Becoming a Firefighter: What You Need To Know About the Firefighter Exams

Becoming a firefighter is no ordinary task; it requires long hours of training, hard work, dedication and a sincere desire to help others.

Apart from dealing with emergency breakouts, and being on duty for over 24 hours, there’s a lot more to a firefighter’s job than extinguishing fires. This includes continuous training and education, performing preventive fire maintenance, filing reports and working closely with federal and state officials in case of suspicious widespread incidents. Moreover, these responsibilities only increase as firefighters move up the ranks.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the firefighting career field is estimated to grow by 5% from 2018 to 2028.

Taking the Firefighting Exam

Most fire departments require candidates to take a physical test as well as a written test when hiring new firefighters. The test methodologies vary based on the departments and states.

These tests, however, are often administered in the later stages of the application process. It starts with a job posting through websites and local papers, requiring applicants to submit applications and resumes. Shortly after is an application review, which then leads to a testing process.

In some states, for example in California, candidates who meet minimum qualifications can apply for these tests.

What’s On the Exam?

Every department has their own content and goals for the exam. Take the fire department in Northern California, for example; the department focuses more on wildfire threats. Conversely, the fire department in New York is more concerned about public safety threats and building fires.

While the exam helps fire departments determine cognitive abilities of firefighters, these exams aren’t very job-specific so as to offer a fair and equal opportunity to the applicants. A lot of these tests are geared towards the individual’s behavioral and psychological nature, identifying how well they handle difficult situations, how well they work in groups and on their own.

Other departments usually test for general education, followed by an oral board review. Again, the content of the exam is determined by what the department deems necessary for particular situations.

Typically, these exams include multiple choice questions; some may also incorporate free-response questions.

How to Prepare For the Exams

Brushing up on education topics can help you secure high on these tests, especially if you’re a little rusty on academic subjects.

Some companies, like the Civil Service Success, prepare candidates through study guides, scheduled classes, and practice tests with questions similar to the ones in the NYC firefighter exams (FDNY).

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The company also helps candidates with other New York civil service exams, including the police exam, the court officer exam, the sanitation worker exam, and more.