Lieutenant's Exam

[Not2L84U2]

We're a small town volunteer department and in the past the officers have always been choosen by other officers or by a popularity vote from the fire department at large but we're looking at changing that to where we will be performing a written and oral exam for anyone moving into a entry level fire officer position. The question is what do we test over. We're trying to put together some sample lieutenant exams or entry level fire officer exams but have been having a hard time finding information. If anyone has any samples or would be willing to share their departments lieutenants exam then please feel free to e-mail me at not2l84u2@charter.net and I assure that your test won't be compromised. We don't have any desire to devulge anyone else's testing methods but we're trying to fill the position without having to spend months and months coming up with an exam. Any examples would be appreciated!

[dave johnson]

Look at the requirements in NFPA 1021. It may be a good idea to see what the local fire school and fire commission have to offer as well. It's not going to be easy and it will take some time.

[voyager9]

First, glad to see another department moving away from popularity-based promotion. You're doing the right thing.
Second, I agree with the above. Check out NFPA 1021 as a good starting point.

[Not2L84U2]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Dave1983]

Well...

We are a combo dept., but we dont have volly company officers. But perhaps what we do will give you some ideas.

We do a 150 question test, based out of all the IFSTA books used in Fla Fire Officer cert classes. We also take questions out of our rules & regs, the union contract and the county fire SOGs.

We also run an IC scenario, where candidates have to take command of a simulated incident. We also do a conflict resoultion simulation. Then a Chiefs interview.

Points are given for each step, and a list with a ranking of how the candidates finished. The Chief then picks off the list, usually the top rank (but not always).

Like I said, all this may be more then your looking for, but I put it out here anyway.

[Geinandputitout]

We're a small town volunteer department and in the past the officers have always been choosen by other officers or by a popularity vote from the fire department at large but we're looking at changing that to where we will be performing a written and oral exam for anyone moving into a entry level fire officer position. The question is what do we test over. We're trying to put together some sample lieutenant exams or entry level fire officer exams but have been having a hard time finding information. If anyone has any samples or would be willing to share their departments lieutenants exam then please feel free to e-mail me at not2l84u2@charter.net and I assure that your test won't be compromised. We don't have any desire to devulge anyone else's testing methods but we're trying to fill the position without having to spend months and months coming up with an exam. Any examples would be appreciated!

There are several reputable test generating firms. They are able to validate the questions and your results. I am sure that you are aware promotional testing is often a hotly contested / bitterly disputed issue in the career fire service. I would suggest that you contact a firm that has experience in these matters - If you base the material solely off IFSTA Company officer and the essentials manual, you could probably even get an exam for a reasonable price. Costs rise very quickly when questions have to be written for specific departments because it requires in-house validation and the questions once written and administered can no longer be used to generate revenue.

[Not2L84U2]

There are several reputable test generating firms. They are able to validate the questions and your results. I am sure that you are aware promotional testing is often a hotly contested / bitterly disputed issue in the career fire service. I would suggest that you contact a firm that has experience in these matters - If you base the material solely off IFSTA Company officer and the essentials manual, you could probably even get an exam for a reasonable price. Costs rise very quickly when questions have to be written for specific departments because it requires in-house validation and the questions once written and administered can no longer be used to generate revenue.

Understand the bitterness that can ensue, however we're a small time department with a small budget and to frivolously waste taxpayers money to pay for an exam when we could be using that to purchase much needed gear or equipment seems fiscally irresponsible. Surely, we can come up with our own very simple test just to validate a certain amount of general knowledge or at least an understanding of the company officer role.

Thanks though for the idea. Can definitely see the benefit to a department that could afford it. I may check into some prices but from what I say yesterday just searching the net for information, it seems a bit out of our reach.