Captain is a rank in various fire services.

In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 and below a Battalion Chief

Fire chief

Fire Chief is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department, either elected or appointed...

. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company. In the Los Angeles County Fire Department

Los Angeles County Fire Department

The Los Angeles County Fire Department , serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including La Habra. It should not be confused with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which serves the city of...

, for example, engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 is the next lowest rank below captain. A captain is in charge of a specific fire station. In paid departments, as opposed to volunteer departments, there is a captain for each shift at each station. In these cases, the senior captain is responsible for the station overall. The head of the training division is often a captain, or there may be multiple captains reporting to a battalion chief of training. Additionally, captains may be assigned over other areas, such as hazardous material (Hazmat) response or Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

Emergency medical services

Emergency medical services are a type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency...

.

Captain is also approximately equivalent to the rank of Station Officer

Station Officer

Station Officer is a rank in a number of Commonwealth and other fire services, including those in Australia, the United Kingdom and the New Zealand Fire Service.-Australia and New Zealand:...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and some other Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 countries. In the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n New South Wales Rural Fire Service

New South Wales Rural Fire Service

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is a volunteer-based firefighting agency and statutory body of the NSW Government. The NSW RFS is responsible for the general administration of rural fire management affairs including administration of the Rural Fire Fighting Fund, co-ordination with local...

 and Country Fire Authority

Country Fire Authority

Country Fire Authority, or CFA, is the name of the fire service that provides firefighting and other emergency services to all of the country areas and regional townships within the state of Victoria, Australia, as well as large portions of the outer suburban areas and growth corridors of Melbourne...

, the rank of captain indicates the head of a brigade.

In the New Zealand Fire Service

New Zealand Fire Service

The New Zealand Fire Service is New Zealand's national fire fighting body. While its founding legislation, the Fire Service Act 1975, only provides for this role, the organisation has assumed responsibility for several other areas.-Strategic Direction:The New Zealand Fire Service has defined for...

 in the early 1980s, a captain was in charge of a station. The NZFS has now moved to senior station officer

Senior Station Officer

Senior Station Officer is a rank in the New Zealand Fire Service. In career fire stations, an SSO will be the officer in charge of a single watch at a station with multiple appliances...

 and station officer as station management ranks. The person in charge of a fire brigade is the chief fire officer, and captain is no longer used.