Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 24% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 69% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 31% of the time, stays with people.
Research causes of fires, determine fire protection methods, and design or recommend materials or equipment such as structural components or fire-detection equipment to assist organizations in safeguarding life and property against fire, explosion, and related hazards.
$115,160 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on10 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet18 h
- Stays with people12 h
Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 10 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 18 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 12 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Review building plans to verify compliance with fire code (about 4 h); Prepare and write reports detailing specific fire prevention and protection issues, such as work performed, revised codes or standards, and proposed review schedules (about 2 h); Design fire detection equipment, alarm systems, and fire extinguishing devices and systems (about 1 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 69%
- 9%
- 22%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 24%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 14 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0025% to 0.0017% (released February and March 2025); none to 0.0017% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0025% | 676 of 708 | 1 of 14 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0017% | 687 of 703 | 1 of 14 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0017% | 660 of 672 | 1 of 14 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0017% | 661 of 677 | 1 of 14 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 20% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 80%
- No robot shown 20%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 14 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design fire detection equipment, alarm systems, and fire extinguishing devices and systems.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 15% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.4 work weeks | 19%Half by May 2027 | |
| Evaluate fire department performance and the laws and regulations affecting fire prevention or fire safety.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 15% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.4 work weeks | 19%Half by May 2027 | |
| Develop plans for the prevention of destruction by fire, wind, and water.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 15% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.4 work weeks | 19%Half by May 2027 | |
| Inspect buildings or building designs to determine fire protection system requirements and potential problems in areas such as water supplies, exit locations, and construction materials.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Review building plans to verify compliance with fire code.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 10% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1.3 work days | 91%Half by now | |
| Study the relationships between ignition sources and materials to determine how fires start.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 9% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 17%Half by Jul 2027 | |
| Conduct research on fire retardants and the fire safety of materials and devices.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 7% | 4.2 work days1 work day to 3.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Determine causes of fires and ways in which they could have been prevented.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.4 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and write reports detailing specific fire prevention and protection issues, such as work performed, revised codes or standards, and proposed review schedules.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | 91%Half by now | |
| Advise architects, builders, and other construction personnel on fire prevention equipment and techniques and on fire code and standard interpretation and compliance.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Direct the purchase, modification, installation, testing, maintenance, and operation of fire prevention and protection systems.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Develop training materials and conduct training sessions on fire protection.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 2% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 3.1 work days | 52%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Fire Inspectors and Investigators38% now, 55% by 2028
- Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists16% now, 16% by 2028
- Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors35% now, 73% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers31% now, 32% by 2028
- Firefighters3% now, 3% by 2028
- Construction and Building Inspectors49% now, 51% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 24% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 69% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (59% to 70% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Review building plans to verify compliance with fire code (91% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Prepare and write reports detailing specific fire prevention and protection issues, such as work performed, revised codes or standards, and proposed review schedules (91% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Design fire detection equipment, alarm systems, and fire extinguishing devices and systems (19% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Inspect buildings or building designs to determine fire protection system requirements and potential problems in areas such as water supplies, exit locations, and construction materials; Conduct research on fire retardants and the fire safety of materials and devices; and Determine causes of fires and ways in which they could have been prevented. Together such tasks are about 31% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 20% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 14 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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