---
title: "Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineer"
description: "Research causes of fires, determine fire protection methods, and design or recommend materials or equipment such as structural components or…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/fire-prevention-and-protection-engineer"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineer

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2111 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2111.02

Research causes of fires, determine fire protection methods, and design or recommend materials or equipment such as structural components or fire-detection equipment to assist organizations in safeguarding life and property against fire, explosion, and related hazards.

Also advertised as: Consulting Engineer; Engineer; Fire Protection Consultant; Fire Protection Engineer (FPE); Forensic Fire Protection Engineer; Licensed Fire Protection Engineer; Professional Fire Protection Engineer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $115,160 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $55.36/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $68,420 to $171,250, with the middle half between $90,930 and $142,980
- **Total US employment:** 21,450
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.4% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 33/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 21,450 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $68,420 |
| 25th | $90,930 |
| 50th (median) | $115,160 |
| 75th | $142,980 |
| 90th | $171,250 |
| Mean (average) | $119,770 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $131,540 | $118,804 | 2,470 |
| MA | $131,210 | $124,067 | 750 |
| NH | $130,500 | $125,282 | 80 |
| OH | $129,560 | $139,651 | 650 |
| WA | $126,590 | $118,294 | 420 |
| TX | $123,440 | $127,183 | 4,320 |
| PA | $121,730 | $124,759 | 490 |
| NV | $121,660 | $121,686 | 80 |
| CO | $120,950 | $117,368 | 210 |
| MN | $120,050 | $121,729 | 220 |
| NJ | $119,370 | $109,710 | 430 |
| LA | $118,490 | $134,332 | 370 |
| DE | $118,440 | $118,668 | 50 |
| OR | $116,020 | $112,247 | 180 |
| CT | $115,640 | $111,611 | 270 |

30 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 45 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/fire-prevention-and-protection-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/fire-prevention-and-protection-engineer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 22,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 23,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,200 jobs, or +5.4%. Faster than average: 5.4% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 84.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 3.9% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 3.9% |
| Master's Degree | 3.9% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.9% |

## What the work involves

- Advise architects, builders, and other construction personnel on fire prevention equipment and techniques and on fire code and standard interpretation and compliance.
- Inspect buildings or building designs to determine fire protection system requirements and potential problems in areas such as water supplies, exit locations, and construction materials.
- Review building plans to verify compliance with fire code.
- Prepare and write reports detailing specific fire prevention and protection issues, such as work performed, revised codes or standards, and proposed review schedules.
- Attend workshops, seminars, or conferences to present or obtain information regarding fire prevention and protection.
- Develop training materials and conduct training sessions on fire protection.
- Design fire detection equipment, alarm systems, and fire extinguishing devices and systems.
- Direct the purchase, modification, installation, testing, maintenance, and operation of fire prevention and protection systems.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Building and Construction — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.33 |
| I — Investigative | 5.19 |
| C — Conventional | 4.47 |
| S — Social | 2.84 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.80 |
| A — Artistic | 1.47 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 89.5 |
| ISTP | 80.5 |
| INTJ | 73.3 |
| ESTJ | 71.1 |
| ISFJ | 68.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Fire Inspector and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fire-inspector-and-investigator) — median $75,920
- [Forest Fire Inspector and Prevention Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/forest-fire-inspector-and-prevention-specialist) — median $56,870
- [Health and Safety Engineer, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors](https://nuecareer.com/careers/health-and-safety-engineer) — median $115,160
- [First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-firefighting-and-prevention-workers) — median $93,530
- [Firefighter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/firefighter) — median $59,280
- [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) — median $74,690
- [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110
- [Occupational Health and Safety Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-specialist) — median $90,150
- [Nuclear Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nuclear-engineer) — median $133,970
- [Security Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-management-specialist) — median $83,050

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/fire-prevention-and-protection-engineer