By Fatskills Exam Guides Team — the exam nerds behind 28,500+ quizzes and 2.1M practice questions across 500+ global exams.
Municipal fire departments use a number of different ways to assess firefighter candidates. This guide provides a summary of the process of selecting recruits, from the initial application to the training academy. Firefighting is demanding, sometimes dangerous, work. It's also a position of public trust. People's lives depend on what firefighters do, particularly at the scene of an emergency but also during more routine tasks. That's why fire departments put job applicants through a rigorous selection process that can take from several months to a year or more. Firefighters have to be smart enough to learn the chemistry, physics, and biology of emergency services; strong enough to carry a person out of a burning building; fit enough to respond to several emergencies in a day, sometimes without sleep; honest enough to be trusted inside every home and business in town; and compassionate and polite enough to interact with the public daily. In most large cities, more people apply for firefighting positions than can ever be accepted. A large percentage of people who apply fail one or another part of the selection process: the written exam, the physical ability test, the oral interview or board, or one of the other steps in the process. You don't want to be one of those people.
The Eligibility List Most fire departments, or the city personnel departments that handle the selection process for them, establish a list of eligible candidates; many such lists rank candidates from highest to lowest. How ranks are determined varies from place to place; sometimes the rank is based solely on the written exam score, sometimes on the physical ability test, and sometimes on a combination of factors. The point is, even if you make it through the entire selection process, the likelihood that you will be hired as a firefighter often depends on the quality of your performance in one or more parts of the selection process. Make a commitment now: you need to work hard, in advance, to do well on the written exam, the physical ability test, and the oral interview (if there is one), so that your name will stand out at the top of your agency's eligibility list. First, though, you need information. You need to know about the selection process for firefighters. This guide outlines the basic process in its many steps. Not every fire department includes all of the steps discussed. The particulars of the process in the city you're applying to are usually available from the city personnel department or fire department itself.
Basic Qualifications The basic qualifications you need in order to even think about becoming a firefighter vary from city to city. It's worthwhile to find out what those qualifications are in the agency you want to serve. Some qualifications are pretty standard:
Many jurisdictions, but not all, require that you live in the jurisdiction or nearby. Many fire departments give preference to otherwise qualified veterans over civilians. This may take the form of a policy, sometimes called a ''Veteran's Preference" policy, whereby points are automatically added to the written exam. Is this unfair? No. Fire companies are a lot like military units. They follow a strict chain of command, and firefighters on the line work as a team, knowing that their lives are in each other's hands. Military personnel have learned the discipline and teamwork that are vital to firefighting and emergency services. Veterans are simply better qualified than most other people. Increasingly, fire departments are also giving preference to certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or paramedics. As the work of fire departments becomes less involved strictly with fighting fires and more with other kinds of emergency services, many departments require qualified EMTs.
The Exam or Position Announcement Applying to be a firefighter differs from applying for most other jobs. The differences begin with the exam or position announcement. You rarely see fire department openings advertised in the Help Wanteds. Instead, the city usually starts looking for potential firefighters by means of a special announcement. This announcement will outline the basic qualifications for the position as well as the steps you will have to go through in the selection process. It often tells you some of the duties you will be expected to perform. It may give the date and place of the written exam, which is usually the first step in the selection process. Get a copy of this announcement. Often your public library will have a copy. Or you can get one directly from the fire department or city personnel department. If exams are held irregularly, the fire or personnel department may maintain a mailing list, so that you can receive an exam announcement the next time an exam is scheduled. If exams are held frequently, you will sometimes be told to simply show up at the exam site on a given day of the week or month. In those cases you usually get more information about the job and the selection process if you pass the written exam. Study the exam announcement, as well as any other material, such as brochures, that the department sends you. You need to be prepared for the whole selection process in order to be successful.
The Application Often the first step in the process of becoming a firefighter is filling out an application. Sometimes this is a real application, asking about your education, employment experience, personal data, and so on. Sometimes there's just an application to take the written or physical test, with a fuller application coming later. In any case, at some point you will probably be asked some questions you wouldn't expect to see on a regular job application. You might be asked things like whether you've ever gotten any speeding tickets or been in trouble with the law, whether you've used illegal drugs, even whether any relatives work for the city or for the fire department. Your answers to these, as well as the more
Application Tips
Conventional questions will serve as the starting point if the department conducts an investigation of your background, so it's important to answer all questions accurately and honestly.
