AI exposure: Firefighters
Control and extinguish fires or respond to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk. Duties may include fire prevention, emergency medical service, hazardous material response, search and rescue, and disaster assistance.
Reading this score
computedAt 10.0% of weighted task load, Firefighters sits at the 14th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 79.3% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.40 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Dress with equipment such as fire-resistant clothing and breathing apparatus, at 50.0%. The least is Participate in physical training activities to maintain a high level of physical fitness, at 0.0%. A gap of 50.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within protective service occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.9% across the group's 26 roles, with 25 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 5 are currently banded exposed, 4 assisted and 21 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.85 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.40 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 2.17 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.39 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.12 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.97 | 0-3 |
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dress with equipment such as fire-resistant clothing and breathing apparatus. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Prepare written reports that detail specifics of fire incidents. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.02 | exposed |
| Maintain contact with fire dispatchers at all times to notify them of the need for additional firefighters and supplies, or to detail any difficulties encountered. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 4.23 | assisted |
| Inform and educate the public on fire prevention. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.87 | exposed |
| Collaborate with other firefighters as a member of a firefighting crew. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Train new employees to control and suppress fires. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.12 | exposed |
| Move toward the source of a fire, using knowledge of types of fires, construction design, building materials, and physical layout of properties. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.31 | assisted |
| Orient self in relation to fire, using compass and map, and collect supplies and equipment dropped by parachute. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.89 | assisted |
| Assess fires and situations and report conditions to superiors to receive instructions, using two-way radios. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.10 | assisted |
| Participate in fire drills and demonstrations of fire fighting techniques. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.11 | untouched |
| Patrol burned areas after fires to locate and eliminate hot spots that may restart fires. | 7.5% | 17.5% | 75.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Maintain knowledge of current firefighting practices by participating in drills and by attending seminars, conventions, and conferences. | 7.1% | 5.4% | 87.5% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Inspect buildings for fire hazards and compliance with fire prevention ordinances, testing and checking smoke alarms and fire suppression equipment as necessary. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Collaborate with police to respond to accidents, disasters, and arson investigation calls. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 3.94 | untouched |
| Rescue survivors from burning buildings, accident sites, and water hazards. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation to injured persons or provide emergency medical care such as basic or advanced life support. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Drive and operate fire fighting vehicles and equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.30 | untouched |
| Respond to fire alarms and other calls for assistance, such as automobile and industrial accidents. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Search to locate fire survivors. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Operate pumps connected to high-pressure hoses. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Extinguish flames and embers to suppress fires, using shovels or engine- or hand-driven water or chemical pumps. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Select and attach hose nozzles, depending on fire type, and direct streams of water or chemicals onto fires. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Position and climb ladders to gain access to upper levels of buildings, or to rescue individuals from burning structures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Create openings in buildings for ventilation or entrance, using axes, chisels, crowbars, electric saws, or core cutters. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Inspect fire sites after flames have been extinguished to ensure that there is no further danger. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Take action to contain any hazardous chemicals that could catch fire, leak, or spill. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Protect property from water and smoke, using waterproof salvage covers, smoke ejectors, and deodorants. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Salvage property by removing broken glass, pumping out water, and ventilating buildings to remove smoke. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Clean and maintain fire stations and fire fighting equipment and apparatus. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.87 | untouched |
| Participate in physical training activities to maintain a high level of physical fitness. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.69 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.