firefighter

American  

[fahyuhr-fahy-ter] / ˈfaɪərˌfaɪ tɛr /

Or fire fighter

noun

1. a person who fights destructive fires.

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firefighter British  

/ ˈfaɪəˌfaɪtə /

noun

1. a person who fights fires, usually a public employee or trained volunteer

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Other Word Forms

• firefighting noun

Etymology

Origin of firefighter

First recorded in 1900–05; fire + fighter

Example Sentences

On Wednesday, a volunteer firefighter was found dead from suspected exhaustion linked to heat and underlying health conditions, officials told AFP.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Video captured by OnScene showed a firefighter holding the toddler and crews extracting the two adults from the front of the car and loading them into an ambulance.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

Instead, the 28-year-old is now pursuing an abrupt shift: becoming a full-time firefighter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

Gimbel, who served as an economic adviser in the Biden and Obama administrations, noted that the eurozone is making nascent efforts to attract bond investors — in other words, to become that nice firefighter.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

In Sequim your butcher might also be the volunteer firefighter who saved your house or barn, as well as the neighbor who helped you rebuild it.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown