Do you need a college degree to be a fire fighter? If so, what should I major in?

You don't usually "need" a degree, but it is helpful. There are two general types of firefighters: career (it's their full-time job - paid position) and volunteer (it's their second job - usually an unpaid position, but some municipalities offer tax breaks or stipends).

To be a career firefighter, you'll need to take and score well on a civil service exam. To help you pass the exam, it's generally good to have an associates or bachelor's degree. Many people study Fire Science or some other technical field. I'd recommend studying Fire Science or Fire Engineering Technology to gauge your interest in the field. A career firefighter doesn't normally fill a medical position, so a degree in the medical science field isn't really prominent. You'll have to learn First Air and CPR, too. If you take those classes ahead of time it could be helpful, but you'd likely have to retake them once you're accepted into the department. Depending on the fire department, your exam score could make it or break it for you. In large departments, they can have an acceptance rate less than 10%. So you want to score well.

For volunteer firefighters, you don't need to take the civil service exam since it is not a paid position, but you do need to prove yourself to the team through participation at events and learning everything you can about the fire service. Many volunteer firefighters work on the ambulances as well as the fire trucks/engines, so having a background in a medical tech/science field would be helpful there -- but remember, it's not their full-time job, so their educational backgrounds tend to be much more varied than with the career folks. Some EMTs are also volunteer firefighters, but you'll also find a lot of engineers, managers, technicians, etc. in the volunteer world. Every volunteer department has their own set of rules and prerequisites so you have to check them out individually to see what they need of you before you join. Part of the pre-requisites are firefighter-specific courses, similar to the career departments. You also have to maintain your training up-to-date once you're in.

Becoming a firefighter is really tough. It's not just physically demanding but mentally demanding as well. There are a lot of tools and apparatuses you need to know and you need to follow direction very well. This is a serious life-or-death job. Before you take the plunge, I'd talk with some local firefighters and maybe spend some time at the stations if you can. Some places offer "junior" clubs to tweens or teenagers that introduce them to the field and fire concepts. There is a lot more to firefighting than pointing and shooting a hose (which is actually much more difficult than it looks)!

Check out http://www.firescience.org/how-to-become-a-firefighter/ for a quick overview of the basics.