Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists
Enforce fire regulations, inspect forest for fire hazards, and recommend forest fire prevention or control measures. May report forest fires and weather conditions.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Active Listening
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Complex Problem Solving
- Monitoring
- Instructing
Key knowledge
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Public Safety and Security
- Law and Government
- Computers and Electronics
- English Language
What the work involves
- Relay messages about emergencies, accidents, locations of crew and personnel, and fire hazard conditions.
- Direct crews working on firelines during forest fires.
- Estimate sizes and characteristics of fires, and report findings to base camps by radio or telephone.
- Administer regulations regarding sanitation, fire prevention, violation corrections, and related forest regulations.
- Extinguish smaller fires with portable extinguishers, shovels, and axes.
- Locate forest fires on area maps, using azimuth sighters and known landmarks.
- Maintain records and logbooks.
- Examine and inventory firefighting equipment, such as axes, fire hoses, shovels, pumps, buckets, and fire extinguishers, to determine amount and condition.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (31.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (45.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (24%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 84% of occupations compared | 79% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 85% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 96% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 85% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 54% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 80% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 81% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 82% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 21.46%
- Constant contact with others: 78.54%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.53%
- Very important: 50.81%
- Extremely important: 42.67%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 3.81%
- Very important: 6.2%
- Extremely important: 89.98%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 4.25%
- Some freedom: 35.24%
- A lot of freedom: 60.51%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.69%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.96%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 15.03%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 27.14%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.78%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.89%
- Every day: 10.19%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.95%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 36.5%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.06%
- Every day: 23.5%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 12.87%
- Fairly serious: 12.7%
- Serious: 11.76%
- Very serious: 7.53%
- Extremely serious: 55.14%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 33-2022.00 · SOC 33-2022 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8