this: the profession

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car accidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations. The increasing complexity of modern industrialized life with an increase in the scale of hazards has stimulated both advances in firefighting technology and a broadening of the firefighter-rescuer's remit. They sometimes provide emergency medical services. The fire service, or fire and rescue service also known in some countries as the fire brigade or fire department, are some of the emergency services. Firefighting and firefighters have become ubiquitous around the world, from wildland areas to urban areas, and on board ships.

Firefighting worldwide

See: Firefighting worldwide In some countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States, there are often paid, or professional career firefighters working. Additionally, there are volunteer firefighters (who are theoretically unpaid) and retained firefighters (sometimes called on call firefighters, who are paid for the specific time they are on duty, i.e. permanent part-time career firefighters) on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In such countries as the United Kingdom and Ireland, the use of additional retained firefighters is standard. In Portugal, the use of volunteer firefighters is standard, along with career firefighters.

In Australia there are volunteer brigades which are mostly unpaid rural services (although traditionally they are paid by their employers if called out during working hours).

In Germany, volunteer fire departments, called the "Freiwillige Feuerwehr", are established in every town: even the biggest German city, Berlin, with more than 3.6 million inhabitants, has volunteer firefighters besides a career fire service. In fact, only 100 German cities (most of them are towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants) have a career fire service, called the "Berufsfeuerwehr," but in every one of these cities a volunteer fire service exists, too. In cities with a career fire service, volunteer fire brigades support the career fire service at big fires, accidents and disasters. Many of the so-called volunteer departments (usually in towns with 35,000 to 150,000 inhabitants), except in very small towns and villages, are a mixed service of a core of career firemen who are supported by true volunteer firefighters should the need arise. However, the official title of those departments is nevertheless "volunteer fire service".