The selection process to a firefigter's job typically invokves these steps:
1. Application2. Written Examination3. Interview with Firefighter/Civilian Board4. Medical Examination5. Physical Agility Test6. Background Examination7. Drug Screening8. Psychological Examination9. Appointment to Department
The Written Exam In most jurisdictions, taking a written exam is the next step in the application process, though in some cases the physical ability test comes first. The written exam is your first opportunity to show that you have what it takes to be a firefighter. As such, it's extremely important. People who don't pass the written exam don't go any farther in the selection process. Furthermore, the written exam score often figures into applicants' rank on the eligibility list; in some cases, this score by itself determines your rank, while in others it is combined with other scores, such as physical ability or oral board scores. In those places, a person who merely passes the exam with a score of, say, 70, is unlikely to be hired when there are plenty of applicants with scores in the 90s. The exam bulletin may specify what your rank will be based on.
What the Written Exam Is Like Most written exams simply test basic skills and aptitudes: how well you understand what you read, your ability to follow directions, your judgment and reasoning skills, your ability to read and understand maps and floor plans, and sometimes your memory or your math. In this preliminary written exam, you will not be tested on your knowledge of fire behavior, firefighting procedures, or any other specific body of knowledge. This test is designed only to see if you can read, reason, and do basic math. In some places, taking the exam involves studying written materials in advance and then answering questions about them on the exam. These written materials generally have to do with fire and firefightingbut all you have to do is study the guide you're given. You're still being tested just on your reading skills and memory, and there are good reasons for this. Firefighters have to be able to read, understand and act on complex written materialsnot only fire law and fire procedures, but also scientific materials about fire, combustible materials, chemicals, and so forth. They have to be able to think clearly and independently, because lives depend on decisions they make in a split second. They have to be able to do enough math to read and understand pressure gauges or estimate the height of a building and the amount of hose needed to reach to the third floor. They have to be able to read maps so they can get to the emergency site quickly and floor plans so that they can find their way to an exit even in a smoke-filled building. Most exams are multiple-choice tests of the sort you've often encountered in school. You get an exam book and an answer sheet where you have to fill in little circles (bubbles) or squares with a number 2 pencil.
How to Prepare for the Written Exam Pay close attention to any material the fire department or city personnel department puts out about the exam. If there's a study guide, study it. Pay close attention to what you're going to be tested on, and then practice with similar materials.
Finding out How You Did Applicants are generally notified in writing about their performance on the exam. The notification may simply say whether or not you passed, but it may tell you what your score was. It may also say when you should show up for the next step in the process, which is often a physical ability test.
The Physical Ability Test The physical ability test is the next step in the process for many fire departments; some put this step first. You may have to bring a note from your doctor saying that you are in good enough shape to undertake this test before you will be allowed to participate. The fire department wants to make sure that no one has a heart attack in the middle of the test. This is a clue: expect the test to be tough. Firefighting is, after all, physically demanding work. Once again, lives depend on whether your strength, stamina, and overall fitness allow you to carry out the necessary tasks during an emergency. If you make it to the academy and later into a fire company, you can expect to continue physical training and exercises throughout your career. In fact, in some cities all firefighters are required to retake the physical ability test every year.
What the Physical Ability Test Is Like The exact events that make up the physical ability test vary from place to place, but the tasks you have to perform are almost always job-relatedthey're a lot like the physical tasks you will actually have to perform as a firefighter. Many times the test is set up like an obstacle course, and usually the test is timed, with a cutoff time for passing. Often you have to wear full (heavy) protective gear, including an air pack, throughout these events. Here's an example of the events in a test that you would typically have five to seven minutes to complete:
In an obstacle-course setup like this one, you might be given the opportunity to walk the course before you actually have to take the test. In the test itself, you would be timed as you went through the events, and you would have to complete the events within a set
Written Exam Tips
In departments where the physical ability test figures into your rank on the eligibility list, merely meeting the maximum time to pass isn't good enough; people who have lower times will be hired before you are. Different departments have different policies on retesting if you fail. Some allow you to retest on the same day after a rest period. Some allow you to come back another time and try again, usually up to a set maximum number of tries. And in some departments, your first try is the only chance you get; if you fail, you're out, at least until the next testing period. Few departments will allow you to retest, if you have already passed, simply to better your time. You can usually find out just what tasks are included in the physical ability test from the exam announcement or related materials.
