety, fire prevention, and ecology careers. Consider these additional options:
- Emergency medical technician
- Law enforcement officer
- Fire alarm technician
- Fire protection engineer
- Public safety telecommunicator
- Wildland fire ecologist
National & State Standards: Check.
The approved list of courses includes those that meet the National Fire Academy Fire & Emergency Service Higher Education (FESHE) core curriculum requirements and include those accredited by the California Fire Service Training and Educational System for State Board of Fire technology certification.
Transfer to a Four-Year School
Once you’ve finished this associate degree, you may decide to transfer to a public or private university and earn a bachelor’s degree. You’ll be well-prepared for success at the university level. Good fit majors include:
- Agriculture
- Civil Engineering
- Climate Science
- Construction Management
- Criminal Justice
- Ecology
- Forestry
- Public Administration
- Wildlife Management
Additionally, California State University offers four-year majors in these subjects:
- Fire Protection Administration & Technology
- Fire Protection Engineering
- Fire Protection Services
Fire Technology AS: What to Expect
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Completion Requirements
- 42 units of required courses
- 18 units of general education courses
- 60 minimum degree units
- A minimum of a 2.0 grade point average (GPA)
- A grade of “C” or better in all required courses (a “P” grade is not an acceptable grade for courses in the major)
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Required Courses
FIRE 001: Fire Protection Organizations | 3 units
FIRE 002: Fire Prevention | 3 units
FIRE 003: Fire Protection Equipment & Systems | 3 units
FIRE 004: Building Construction for Fire Protection | 3 units
FIRE 005: Fire Behavior & Combustion | 3 units
FIRE 007: Principles of Fire & Emergency Services Safety & Survival | 3 units
Plus, choose between EMT 084 (Emergency Medical Technician I 6.5 units) or Emergency Medical Responder (EMR 001 | 3 units).
You also select 13 additional FIRE units and 8 units from BI 022, BI 023, CH 003, CIS 070A, CJ 003, PHIL 013, or SP 004.
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What You Learn
- Firefighter service qualifications
- Entry-level firefighting skills
- Ability to analyze, appraise, and evaluate fire and emergency incidents
- Laws, regulations, codes, and regulatory agencies
- How to determine causes of fires
- Best extinguishing agents and methods
- Ways to resolve apparatus and hydraulic problems along with other common equipment issues
- Common types of building construction and conditions associated with structural collapse
- Methods for designing a wet and dry fire protection system
- Alarm system components and operations
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