First Class Firefighter Salary in Ontario (2025)
15,921 disclosed records, 2003–2025 · mostly Municipalities & Services (100%)
At a Glance
2025
Disclosed
1,250
2025 Sunshine List
Median Salary
$130,962
+7.1% vs provincial median
Typical Range
$124,869–$139,850
25th–75th percentile
Top Salary
$236,053
Who is the highest-paid First Class Firefighter in Ontario?
The highest-paid First Class Firefighter on the 2025 Sunshine List was Kevin Smith at City Of Vaughan, with a salary of $236,053; the median among the 1,250 listed under this title was $130,962.
Take-Home Pay
(After Tax) · 2025 estimate
At the 2025 median salary of $130,962, a First Class Firefighter keeps roughly $93,095 after income tax, CPP and EI (about 24.7% effective), or about $7,758 a month. Across every sector the 2025 median was $122,262, so this position sits about 7% above it. Half of those listed earned between $124,869 and $139,850. 1,250 people were listed under this title in 2025. After pension contributions (probably OMERS in this sector), take-home is usually a further 7–10% lower.
- Estimated net pay
- ~$93,095
- Effective income-tax rate (excl. CPP/EI)
- ~24.7%
- CPP + EI contributions
- ~$5,507
- Per month, after tax
- ~$7,758
Where does $130,962 rank on the Sunshine List? →
Estimate only: 2025 federal and Ontario rates, basic personal amounts, Canada employment amount and CPP/EI credits; single, employment income only, salary treated as full-year income. Ignores pension contributions (OMERS, HOOPP, OTPP, OPTrust and similar plans lower actual take-home), union dues, RRSPs and benefits.
Median by Year
2005–2025
Median salary paid among disclosed records. 2023 is absent: job titles were not disclosed that year. Years with fewer than five people are omitted.
Where They Work
2025 · employers with 5+
| Employer | People | Median | Top | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vaughan | 196 | $132,225 | $236,053 | Pay here → |
| City of Richmond Hill | 103 | $126,642 | $176,607 | Pay here → |
| City of Kitchener | 97 | $129,487 | $159,477 | Pay here → |
| Town of Newmarket – Central York Fire Services | 86 | $123,243 | $144,452 | Pay here → |
| Town of Whitby | 82 | $141,391 | $174,343 | Pay here → |
| City of Greater Sudbury | 76 | $132,619 | $190,541 | Pay here → |
| City of Sarnia | 74 | $133,386 | $169,002 | Pay here → |
| City of St Catharines | 72 | $133,649 | $153,986 | Pay here → |
| City of Waterloo | 64 | $128,108 | $157,248 | Pay here → |
| City of Pickering | 59 | $123,084 | $148,250 | Pay here → |
| City of Sault Ste. Marie | 46 | $129,437 | $147,910 | Pay here → |
| Corporation of the City of North Bay | 37 | $135,772 | $166,610 | Pay here → |
| Municipality of Clarington | 34 | $137,553 | $159,242 | Pay here → |
| City of St. Thomas | 32 | $143,825 | $192,129 | Pay here → |
| City of Welland | 31 | $130,271 | $149,891 | Pay here → |
Highest Paid
2025
| # | Name | Employer | Title as filed | Salary | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Smith | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $236,053 | $236,448 |
| 2 | Justin Rita | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $233,679 | $234,075 |
| 3 | Eric Spalding | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $221,730 | $222,126 |
| 4 | Kyle Czapski | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $221,609 | $221,993 |
| 5 | Edward Howard | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $215,339 | $215,735 |
| 6 | Paul Realejo | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $214,916 | $215,323 |
| 7 | Damien Little | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $214,195 | $214,579 |
| 8 | Ryan Despres | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $205,530 | $205,926 |
| 9 | Stephen Dimonte | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $201,876 | $202,272 |
| 10 | Michael Rasenberg | City Of Vaughan | First Class Firefighter | $199,398 | $199,794 |
By Year
Related Positions
- Constable5,795
- Firefighter5,399
- Police Constable4,778
- Operator3,992
- Primary Care Paramedic2,883
- Sergeant1,600
- Captain1,385
- Plainclothes Police Constable1,286
About these figures
Source: Ontario’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure (the “Sunshine List”), which names every public-sector employee paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year. Figures are disclosed salaries, not market compensation: anyone in this position earning under $100,000 does not appear, so medians here sit above the true median for the job.
Medians and percentiles use salary paid (benefits excluded), computed over records whose filed job title was normalized into this position. Titles are as each employer filed them; spellings, word order and bilingual forms are merged. Employers and years with fewer than five people show counts only. 2023: job titles were not disclosed, so that year has no position data. Titles before 2005 were abbreviated at source; the chart starts at 2005.
Data through 2025, the most recent Sunshine List disclosed.