Seattle Fire Department - Rank Structure

Rank Structure

The rank structure of the SFD is shown below from most to least senior.

• Fire Chief: Overall command of the fire department.
• Assistant Chief: In charge of major divisions of the department.
• Deputy Chief: In charge of sections and offices under assistant chiefs.
• Battalion Chief: In charge of a geographical area of the city and the operations companies within that area. The safety chiefs are also battalion chiefs.
• Captain: In charge of all four platoons of an operations ladder or engine company. May also be assigned to a staff position.
• Lieutenant: In charge of one platoon of an operations engine or ladder company. May also be assigned to a staff position such as training.
• Firefighter/Paramedic: Paramedics in the SFD are all firefighters that applied for training as paramedics under the Medic One program. They operate in 2 person units located throughout the city.
• Firefighter: Responsible for fire suppression, inspections, EMS responses, hydrant inspections, equipment maintenance, and other tasks as members of an operations ladder or engine company. May also be selected and assigned as a member of a specialty team such as technical rescue, marine firefighting, decon team, hazmat team, dispatch, etc. The SFD does not have a separate job class for the assigned drivers, they are most often the senior firefighter assigned to a company.