These programs have a common first semester, so there is no need to decide right away; as long as you are enrolled in one of them, you are on the right path!

The two-year Fire Protection Engineering Technician program focuses on the fire alarm protection industry.

The three-year Fire Protection Engineering Technology program uses the extra year of studies to prepare students for the alarm industry as well as:

• Sprinklers (Design, Installation, Maintenance)
• Code-consulting
• Insurance / Risk Management
• Fire Inspection/Prevention, Public Education, Fire Investigation

Both programs have high employment rates, but the three-year FPT program provides more diversity in career paths.

Graduating from either program offers acceptance to the firefighter, pre-service education and training program.

Our programs have intakes starting in September and January. Starting in September, second semester would be from January to April and third semester would be the following September. Starting in January, second semester would be from May to August, and third semester would be the following September with the students who started in September.

Due to the laboratory requirements for sprinklers, alarms and other systems, this program is offered full time, during the day.

Please review the technical requirements for online learning. In addition, students studying in programs within the School of Fire Protection Engineering Technology are encouraged to have computers with the following minimum requirements:

Operating System: Windows is recommended to avoid any issues with specialized software

Processor: 3GHz or higher (2.5-2.9GHz minimum)

Memory: 16Gb (8Gb minimum)

Display: 1920 x 1080

Display Card: 4 GB GPU with 106 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant (minimum: 1 GB GPU with 29 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant)

A typical semester has 20 hours per week, Monday to Friday. A typical day will have about four hours of class but these classes can be scheduled anytime between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. We do our best to schedule classes as close together as possible, but this is not always possible.

Yes, you need to take a skills assessment for this program. 

Skills Assessment is a tool used to determine academic placement for your math class during your first semester. Students in most certificate, diploma and advanced diploma programs will need to take the assessment to have the correct course added to their timetable.

We have several agreements with universities to allow students to continue towards a degree. You can see all pathways to Seneca programs at Academic Pathways. Graduates of the Technician or Technology program can continue on to the Pre-service Firefighting program if they would like to pursue firefighting.

If you have previous fire protection education, or work experience, you can submit transcripts to the Academic Pathways team to get credit for similar courses in our program. While at Seneca, if you want to take courses ahead of schedule, this is dependent on having the pre-requisite course as well as the course being offered that term and fitting your schedule of required courses.

Yes, you can apply to enter our co-op program and you will do your co-op as your summer job between second and third year, as a successful applicant. Our program laboratories also offer work experience using the devices and systems you will be responsible for when you start your career!

Each year fire protection students have a dedicated career fair on campus to help graduating students get hired. Companies from across North America attend our fairs. Companies also set up interviews on campus, to find their next employees from our graduating class. 

No, every diploma program is required to have General Education courses, mandated by the Ministry of Education. Our programs require college English, three general educations and technical writing courses. 

Yes, the better you can make your résumé, the more likely you are to receive interviews and to be successful in the hiring process.