Skip to content
Wintec
Future You

Explore careers

Explore our in-depth info on a large number of job and career options. Find out qualifications needed, average pay, future job opportunities and much more.

Fire Engineer

Mataaro Ārai Ahi

Fire engineers plan and design safety features that detect, control or reduce fire and smoke in buildings and structures. They also analyse how fire behaves and how safety features perform in fire.

Learn about this job keyboard_arrow_down

Secondary education

A tertiary entrance qualification is required to enter further training. Useful subjects include English, maths, physics, and construction and mechanical technologies.

Study fields

Study levels

  • Bachelor's degree
  • Master's degree and above

Useful experience

Useful experience for fire engineers includes:

  • any voluntary or paid firefighting work
  • general engineering work
  • any work in the building industry
  • any experience in the armed forces.

What you will do

Fire engineers may do some or all of the following:

  • design features in buildings and structures to detect, control or reduce fire and smoke damage
  • design or review safety feature modifications in renovated buildings
  • discuss designs with colleagues, architects, electrical engineers, or builders
  • create detailed drawings for fire safety features
  • produce technical instructions for, and assessments of, safety features, and do design calculations
  • create computer models to predict how fire will behave in buildings or structures
  • analyse how fire safety features performed after a fire.

Skills and knowledge

Fire engineers need to have knowledge of:

  • how fire and smoke behave, and how people behave in fires
  • how fire affects building materials
  • building design techniques and engineering principles
  • building and emergency legislation
  • how to use computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Pay

New fire engineers usually earn

$70K-$90K

per year

Senior fire engineers who work as team leaders usually earn

$120K-$180K

per year

Job opportunities
Good
Chances of getting a job as a fire engineer are good due to a shortage of workers.
Length of training
6
years of training usually required.

Industry

Engineering

Fire engineers plan and design safety features that detect, control or reduce fire and smoke in buildings and structures. They also analyse how fire behaves and how safety features perform in fire.

Similar jobs in this industry

Entry requirements

To become a fire engineer you need to have a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), and a Master of Engineering in fire engineering. You may be able to complete the Master's degree on the job.

Fire engineers may choose to become Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng) after three to five years of industry experience.

Chances of getting a job

Growing demand for fire engineers

Demand for fire engineers is growing due to:

  • an ageing workforce, with many fire engineers approaching retirement age
  • new legislation on fire safety and evacuation schemes, which is creating more work for fire engineers.

However, not enough graduates are coming through to fill vacancies. Many employers report that they recruit workers from overseas due to a shortage of graduates and experienced fire engineers in New Zealand.

There are about 800 fire engineers and 200 fire engineering companies in New Zealand.

Opportunities for graduates

Many large fire engineering companies:

  • offer internships to engineering students
  • pay for graduates to complete a Master of Engineering in fire engineering on the job.

Types of employers varied

Fire engineers may work for:

  • construction and fire engineering businesses
  • Fire and Emergency New Zealand
  • insurance firms
  • local government.

Fire engineers may also be self-employed.

Find out more about training

Canterbury University
(03) 369 3113 - enquiries@civil.canterbury.ac.nz - www.canterbury.ac.nz
Engineering NZ
(04) 473 9444 - hello@engineeringnz.org - www.engineeringnz.org
Society of Fire Protection Engineers (NZ)
(09) 308 7030 - secretary@sfpe.org.nz - www.sfpe.org

Progression and specialisations

After completing a Master of Engineering in fire engineering and then three to five years of work experience, fire engineers may progress to become Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng) or Chartered Engineers (CEng), and work as team leaders or oversee projects.

Fire engineers may specialise in designing safety features for:

  • railways
  • tunnels and mines
  • confined spaces in buildings or structures
  • space technology such as rockets
  • ships.

Working conditions

Fire engineers:

  • usually work regular business hours, but may need to be on call
  • work in offices
  • may work in hazardous conditions, such as in buildings after fires
  • may travel locally to attend site meetings, assess building sites, or analyse structures after fires.

Useful personal qualities

Fire engineers need to be:

  • analytical and good at problem solving
  • adaptable and creative
  • accurate, practical and good at planning
  • able to work well under pressure and in a team
  • strong communicators, and able to explain complicated ideas in simple language.

Industry

Engineering

Fire engineers plan and design safety features that detect, control or reduce fire and smoke in buildings and structures. They also analyse how fire behaves and how safety features perform in fire.

Job data powered by careers.govt.nz