Firefighter - Communication and Command Structure - Ranks - USA

USA

In the United States helmet colors often denote a fire fighter's rank or position. In general, white helmets denote chief officers, while red helmets may denote company officers, but the specific meaning of a helmet's color or style varies from region to region and department to department. The rank of an officer in the U.S. fire service is most commonly denoted by a number of speaking trumpets, a reference to a megaphone like device used in the early days of the fire service, although typically called "bugle" in today's parlance. Ranks proceed from one (lieutenant) to five (fire chief) bugles. Traditional ranks in American Fire Departments that exist but may not always be utilized in all cities or towns include:

The basic US fire department unit is a small unit called a "company" (under a lieutenant or captain depending upon rank structure) which is equivalent to a commonwealth "watch" (under a sub-officer). A US fire captain is thus often equivalent to a commonwealth sub-officer, and a US fire lieutenant to a commonwealth leading firefighter. In many fire departments in the USA, the rank of captain or lieutenant are both used to denote the most junior fire officer at the company level. There is no state or federal rank structure for firefighters and each municipality or volunteer fire department creates and uses their own unique structure.

Still some other American Fire Departments such the FDNY use military rank insignia in addition or instead of the traditional bugles. Additionally, officers on truck companies have been known to use rank insignias shaped like axes for Lieutenants (1) and Captains (2).