Officer Requirements

[lvfd2167]

Hey everyone. I have a simple question. What requirements do your line officers have to have? We are a small volunteer department with a chief, asst. chief, 2 captains, 3 lieutenats, a training officer, and a safety officer. Any suggesting will be taken becuase right now we have 2 requirements, 2 years on the department, and a north carolina drivers license.

[Catch22]

It's a bit more in-depth than I'm going to give you, but I'll summarize my vollie department's minimum requirements. They have to meet the requirements or be able to fullfill them within a year.

Chief- FF I and II, EMT-B, Haz-Mat Ops, Officer I and Instructor I. Must be a captain for 1 year.

Asst. Chief- FF I and II, Medical First Responder, Haz-Mat Ops. Must be a captain for 1 year.

Fire Captain- FF I and II, medical first responder, Haz-Mat Ops. must be a senior firefighter for 1 year.

EMS Captain- EMT-B, Haz-Mat ops. Must be an EMT for 1 year.

Senior Firefighter- FF I and II, 1 year experience after FF I and II.

[FFRock]

We're a career department so I don't know if this will work for you but our requirements are.

- 5 years line service with the department
- FF I certification
- FF II certification
- First Responder Certification (We run first response with a 3rd party EMS but only to a first responder level.
- Fire Instructor I certification
- Fire Officer I certification

[Eng34FF]

Working from memory here, so I might miss some.
Everyone must have FF1, First Responder or EMT and CPR.
Sgt: same as above
Lt: above plus FF2 and Haz-Mat Ops
Capt: Above plus FO1
Deputy/assistant Chief: above plus 1 year as a line officer
Chief: above plus 1 year as chief officer.

Rescue and EMS officers along with Chief officers must have EMT (first responder is not enough).

[LaFireEducator]

The most important thing you have to keep in mind when discussing training requirements for officers is what is realistic for your department.

How far away is a state training facility? How aggressive is your state's outreach training programs? What resources are there locally that may not be attached to the state to deliver certification training? What in-house resources do you have?

Lofty training requirements will work only if your members have the ability to receive the training required for them to reach those certs.

One of the other things to consider is call volume. I know that there will be those who will not like this, but the reality is the slower the department the more difficult it is to motivate members to take advanced classes, as many of them simply do not see the need.

I am a strong believer in training, but I am also a realist, and have severed on a couple of small rural departments. I have served in states with poor training systems where getting advanced training requires traveling significant distances.

Bottom line is evaluate your local training options, and decide on training requirements that are reasonable and can be obtained by someone who is working a 45 hour work week with a couple of kids.

For you, that may be FFI for your Chief. For others, it may be Officer I. Do what is right for your department and remember that someone else's standards may not be achievable in your situation.

[Catch22]

Ahh, and there comes the Experience vs. Training issue. We have provisions within ours to allow the chief some leeway when it comes to this issue. For example, if a guy that has a couple years on and all the training in the world but has never been in a fire wants to be a captain vs a guy with 10 years on, little or no formal training, but has been in countless fires.

We allow someone to obtain the minimum training within one year, or at the first opportune time locally (locally being within 90 miles) and the department will pay for it, which helps a bit. I still get arguments over a couple of captains I promoted when we developed our current chain of command (one chief, two asst chiefs, and three captains) due to their lack of certifications. The problem was, promote two guys with a lot of experience or promote a 2 year guy with limited experience.

Albeit, the experience has to be good experience doing the right thing, not experience doing stupid crap on scene.

[lvfd2167]

Thanks for the info guys. I got what I was looking ofr. We do have some advanced training opportunities but they are about 40 mins away. The local community college does do some classes such as a safety officer class, once a year, but during the week, during the day, which I don't like, but what can I do. Also does anyone have age requirements to be an officer.

All info is greatly appreciated.

[Dickey]

Send me an email at dickeydo@charter.net and I can send you our requirements.

[LaFireEducator]

Thanks for the info guys. I got what I was looking ofr. We do have some advanced training opportunities but they are about 40 mins away. The local community college does do some classes such as a safety officer class, once a year, but during the week, during the day, which I don't like, but what can I do. Also does anyone have age requirements to be an officer.

All info is greatly appreciated.

Exactly.

If the classes are taught during the day, and most of your members are not available during the day, are they truly available?

That is the problem here with most of the "officer" level classes and NIMS 300-400. They are taught during the day when most of our non-shift members can't take them.

Keep this in mind when designing your requirements.

[Jonnee]

Hey everyone. I have a simple question. What requirements do your line officers have to have? We are a small volunteer department with a chief, asst. chief, 2 captains, 3 lieutenats, a training officer, and a safety officer. Any suggesting will be taken becuase right now we have 2 requirements, 2 years on the department, and a north carolina drivers license.

If your department went by the NFPA Standard 1021 Fire Officer, they will not go wrong.


This is taught to and are requirements for all fire officers in Virginia.


You say you are in North Carolina? Then the state has the requirement for you guys.

