How to Hire Military Veterans for Your Fire Department

Your last academy class did not fill. The one before that lost two recruits before probation ended. Fire chiefs and district HR leads say the same thing right now. The applicant pool is thin, and too many people who apply have never held a hose line, run a call, or worn an SCBA.

Here is a pool that already has. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 27,100 firefighter openings each year through 2034, so the demand is not going away. Every year, thousands of service members leave the military trained as firefighters. They fought structural fires on base. They ran aircraft rescue on the flight line. They controlled fire and flooding on a ship. Many are also certified EMTs. They know rank structure, they show up early, and they do not flinch on a bad call.

This guide is for the hiring side. If you run a municipal department, a fire district, a fire-based EMS agency, or an industrial fire brigade, this is how you find and hire veterans who are ready to work. If you are the veteran trying to break into the fire service, we wrote a separate guide for you at military to fire department career transition.

Which military jobs map to firefighting?

Not every veteran is a fit for the fire ground. But several military jobs train people to do the exact work your department does. Some ran fire operations full time. Others did fire and rescue as a core part of the job.

Here are the backgrounds that map most directly. Each links to a full breakdown of that job and its civilian paths.

The Army 12M Firefighter and the Air Force 3E7X1 Fire Protection specialist do the job full time. They pull structural fires, vehicle fires, and hazmat calls. Many hold national fire certifications before they ever apply to your department.

The Marine 7051 Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting specialist is a strong fit for airport fire departments and any agency near an airfield. The Navy Damage Controlman fought fires in a steel box at sea, where there is no exit and no mutual aid. That kind of experience is hard to teach.

Do not stop at the firefighter codes. Fire departments run more medical calls than fire calls. A combat medic or Navy corpsman may not have fought a structure fire, but they have run trauma under pressure. We cover that overlap below.

What certifications does a veteran already bring?

This is where many departments get surprised. Military firefighters do not just get on-the-job training. Many train at the joint Department of Defense fire academy at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas, which trains firefighters from every branch to a national standard.

The certifications they earn are often accredited through the Pro Board and IFSAC. These are the two national systems that many civilian departments already recognize. That means a veteran may show up with Firefighter I and Firefighter II under the NFPA 1001 standard, plus Hazmat Awareness and Operations.

So the real question is not whether a veteran is certified. It is which of your certifications transfer and which they still need. Ask for the certificates and the accreditation seals up front. A candidate who already holds Firefighter II and an EMT card can move through your process much faster than a raw recruit.

The U.S. Fire Administration and its National Fire Academy set much of the training framework that both military and civilian firefighters follow. That shared framework is why so much of the training crosses over.

What about EMS and the combat medic?

Most fire departments are really EMS agencies that also fight fire. In many systems, medical calls are the bulk of the run volume. That changes who you should be looking at.

A veteran does not need a firefighter code to add value here. An Army combat medic or a Navy corpsman has run real trauma calls, often in worse conditions than any civilian shift. Some already hold a national EMT certification. Many can bridge to paramedic with a clear path.

If your agency leans heavy on EMS, read our guide on how to hire veterans for EMS and ambulance agencies. The medic-to-firefighter path is one of the fastest ways to build a cross-trained crew. You bring in someone who can already run the medical side, then train them on fire.

Think about how it plays out on a real shift. A corpsman who spent four years with a Marine unit has held pressure on a bleed while people yelled around them. Drop that person on your busiest ambulance, and they steady the rig from day one. The fire skills come later in the academy. The calm under a hard call is already there, and you cannot put that on a training schedule.

How does veterans preference work in fire hiring?

Most municipal and district fire jobs are civil-service positions. That usually means a written exam, a ranked eligibility list, and a physical test. Veterans preference lives inside that system.

Many states and cities add preference points to a veteran's passing exam score. Some move qualified veterans up the eligibility list. The exact rule depends on your state law and your local charter, so the amount and the method vary a lot.

Know your own rule before you recruit. If your state gives strong preference, say so in your job posting. Veterans read for it. A clear line about how you handle preference tells a separating firefighter that your department is worth the application.

Preference helps you too. It is a legal, built-in way to move trained candidates up your list. You are not lowering the bar. You are giving credit for service to people who already meet your fire and medical standards. The Department of Labor keeps a plain-language rundown of the rules for hiring veterans that is worth a read before you post.

What about the physical ability test and the academy?

The physical side is where veterans usually shine, but do not assume it. Many departments use a standard physical ability test, often the CPAT, before an offer. A veteran firefighter has done this work in full gear, so most clear it without trouble.

Still, treat every candidate as an individual. Someone who has been out for three years may need to train back up. Someone medically retired may have limits. Ask about current fitness the same way you would ask any recruit. Do not screen a veteran out on assumption, and do not wave one through on it either.

On the academy question, a certified veteran may not need the full recruit academy. Some departments run a shorter bridge or a challenge process for candidates who already hold Firefighter I and II. That saves you academy seats and gets a working firefighter on shift sooner. Confirm what your state and your insurer allow.

Where do you find separating firefighters?

The trained ones are leaving all the time, but they will not walk into your station on their own. You have to reach them before they land somewhere else. The best window is the last six months of service.

Start with the base fire departments near you. Every military installation runs its own fire department, staffed by the same people you want to hire. Our guide on getting base access to recruit walks through how to build that relationship the right way.

SkillBridge is one of the cleanest ways in. It lets a still-serving member spend their final months working at your department at no salary cost to you, because the military still pays them. You get a real tryout. If it works, you can move to convert that intern into a full-time hire once they separate.

Do not wait for the resume to hit your inbox. Timing matters. Our breakdown on how to source veterans before their separation date shows how to line your posting up with their exit.

How do you screen and interview a military firefighter?

The screening trap with veterans is the resume. A military firefighter often writes in job codes and unit names. Your recruiter reads it and does not see the fire experience, even though it is all there.

Read for the work, not the words. If you use keyword search on your applicant system, search for civilian and military terms both. A search for only "structural firefighter" may sink a strong 3E7X1 who wrote "fire protection specialist." The system ranks them low, and you never see the file.

In the interview, ask the same firefighting and EMS scenarios you ask any candidate. A trained veteran will answer them well. Where you dig is the transition to a civilian department. Ask how they will adjust to a union shop, a call volume that leans medical, and a community they now serve as a public employee.

Use a consistent scorecard so you are fair across every applicant. Our structured interview scorecard for veterans keeps the panel focused on the job. Pair it with a clear read on rank and command history, covered in how to assess military leadership experience, so you place a former crew chief at the right level.

Fire is a public safety mission, and so is emergency response across your region. If your department also touches dispatch or coordination, the same veteran skills apply. See our guides on hiring for emergency management roles and staffing an emergency operations center.

Where to find veteran firefighters ready to hire

You do not have to wait for the right applicant to find you. Best Military Resume is where separating service members build their civilian resumes, including the firefighters, ARFF crews, damage controlmen, and medics you want on shift.

The pool is fresh and it keeps growing. More than 1,000 new profiles are added every month, and over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. You can reach that talent directly rather than hope the next academy class fills itself.

Fire departments are short on trained people. The military keeps turning out firefighters, medics, and hazmat techs who want to keep serving in a new uniform. Meet them where they are, respect the training they already have, and give service credit through your preference rules. That is how you fill the class and keep it filled.