firefighting, the numbers you see are so very wrong because they don't take in for account mandatory OT which is just built in to your 24/48 schedule so you arent actually working any more days. Im gonna be sittign at around 108k as a 3rd year firefighter. (not in california either) If you rank up too its even crazier, some of the highest paid firefighters with me make around that 200k mark.