Check this out: http://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/

[lvfd2167]

Yea I am in North Carolina, but it is only a voluntary requirement. I know about the fire officer certification. None of the people on my department are even close to getting that. Here is some of the requirements I have so far, these are compliled from departments in my area and from on here.


Chief
• 10 Years Member in Good Standing
• Fire Fighter I+II
• Emergency Vehicle Driver
• NIMS Complaint
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• Attend Halifax County Firefighters Association Monthly
• Attend Warren County Firemans Association Monthly
• 11 out of last 12 Business Meetings
• Attend Officers Meeting


Assistant Chief
• 8 Years Member in Good Standing
• Firefighter I+II
• Emergency Vehicle Driver
• NIMS Compliant
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• 11 out of last 12 Business Meetings
• Attend Officers Meeting

Captain
• 6 Years Member in Good Standing
• Firefighter I+II
• Emergency Vehicle Driver
• NIMS Compliant
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• 11 out of last 12 Business Meetings
• Attend Officers Meeting



Lieutenat
• 4 Years Member in Good Standing
• Firefighter I+II
• Emergency Vehicle Driver
• NIMS Complaint
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• Attend Officers Meeting

Training Officer
• 4 Years Member in Good Standing
• Firefighter I+II
• Emergency Vehicle Driver
• NIMS Complaint
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• Attend Officers Meeting

Safety Officer
• 4 Years Member in Good Standing
• Firefighter I+II
• NIMS Complaint
• CPR/First Aid Yearly
• NFA Safety Officer Course (optional)
• Attend Officers Meeting
Emergency Vehicle Driver

If you all see anything I need to add just let me know.

[LaFireEducator]

If your department went by the NFPA Standard 1021 Fire Officer, they will not go wrong.


This is taught to and are requirements for all fire officers in Virginia.


You say you are in North Carolina? Then the state has the requirement for you guys.

A requirement is a wonderful thing, as long as they have reasonable access to the training to bring them to that level.

Teaching classes during the day that are needed to fufill that requirement is not reasonable if you are a volunteer department. Niether is requiring classes tha require 2 hours of driving on a weeknight.

The fact is the training has to be accessible to the bulk of those interested in promotion, not just a few that may be single, have flexible schedules or work evenings, if you are going to require it.

Again, evaluate what your folks have reasonably available to them. Develop your requirements around that. If they are not as extensive as someone else's that's fine.

[ChiefKN]

Do a search... this has been answered before.

Thanks, please drive through.

[rjtoc2]

I work for a large, career fire department. Currently, our requirements for promotion to Lieutenant is as follows:
- be eligible for the exam
- take the exam and pass it
- score well in the assessment process

We've recently begun to train and certify our most recent officers to the Fire Service Instructor I and then to Fire Officer I. Supposedly, all officers, new and tenured, will be trained to attain both of these certifications.

I have my personal opinions about how my FD promotes but what I have listed above is our current promotional process.

[nameless]

I work for a large, career fire department. Currently, our requirements for promotion to Lieutenant is as follows:
- be eligible for the exam
- take the exam and pass it
- score well in the assessment process

We've recently begun to train and certify our most recent officers to the Fire Service Instructor I and then to Fire Officer I. Supposedly, all officers, new and tenured, will be trained to attain both of these certifications.

I have my personal opinions about how my FD promotes but what I have listed above is our current promotional process.

what makes someone eligible?

[rjtoc2]

what makes someone eligible?

This consists of the Civil Service requirements for the position one is applying for. This is usually a "time in grade" requirement; i.e. must have been a permanent employee at the rank of Driver/Engineer for X amount of time.

[simpleguy68]

We're a small volunteer department, but our requirements are fairly stringent:

Chief:
10 years experience, at least 7 with our department
SFFMA Accredited Advanced Certification
Minimum two years as Assistant Chief prior to election
NIMS 100, 200, 300, 400, and 800
SFFMA Level I Instructor

Assistant Chief:
7 years experience, at least 5 with our department
SFFMA Accredited Intermediate Certification
Minimum two years as Captain prior to election
NIMS 100, 200, 300, 400, and 800
SFFMA Level I Instructor

Captain:
5 years experience, at least 3 with our department
SFFMA Accredited Basic Certification
NIMS 100, 200, 300, 400, and 800
SFFMA Level I Instructor

Chief and Assistant Chiefs are elected by the department to two year terms. They then appoint the Captains.

[reddevil53]

Better becarful what you post. dont air ur dept laundry out to the public i know who u are and where ya from.

[Catch22]

Better becarful what you post. dont air ur dept laundry out to the public i know who u are and where ya from.

Wow. First post and with your stellar spelling abilities you use it to criticize someone looking to potentially better his department, without giving any indication whatsoever who he's with.

Good start there bud.

[ChiefKN]

Better becarful what you post. dont air ur dept laundry out to the public i know who u are and where ya from.

Do you know what he did last summer?

Tool