Fire department ranks by country

New rank structure of 2015.

Higher cadre
Colonel	Major	Captain	Lieutenant
Middle cadre		Basic cadre
Adjutant	Sergeant	Corporal	Firefighter

Commandant general	Second commandants and intermediate commanders
1	2

• 1 - Colonel commandant
• 2 - Colonel second commandant

Superior officers
Colonel	Lieutenant colonel	Major BM

Intermediary officers	Subalterns
Captain BM	Lieutenant BM	Second lieutenant BM

Officer cadet	Warrant officer
Aspirant	Subtenente BM

First sergeant BM	Second sergeant BM	Third sergeant BM	Corporal BM	Firefighter 1st class BM

A chief and platoon chief coordinate activities on site of a house fire in Vaughan, Ontario

Ranks amongst Canadian firefighters vary across the country and ranking appears mostly with larger departments:

Toronto

Rank	Fire chief	Deputy fire chief	Division commander	Platoon chief	District chief	Captain	First class firefighter	Second class firefighter	Probationary firefighter
Insignia							None	None	None

Montreal

Vancouver

	Fire chief	Deputy fire chief	Assistant chief	Battalion chief	Training officer	Captain	Lieutenant	Firefighter	Probationary firefighter
Rank epaulettes								No insignia	No insignia
Rank pins								No insignia	No insignia

Ranks are divided between company officers and fire department officers, which can be subdivided between active officers (field officers) and administrative officers. The active officers are the captain, and three or four lieutenants, these four active officers are distinguished by red lines on their helmets.

Rank insignia of a lieutenant of the Paris Fire Brigade

The Paris Fire Brigade belongs to the army and uses army ranks with the corps of engineers badge. The commanding officer has the rank of divisional general. The Marseille Naval Fire Battalion belongs to the navy and uses naval ranks. The commanding officer has the rank of rear admiral. Civilian fire services uses the following ranks. The chief fire officer of a departemental fire brigade can be a comptroller general, a colonel senior class or a colonel, depending on the size of the brigade.

	Ministry of Interior			Civilian professional firefighters class A+		Civilian professional firefighters class A			Civilian professional firefighters class B
	Director general of civil security and crisis management	Director of fire protection and deputy director general of civil security and crisis management	Comptroller general (senior positions)	Comptroller general	Colonel senior class Colonel	Lieutenant colonel	Commander	Captain	Lieutenant senior class Lieutenant first class Lieutenant second class

	Civilian professional firefighters class C
	Chief adjutant	Adjutant	Chief sergeant	Sergeant	Chief corporal	Corporal	Sapper

In Germany every federal state has its own civil protection laws thus they have different rank systems. Additionally, in the volunteer fire departments, there is a difference between a rank and an official position. This is founded on the military traditions of the fire departments. Every firefighter can hold a high rank without having an official position. A firefighter can be promoted by years of service, training skills and qualifications. Official positions are partly elected or given by capabilities. These conditions allow that older ordinary firefighters have higher ranks than their leaders. But through this ranks are no authorities given (Brevet).

Professional fire fighters (middle technical grades) of Rheinland-Pfalz

Completed vocational training in a technical occupation suitable for the fire service. Basic firefighter training.

Brandmeister/-in während der Laufbahnausbildung	Brandmeister	Oberbrandmeister	Hauptbrandmeister

Professional fire fighters (upper technical grades) of Rheinland-Pfalz

Bachelor of Engineering and two years departmental training.

Brandinspektorenanwärter	Brandinspektor	Brandoberinspektor	Brandamtmann	Brandamtsrat	Brandoberamtsrat

Professional fire fighters (higher technical grades) of Rheinland-Pfalz

Master of Engineering and two years of departmental training.

Brandreferendar	Brandrat	Oberbrandrat	Branddirektor	Leitender Branddirektor Ministerialrat	Leitender Ministerialrat	Landesfeuerwehrinspekteur

Helmet insignia of Rheinland-Pfalz

Company leaders	Upper technical grades, battalion chiefs	Higher technical grades, fire chiefs

Firefighters in Indonesia form part of the civil service of local governments and wear variant forms of uniforms worn by civil servants and employees.

Officers

	Rav tafsar (רב טפסר)		Tafsar (טפסר)		Tat tafsar (תת טפסר)		Tafsar mishne (טפסר משנה)		Segan tafsar (סגן טפסר)		Ráv Reshef (רב רשף)		Reshef (רשף)		Lahav (להב)			Lahav mishne (להב משנה)
English	Lieutenant general firefighter		Major general firefighter		Brigadier general firefighter		Colonell firefighter		Lieutenant colonel firefighter		Major firefighter		Captain firefighter		First lieutenant firefighter			Second lieutenant firefighter

Other Ranks

	Rav semel bakhir kabai (רב-סמל בכיר-כבאי)	Rav semel rishon kabai (רב-סמל ראשון-כבאי)	Rav semel kabai (רב-סמל-כבאי)		Semel kabai (סמל כבאי)						Rav kabai (רב כבאי)						Lokhem esh rishon (לוחם אש ראשון)				Lokhem esh (לוחם אש)
English	Sergeant major firefighter	Master sergeant firefighter	Sergeant 1st class firefighter		Sergeant firefighter						Corporal firefighter						Senior firefighter				Firefighter

Iranian insignia

In Iran, every city has its own fire department, but ranks are the same in the whole country, and are as follows:

In Ireland, the traditional British and Commonwealth brigade rank structure is used, across the 26 counties.