How to Prepare for the Physical Ability Test Many urban fire departments report that the physical ability test is the one step of the process in which the most applicants fail. People come in unprepared, they're simply not strong enough or fast enough to do all the events, while wearing heavy gear, in the time allotted. Female applicants, in particular, have high failure rates on physical ability tests because some of the events require a lot of upper-body strength. But don't despair. The physical ability test is one area where advance preparation is almost guaranteed to pay off. No matter how good a shape you're in, start an exercise program now. You can design your program around the requirements listed in the exam announcement if you want, but any exercise that will increase your strength and stamina will help. Because sheer brute force is required to drag a 150-pound dummy or to lift a 50-foot ladder, exercises that increase your strength are particularly important. But you'll also want to include some aerobic exercise such as running or swimming to improve your stamina and overall fitness as well. If you're not in great shape, consult a doctor before you begin. Start slow and easy and increase your activity as you go. As you gain strength, start wearing weights on your ankles and wrists, and later add a backpack stuffed with dictionaries or rocks. And remember that you don't have to do all this work alone. Working out with a friend not only is more fun, it also
Physical Ability Tips
Many fire departments conduct training sessions for would-be applicants, to help them get up to the required level of fitness. Some allow you to walk through the course ahead of time. If any of these opportunities are available to you, be sure to use them.
The Background Investigation Most fire departments conduct background investigations of applicants who pass the written and physical tests. Firefighters have to be honest, upright citizens who can get along with both their company and the people they serve, so the fire department conducts a background investigation to make sure you're the right kind of person. You may not even know such an investigation is going onuntil someone at the oral interview asks you why you wrote on your application that you never used drugs when your high school friends all say you regularly smoked marijuana on weekends. (That's why it's important to answer honestly on your application.)
What the Background Investigation Is Like The rigorousness with which your background will be checked depends on the policies of your department. Some conduct a fairly superficial check, calling your former employers and schools simply to verify that you were there when you say you were there and didn't cause any problems during that time. Other departments will investigate you in a great deal more depth, asking their contacts how long and how well they knew you and what kind of person they found you to be. Did you meet your obligations? How did you deal with problems? Did they find you to be an honest person? Do they know of anything that might affect your fitness to be a firefighter? The references you provided will lead the investigator to other people who knew you, and when the investigator is finished, he or she will have a pretty complete picture of what kind of person you are. A few fire departments include a polygraph, or "lie detector" test, as part of the background investigation. As long as you've been honest in what you've said when your stress reactions weren't being monitored by a polygraph machine, a lie detector test is nothing to worry about.
How to Prepare for the Background Investigation The best way you can improve your chances of getting through a background investigation with flying colors is by working on any problems in your background. You can't change the past, exactly, but you can use the present to improve your chances in the future. You can address problems that might give a background investigator pause: pay your old traffic tickets, get that juvenile offense that the lawyer said wouldn't "count" officially expunged from your record, document your full recovery from a serious illness or your drug-free status since high school. You can also take steps to make yourself a more attractive candidate by getting related experience. You can, for instance, do volunteer work in the fire department or enroll in a fire cadet program. If you have enough time, you can take an Emergency Medical Technician course; if there's not much time before this step, at least enroll in a first-aid course.
Oral Interviews and Boards The selection process in your fire department is likely to include one or more oral interviews. There may be an individual interview with the chief or deputy chief, or there may be an oral board, in which you would meet with several people. Or you may face both. Whether it's an individual interview or an oral board, the interviewers are interested in your interpersonal skillshow well you communicate with themas well as in your qualifications to be a firefighter.
What the Oral Interview Is Like In some cities, applicants who get this far in the process meet with the chief or deputy chief, who may conduct something like a typical job interview. The chief or deputy chief might describe in detail what the job is like, ask you how well you think you can do a job like that, and ask you why you want to be a firefighter in the first place. In the process, the chief will also be assessing your interpersonal skills, whether you seem honest and (relatively) comfortable in talking to him or her. You may also be asked questions about your background and experience. This interview can be a make-or-break part of the process, with the chief turning thumbs up or down to your candidacy, or the chief may rank you against other applicants, in which case the chief's assessment of you is likely to figure into your place on the eligibility list. The chief's interview may also include situational questions like those typically asked by an oral board. Or you may be facing an oral board in addition to your interview with the chief.
What the Oral Board Is Like The oral board typically assesses such qualities as interpersonal skills, communication skills, judgment and decision-making abilities, respect for diversity, and adaptability. The board itself consists of two to five people, who may be firefighters or civilian personnel or interview specialists. There's usually some variety in the makeup of the board: officers of various ranks and/or civilians from the personnel department or from the community. The way the interview is conducted depends on the practices of the individual department. You may be asked a few questions similar to those you would be asked at a normal employment interview: Why do you want to be a firefighter? What qualities do you have that would make you good at this job? You may be asked questions about your background, especially if your application or background investigation raised any questions in the board members' minds. Have answers prepared for such questions in case they come. Instead of or in addition to such questions, you may be presented with hypothetical situations that you will be asked to respond to. A board member may say something like this: ''After a dwelling fire is under control, you're walking through the building checking its structural soundness. When you walk into the bedroom, you see a fellow firefighter sticking a jewelry box into the pocket of his coat. What would you do?" You would then have to come up with an appropriate response to this situation. Increasingly, cities have standardized the oral board questions. The same questions are asked of every candidate, and when the interview is over the board rates each candidate on a standard scale. This procedure helps the interviewers reach a somewhat more objective conclusion about the candidates they have interviewed and may result in a score that is included in the factors used to rank candidates in the eligibility list.
