Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructivefires. Afirefighter fights these fires with the intent to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technicalprofession, which requires years of training and education in order to become proficient. A fire can rapidly spread and endanger many lives; however, with modern firefighting techniques, catastrophe can usually be avoided. To help prevent fires from starting, a firefighter's duties includepublic education and conducting fire inspections. Because firefighters are often thefirst responders to victims in critical conditions, firefighters often also providebasic life support asemergency medical technicians oradvanced life support as licensedparamedics. Firefighters make up one of the majoremergency services, along with theemergency medical service, thepolice, and many others.
