How to become a senior fire station officer

Official title: Senior fire station officer

Also called: Senior firefighter, Chief fire officer, Senior fire brigade officer

Senior fire station officers manage or supervise firefighting and fire prevention workers.

Main tasks

• Coordinate emergency responses
• Supervise other fire fighters
• Fight fires using fire fighting equipment
• Respond to emergencies
• Rescue people from dangerous situations
• Assess emergency situations
• Educate the community about fire safety
• Conduct training, drills and inspections

How to become one

You need experience to become a senior fire station officer and a qualification may be useful. You usually need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: experience as a firefighter; a driver licence; to pass a police check; to pass a medical assessment and drug test. Other requirements: a relevant bachelor's degree; a Graduate Certificate in Emergency Management.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

• University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 5 universities in New Zealand

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

• Most common pay: $92,675 to $103,025 a year (median $97,850), a TEC estimate before tax.
• Lower: $87,500 a year · Upper: $108,200 a year
• TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
• People employed in the group Fire and Emergency Workers: 2,850 at the 2018 Census and 2,493 at the 2023 Census (-12.5%). Past change, not a forecast.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• About 60 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
• In the group Fire and Emergency Workers, 16% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
• Where people in the group Fire and Emergency Workers work (2023 Census): Auckland 28%, Wellington 14.7%, and Canterbury 13.4%.

Related jobs

• Firefighter
• Police officer
• Emergency management adviser
• Forensic specialist
• Emergency medical technician (EMT)
• Paramedic

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Questions people ask

How do I become a senior fire station officer?

You need experience to become a senior fire station officer and a qualification may be useful. You usually need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: experience as a firefighter; a driver licence; to pass a police check; to pass a medical assessment and drug test. Other requirements: a relevant bachelor's degree; a Graduate Certificate in Emergency Management.

How much does a senior fire station officer earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $97,850 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $92,675 to $103,025 a year.

Will AI change the work of a senior fire station officer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026