How to Prepare for the Oral Board or Interview If the agency you're applying to puts out any material about the oral board, study it carefully. It may tell you what the board is looking for. It may even give you some sample questions you can practice with. Whether you're facing an oral board or an individual interview, think about your answers to questions you might be asked. You might even try to write your own oral board questions and situations. Write down your answers if you want. Practice saying them in front of a mirror until you feel comfortable, but don't memorize them. You don't want to sound like you're reciting from a book. Your answers should sound conversational even though you've prepared in advance. Then enlist friends or family to serve as a mock oral board or interviewer. If you know a speech teacher, get him or her to help. Give them your questions, tell them about what you've learned, and then have a practice oral board or interview. Start from the moment you walk into the room. Go through the entire session as if it were the real thing, and then ask your mock board or interviewer for their feedback on your performance. It may even help to videotape your mock board session. The camera can reveal things about your body language or habits that you don't even know about. For more information about the oral board or interview and how to prepare for it, see the chapter entitled ''The Oral Interview" later in this book.
The Psychological Evaluation Some cities, though not all, include a psychological evaluation as part of the firefighter selection process. The fire department wants to make sure that you are emotionally and mentally stable before putting you in a high-stress job in which you have to interact with peers, superiors, and the public. Don't worry, though; the psychological evaluation is not designed to uncover your deep dark secrets. Its only purpose is to make sure you have the mental and emotional health to do the job.
What the Psychological Evaluation Is Like If your fire department has a psychological evaluation, most likely that means you'll be taking one or two written tests. A few cities have candidates interviewed by a psychologist or psychiatrist. If you have to take a written psychological test, it is likely to be a standardized multiple-choice or true-false test licensed from a psychological testing company. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is one commonly used test. Such tests typically
Oral Board or Interview Tips
How to Prepare for the Psychological Evaluation There's only one piece of advice we can offer you for dealing with a psychological evaluation, whether written or oral: Don't try to psych out the assessment. The psychologists who designed the written test know more about psyching out tests than you do. They designed the test so that one answer checks against another to find out whether test-takers are lying. Just answer honestly, and don't worry about whether your answers to some of the questions seem to you to indicate that you might be nuts after all. They probably don't. Similarly, if you are having an oral interview, there's no point in playing psychological games with someone who's better trained at it than you are. Just answer openly and honestly, and try to relax. The psychologist isn't really interested in your feelings about your mother, unless they're so extreme that they're likely to make you unfit to be a firefighter.
The Medical Examination Before passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), many fire departments conducted a medical examination early in the process, before the physical ability test. Now, the ADA says it's illegal to do any examinations or ask any questions that could reveal an applicant's disability until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. That means that in most jurisdictions you will get such a conditional offer before you are asked to submit to a medical exam. You should know, however, that almost any disability is grounds for disqualification as a firefighter, even under the protections provided by ADA. Firefighting requires a high level of physical and mental fitness, and a host of disabilities that would not prevent a candidate from doing some other job would prevent a firefighter from fulfilling essential job functions. Even, for instance, a skin condition that requires a man to wear facial hair would disqualify that man from being a firefighter, because facial hair interferes with proper operation of the breathing apparatus.
Drug Testing Note, however, that a test for use of illegal drugs can be administered before a conditional offer of employment. Because firefighters have to be in tiptop physical shape, and because they are in a position of public trust, the fire department expects you to be drug-free. You may have to undergo drug testing periodically throughout your career as a firefighter.
What the Medical Exam Is Like The medical exam itself is nothing to be afraid of. It will be just like any other thorough physical exam. The doctor may be on the staff of the hiring agency or someone outside the department with his or her own practice, just like your own doctor. Your blood pressure, temperature, weight, and so on will be measured; your heart and lungs will be listened to and your limbs examined. The doctor will peer into your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and maybe some other body cavities . . . but it won't be that painful. You'll also have to donate some blood and some urine. Because of those tests, you won't know the results of the physical exam right away. You'll probably be notified in writing in a few weeks, after the test results come in.
