A degree in fire protection is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #118 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 12 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Fire Protection Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,802 degrees in fire protection to qualified students.
The fire protection program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Fire Protection rankings. For our Best Overall Fire Protection School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Fire Protection Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
The schools below may not offer all types of fire protection degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Butte College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in fire protection. Located in the rural area of Oroville, Butte College is a public college with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #475 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Butte College is a great college overall.
There were approximately 103 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Butte College in the most recent data year.
Santa Rosa Junior College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in fire protection. SRJC is a fairly large public college located in the medium-sized city of Santa Rosa. A Best Colleges rank of #121 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SRJC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 110 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at SRJC in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in fire protection has to check out Moreno Valley College. Located in the large suburb of Moreno Valley, Moreno Valley College is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 146th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 166 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Moreno Valley College in the most recent year we have data available.
Modesto Junior College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in fire protection. MJC is a fairly large public college located in the city of Modesto. A Best Colleges rank of #230 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means MJC is a great college overall.
There were approximately 57 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at MJC in the most recent data year.
Located in the suburb of Victorville, Victor Valley College is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 103rd out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 421 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Victor Valley College in the most recent year we have data available.
Yuba College is a medium-sized public college located in the midsize suburb of Marysville. A Best Colleges rank of #715 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Yuba College is a great college overall.
There were about 53 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Yuba College in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Santa Ana, SAC is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 109th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 378 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at SAC in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the fire protection program make around $51,721 in their early career salary.
Fresno City College is a very large public college located in the city of Fresno. A Best Colleges rank of #793 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Fresno City College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 79 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Fresno City College in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Monterey Park, East Los Angeles College is a public college with a very large student population. This college ranks 121st out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 149 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at East Los Angeles College in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Lancaster, Antelope Valley College is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 147th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 13 fire protection students who graduated with this degree at Antelope Valley College in the most recent year we have data available.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The fire protection program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Fire Protection rankings. For our Best Overall Fire Protection School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.