Firefighter salary in Malaysia

What a new firefighter earns

A firefighter at KB1 starts on RM1,500 basic, plus RM765 in fixed allowances in Kuala Lumpur: RM2,265 a month. Higher qualifications start higher.

Grade KB1, from the SPA service scheme and the JPA allowance circular. The starting point depends on the qualification.

Sources: SPA scheme page for grade KB1; JPA Pekeliling Perkhidmatan 1/2024, Lampiran E. BISH is lower outside Kawasan A. Totals computed by Foundific.

• A year at the start: RM2,265 × 12 = RM27,180.
• Physical requirements: at least 1.57 m tall and 48 kg for men, 1.53 m and 46 kg for women, a BMI of 19 to 26, a chest of at least 81 cm (86 cm expanded) for men, and V6/9 eyesight without glasses.
• Allowances counted here are the fixed ones in the JPA circular. Any allowance tied to a particular post is not included.

How to become a firefighter

Firefighters enter at KB1, KB5 and KB9, depending on the qualification.

Source: SPA scheme pages. Allowances from the JPA circular, Kawasan A: KB1 RM765, KB5 RM810, KB9 RM900. Totals computed by Foundific.

• Bahasa Melayu: every route needs a credit in Bahasa Melayu at SPM or SVM.

How pay grows on the government scale

Grade 1 pay rises RM100 a year, from RM1,500 up to RM4,680. Promotion to a higher grade moves an officer onto a higher range.

Minimum and maximum monthly basic salary for each SSPA grade, 2026.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A: SSPA salary codes and minimum-maximum salaries (page A-1). Basic salary only.

• Increments only: at RM100 a year, an officer starting at RM1,500 would need about 32 yearly increments to reach RM4,680.

Pay after 5, 10 and 20 years

Starting at RM1,500 at grade 1, with the RM100 yearly increment and no promotion. The grade maximum, RM4,680, is reached after about 32 years.

Foundific calculation from the Budget 2026 SSPA scale, with fixed allowances at the Kawasan A rate, which do not rise with increments. Promotion, special payments and allowance changes are not included.

Compared with Malaysian pay overall

A new firefighter's fixed pay, RM2,265, is below the national median of RM2,940. The public administration and defence median, RM4,483, covers workers of all grades and years.

• Industry median covers all employees in the industry, most of them experienced.
• Measures differ: DOSM figures cover all paid employees and all ages. The government figure is one fixed pay point. Use them for scale, not as a direct comparison.
• Your own pay: place it on this scale, the DOSM figures and court awards with the Malaysia salary comparison.

Firefighters outside government

No official source publishes firefighter pay outside government.

• DOSM publishes salaries by state, sector and skill level, but not by job title.
• Private surveys and job ads use different measures and samples, so their figures are not mixed into the tables here.

Data sources and coverage

Government pay for firefighters is exact. No official source covers private-sector pay for the job.

• What a payslip shows is basic plus allowances plus any shift, on-call or overtime pay, so it can be higher than the fixed figures here.

Is firefighter work affected by AI?

The International Labour Organization rates fire-fighters Not exposed for exposure to generative AI. Its scores cover the job worldwide, so they apply in Malaysia too.

Based on the International Labour Organization's 2025 index, which scores every core task of a job from 0 (AI cannot help) to 1 (AI could do nearly all of it).

• What exposure measures: how much of the work AI could do or speed up. It does not measure job cuts.

What the pay figures include

Every figure is monthly basic pay or fixed allowances, before deductions.

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