Fire Department · Career
Newport Beach Fire Department
Newport Beach, CA · Orange County
“Safety, Service, Professionalism”
Newport Beach Fire Department seeks Paramedic firefighters with EMT-Paramedic certification and CPAT/Biddle PAT within May 2025-present. Salary $8,060–$11,908 monthly, continuous application review starts May 29, 2026.
Newport Beach Fire Department seeks part-time Support Services Aide at $25-$37 hourly with continuous applications; first review May 19, 2026.
The Newport Beach Fire Department has protected residents, businesses, and visitors for nearly 110 years, delivering full-service fire, lifeguard, and emergency medical response 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It holds an ISO Class 1 rating, the top public-protection classification.
The department is built around four divisions: Fire Operations, Lifeguard Operations, Fire Prevention, and Fire Administration. It runs about 152 full-time employees plus more than 200 part-time and seasonal staff (largely seasonal lifeguards), operating eight fire stations spread across the city, a lifeguard headquarters at the base of the Newport Pier, and a lifeguard sub-station in Corona del Mar.
Newport Beach presents an unusually varied risk profile for a single city: high-rise residential and commercial buildings, wildland-urban interface, coastal cliffs, a freeway, a bay and harbor, ocean and jetties, two piers, eight bridge-access islands, and a ferry, all directly beneath the flight path of John Wayne Airport. Crews train for that full range of emergencies and regularly support Orange County and regional mutual-aid responses.
The department is guided by its operating principles of Safety, Service, and Professionalism, and reports an average emergency response time of under five minutes.
MissionProvide all risk services to our community by protecting life, property, and the environment through prevention, training, education, and response.
Firefighter, paramedic, lifeguard, and support positions are posted through the City of Newport Beach's careers portal on GovernmentJobs.com, where candidates create an account and apply online. Promotional opportunities are listed separately on the same platform.
Because openings are episodic, prospective applicants should watch the city's job board for active recruitments. The department also runs a Fire Cadet Program (formerly Explorer Post 309) and a seasonal lifeguard track as entry pathways into the fire service.
How do I apply to become a Newport Beach firefighter?
The City posts firefighter, paramedic, lifeguard, and support openings on its GovernmentJobs.com careers portal (governmentjobs.com/careers/newportbeach), where you create an account and apply to active recruitments online.
What does daily staffing look like?
The department staffs eight fire stations around the clock across three shifts. A single shift includes roughly 1 battalion chief, 10 fire captains, 10 fire apparatus engineers, 17 firefighter-paramedics, and 2 firefighters, for about 40 personnel on duty.
What apparatus does the department run?
Front-line apparatus includes eight fire engines (one per station), two aerial ladder trucks (one on each side of the city), and four paramedic rescue ambulances, with two additional surge ambulances staffed by truck crews during peak activity.
Does Newport Beach provide its own lifeguard and ocean rescue service?
Yes. Lifeguard Operations is one of the department's four divisions, with about 12 full-time personnel plus roughly 220 part-time seasonal lifeguards working from a headquarters at the Newport Pier and a Corona del Mar sub-station.
What kinds of emergencies do crews respond to?
As an all-risk department, crews handle structure and wildland fires, pre-hospital medical emergencies, hazardous materials incidents, technical rescues, vehicle extrications, traffic accidents, major flooding, beach rescues, high-rise incidents, and disaster operations, plus statewide mutual-aid strike teams.
Is there an entry-level pathway into the department?
The department runs a Fire Cadet Program (formerly Explorer Post 309) and seasonal lifeguard positions, which serve as entry points for people interested in a fire service career.