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The interview problem in fire protection is that everyone in front of you is a fire technician, and the title covers six different jobs.
Sprinkler systems. Detection and alarm. Passive fire. Extinguishers and hydrants. Fire pumps. Special hazard suppression. A technician can be excellent at one and have barely touched another, and both experiences produce a CV that says "fire protection technician".
These questions sort that out.
"Walk me through the last three systems you worked on - what type, what building, and what you were doing to them."
This is the highest-value question in the interview and it goes first. It gives you the system types, the building classes, and whether the work was installation, inspection and testing, or fault-finding. Ask it before anything else, because it determines which of the questions below are even relevant.
"Which of those do you consider yourself strongest on, and which would you need to get back up to speed on?"
A technician who nominates a weakness here is telling you the truth. One who claims equal depth across all six should be asked to prove it with the follow-ups.
"What accreditation do you currently hold, and what's it in?"
FPAS accreditation is discipline-specific and does not carry across areas of fire protection. You want the discipline named, not the acronym.
"And what's your underlying trade licence?"
Fire technicians typically hold an electrical, plumbing or mechanical credential depending on the systems. Accreditation sits on top of it, and both need to be current. A candidate who has to think about this is worth a register check before shortlist.
"Tell me about a system you inspected that passed, but you weren't comfortable with."
The best question on the list. It asks for a situation with no clean answer - technically compliant, practically concerning - and how they handled the gap. Strong technicians have several of these and remember them vividly. It also tells you whether they escalate or stay quiet.
"When did you last find something during routine testing that turned out to be more serious than it looked?"
Fire work is largely routine punctuated by things that matter enormously. This asks whether they notice.
"What's the most common defect you find, and why do you think it keeps happening?"
The second half is the real question. It separates people who record defects from people who understand buildings.
"How do you handle a building manager who wants you to sign something off that you don't think should be?"
This happens in fire protection more than in any other trade we recruit for. You are hiring someone who will be under commercial pressure at the exact moment technical judgement matters. Find out now.
"What documentation do you produce on a routine service, and who reads it?"
Fire work is a paper trail as much as a technical trade. A technician who is casual about documentation is a liability in a compliance-driven discipline.
"How much of your work has been scheduled maintenance versus reactive callouts?"
Different rhythms, different people. Some technicians are excellent on planned contracts and unhappy on breakdowns, and the reverse.
"Are you familiar with the relevant Australian Standards?" Everyone says yes. It tells you nothing. Ask about a defect instead and listen for whether the standard shows up in the answer unprompted.
Anything you could verify from a register. Licence numbers and accreditation status are checks, not interview questions. Do them before the interview so you can spend the time on judgement.
Fire technicians in Brisbane sit at $110,000-$120,000 and in Melbourne at $105,000-$110,000 against a national band of $90,000-$110,000 (SEEK, 1 September 2026). Fire outpays every other trade in Brisbane.
If your budget was built off a general trades figure, you will conduct a good interview and lose the candidate at offer stage.
HJ Recruitment places permanent fire, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and refrigeration and solar tradespeople with Australian employers.
Sources- SEEK - Fire Technician salary, Brisbane- SEEK - Fire Technician salary, Australia- FPA Australia - Fire Protection Accreditation Scheme
