Job Market Trends
As of 31 January 2025, the FireUp job board hosts 261 fire and forestry employers across ten industry types, with 1,770+ active job postings. The western United States continues to have the highest concentration of active employers and jobs. The January 2025 LA disaster has likely further contributed to this trend as both public and private companies respond to the wildfires and assist communities with recovery.
In this past month, private companies had the most active jobs on the platform (753) followed by State agencies (345), Non-profits (335), Universities (171), Utilities (58), and Federal agencies (51). In terms of job functions, roles in Operations (180), followed by IT (62), People & HR (54), Sales and Business Development (31), Customer Service (28), Software engineering (27), and Administration (20) roles, were the most listed across employer types.
222 job applications were submitted through the FireUp job board in January, with the greatest number of applications going to jobs in California. By far the greatest number of applications went out to wildland firefighting, forestry technician, and other operations roles.
Nearly half of FireUp’s talent network is early career (less than six years of experience), although 25% members boast 22, 28, and even 38 years of experience. Our talent network has skills like project management, wildfire suppression and mitigation, and risk management. Talent’s past experience reflects a range of backgrounds, including firefighters, business owner/operators, researchers, graduate students, and more.
On 30 January, we hosted our first virtual Career Day networking event with eight booths presenting diverse fire and forestry career pathway opportunities to FireUp’s Talent Network. If you missed it, here’s a preview of the event. Looks exciting? Don’t miss out on the next one! Attendees, register for an upcoming Career Day in March here. Booth presenters, register here.
Also, register here to upskill in time for 2025 hiring season with FireUp’s Job, Career, and Life Ready Courses!
Here’s a sneak preview of the courses we’re bringing together for whole-person development:
Job-Ready: Craft an engaging ATS-friendly Resume and Cover Letter, and practice fail-safe interview prep techniques
Career-Ready: Develop your personal brand, master networking, practice presentations, and learn leadership skills
Life-Ready: Daily practices for mindfulness, healing, fitness, resilience, and financial wellness
If you think you’d be great at teaching any of these courses, join FireUp’s Coaching Network! Thank you for bringing your expertise, lived experiences, and resources to help democratize access to good jobs, mentoring networks, and well-being outcomes for all fire and forestry workers.