If at First You Don't Succeed The selection process for firefighters is a rigorous one. If you fail one of the steps, take time for some serious self-evaluation. If you fail the written test, look at the reasons you didn't do well. Was it just that the format was unfamiliar? Well, now you know what to expect. Do you need to brush up on some of the skills tested? Work on improving your practical math, writing, vocabulary and spelling, and reading comprehension. Enlist a teacher or a friend to help you, or check out the inexpensive courses offered by local high schools and community colleges. Some fire departments allow you to retest after a waiting perioda period you should use to improve your skills. If the exam isn't being offered again for years, consider trying some other jurisdiction. If you fail the physical ability test, your course of action is clear. Increase your daily physical exercise until you know you can do what is required, and then retest or try another jurisdiction. If you fail the oral board or interview, try to figure out what the problem was. Do you think your answers were good but perhaps you didn't express them well? Then you need some practice in oral communication. You can take courses or enlist your friends to help you practice. Did the questions and situations throw you for a loop, so you made what now seem like inappropriate answers? Then try to bone up for the next time. Talk to candidates who were successful and ask them what they said. Talk with firefighters you know about what might have been good answers for the questions you were asked. Even if your department doesn't allow you to redo the oral board, you can use what you learn in applying to another department. If the medical exam eliminates you, you will usually be notified as to what condition caused the problem. Is the condition one that can be corrected? See your doctor for advice. If you don't make the list and aren't told why, the problem might have been the oral board or, more likely, the psychological evaluation or the background investigation. Now you really have to do some hard thinking. Can you think of anything in your past that might lead to questions about your fitness to be a firefighter? Could any of your personal traits or attitudes raise such questions? And then the hard question: is there anything you can do to change these aspects of your past or your personality? If so, you might have a chance when you reapply or apply to another department. If not, it's time to think about another field. If you feel you were wrongly excluded on the basis of a psychological evaluation or background check, most departments have appeals procedures. However, that word wrongly is very important. The psychologist or background investigator almost certainly had to supply a rationale in recommending against you. Do you have solid factual evidence that you can use in an administrative hearing to counter such a rationale? If not, you'd be wasting your time and money, as well as the hiring agency's, by making an appeal. Move carefully and get legal advice before you take such a step.
The Waiting Game You went through the whole long process, passed all the tests, did the best you could, made the eligibility listand now you wait. You could just sit on your hands. Or you could decide to do something with this time to prepare for what you hope is your new career. Do some networking. Talk to firefighters about what the job is really like. Find out if your fire department offers volunteer opportunities or a cadet program. Take a course in first aid or enroll in an Emergency Medical Technician program. Even if you don't get called, even if your rank on the score doesn't get you a job this time, you'll be better qualified for the next try. Here's one thing you don't want to do while you're waiting: Don't call to find out what your chances are or how far down on the list they've gotten or when they might call you. You probably won't get to talk to the people making those decisions, so you'll just annoy some poor receptionist. If you did get through to the decision-makers, you'd be in even worse shape: you'd be annoying them. If you make the list, go through the waiting game and finally aren't selected, don't despair. Think through all the steps of the selection process, and use them to do a critical self-evaluation. Maybe your written, physical, or oral board score was high enough to pass but not high enough to put you near the top of the list. At the next testing, make sure you're better prepared. Maybe you had an excellent score that should have put you at the top of the list, and you suspect that you were passed over for someone lower down. That means someone less well qualified was selected while you were not, right? Maybe, maybe not. There were probably a lot of people on the list, and a lot of them may have scored high. One more point on the test might have made the difference, or maybe the department had the freedom to pick and choose on the basis of other qualifications. Maybe, in comparison with you, a lot of people on your list had more education or experience. Maybe there were plenty of certified Emergency Medical Technicians on the list, and they got first crack at the available jobs. And yes, members of minority groups may have been given preference in hiring. Whether or not you think that's fair, you can be assured that it was a conscious decision on the part of the hiring agency; it may even have been mandated from above. What can you do? You've heard or read about suits being brought against cities by people who thought their selection process was unfair. That's a last resort, a step you would take only after getting excellent legal advice and thinking through the costs of time, money, and energy. You'd also have to think about whether you'd want to occupy a position you got as the result of a lawsuit and whether you'd be hurting your chances of being hired somewhere else. Most people are better off simply trying again. And don't limit your options. There are lots of fire departments all over the country; there are volunteer and part-time positions available, particularly in smaller towns; and there are a growing number of private fire protection service agencies. Do your research. Find out what's available. Find out who's hiring. Being turned down by one department need not be the end of your firefighting career.
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