Fire and rescue services are provided by 26 County Councils to the 26 counties of Ireland, and by three city councils with unitary authority status (those of Dublin, Cork, and Galway) within their respective cities. By agreement, the Dublin Fire Brigade provides cover to both the city and the county. Similarly, Galway City Council and Galway County Council have an agreement for the provision of a single fire and rescue service. Only Cork has separate services - Cork City Fire Brigade in the City of Cork, and Cork County Fire Service in the wider County of Cork. In each of the other 23 counties of Ireland a single fire and rescue service covers the whole county, including all large towns and cities, as those 23 county councils are unitary authorities for the entire county jurisdiction.

Structure	County brigades		Dublin City Brigade[2]
Rank	Insignia	Helmet	Insignia	Helmet
Firefighter		Yellow		Yellow
Leading firefighter or driver mechanic		Yellow, one 12 mm horizontal black stripe	This rank is not used in Dublin
Sub officer		Yellow, two 12 mm horizontal black stripes		Yellow, two 12 mm horizontal black stripes
Station officer		White, one 19 mm horizontal black stripe		White, one 12 mm horizontal black stripe
District officer (operations) or district FPO	These ranks are not used in counties			White, one 19 mm horizontal black stripe
Third officer (operations) or executive FPO	These ranks are not used in counties			White, two horizontal black stripes (one 19 mm, one 12 mm)
Second officer (operations) or senior executive FPO	These ranks are not used in counties			White, two horizontal black stripes (one 19 mm, one 12 mm)
Assistant chief fire officer		White, two horizontal black stripes (one 19 mm, one 12 mm)		White, two horizontal black stripes (one 19 mm, one 12 mm)
Senior assistant chief fire officer		White, one 38 mm horizontal broad black stripe	This rank is not used in Dublin
Chief fire officer		White, two 38 mm horizontal broad black stripes		White, one 38 mm horizontal broad black stripe
Key: FPO = fire prevention officer

Japanese Fire Department's rank insignias are place on a small badge and pinned above the right pocket. Rank is told by stripes and hexagram stars. The design of the insignias came from older Japanese style military insignias. Officers and team leaders could wear an arm band on the arm of fire jacket to show status as command leader. Sometimes rank can be shown as different color fire jacket for command staff. The color whites and gray are reserved for EMS. Orange is reserved for rescuers.

In New Zealand, rank is shown on epaulettes on firefighters' station uniform, and through colors and stripes on firefighter helmets. As the nation only has a single fire department, the New Zealand Fire Service, ranks are consistent through the country.

A Russian firefighter with a head of duty shift fire station helmet.

In the Russian Federation, the decals are applied symmetrically on both sides of the helmet (front and rear). The location of the decals on the special clothing and SCBA is established for each fire department of the same type within the territorial entity. The following ranks are used by State Fire Service civilian personnel, while military personnel use ranks similar to those of the Police of Russia, due to their pre-2001 history as the fire service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation before all firefighting services were transferred to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Insignia of a helmet Federal Fire Service of EMERCOM

Tunisian firefighter's ranks are the same as the army, police and national guard.

Ranks marked in italics are exclusive to the London Fire Brigade

Rank title	Rank markings
Firefighter
Leading firefighter
Crew manager/commander or sub-officer
Watch manager/commander or station officer
Station commander
Group commander or borough commander
Area commander or deputy assistant commissioner
Assistant chief fire officer or assistant commissioner
Deputy chief fire officer or deputy commissioner
Chief fire officer or commissioner

An American firefighter with a lieutenant's helmet

Typical rank insignia for an American fire department

In the United States, helmet colors often denote a fire fighter's rank or position. In general, white helmets denote chief officers, such as battalion chiefs, division chiefs, etc while red helmets may denote company officers, such as captains, lieutenants, etc but the specific meaning of a helmet's color or style varies from region to region and department to department. The rank of an officer in an American fire department is most commonly denoted by a number of speaking trumpets, a reference to a megaphone-like device used in the early days of the fire service, although typically called "bugle" in today's parlance. Ranks proceed from one (lieutenant) to five (fire chief) bugles. Traditional ranks in American fire departments that exist but may not always be utilized in all cities or towns include:

In many fire departments in the U.S., the captain is commonly the commander of a company and a lieutenant is the supervisor of the company's firefighters on shift. There is no state or federal rank structure for firefighters and each municipality or volunteer fire department creates and uses their own unique structure.

Some other American fire departments such as the FDNY (New York City Fire Department) use military rank insignia in addition to or instead of the traditional bugles. Additionally, officers on truck companies have been known to use rank insignias shaped like axes for lieutenants (one) and captains (two).