IFSTA Issues Validated Certification Test Banks
for Firefighter I and Firefighter II

In concert with the 2008 revision to the NFPA 1001 standard, the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) and Fire Protection Publications (FPP) announce the development of validated certification test banks for Firefighter I and Firefighter II. IFSTA is issuing the test banks free of charge only to International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) and National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications (ProBoard) accredited certification agencies. The test bank CD-ROMs will be mailed to the accredited agencies in late July.

“FPP is one of the first organizations to provide a correlated, validated Firefighter I and Firefighter II test bank for certification testing since the 1001 standard was revised,” FPP Director Chris Neal said. The test bank was developed based on the recently released Essentials of Fire Fighting 5th edition and the Essentials of Fire Fighting and Fire Department Operations. “The test bank meets or exceeds current IFSAC and ProBoard requirements and will stand up to scrutiny during site visits,” Neal noted.

According to FPP Projects and Curriculum Coordinator Ed Kirtley, “A correlation matrix is provided for each level. The matrix identifies which job performance requirements and requisite knowledge each question addresses. This feature is a huge benefit for the state testing agencies that formerly have been required to create their own correlations, which is very time consuming.”

IFSTA and FPP developed the test bank to assure consistency with the training manual and instructional curriculum. The correlation matrix references each test question to the manual, the NFPA standard, and the page in the Essentials lesson plan where the content is addressed.

Kirtley noted, “If instructors are using the Essentials curriculum, the agencies using the test banks can have a high level of confidence that candidates have seen the material during training. Those folks who have had to respond to candidates who complain that there were questions on the test that weren’t covered during training will find this very beneficial. Using the full suite of Essentials products means there can be no question that the information was provided for the student.”

The test questions are provided in LXR Test, the most commonly used test bank software in fire service certification. LXR allows local questions to be added if needed. As noted previously, only accredited agencies will have access to the test bank.

Test questions were written and reviewed by Dr. Steve Edwards, associate dean of education at OSU and a volunteer fire fighter. Each question also was reviewed by a group of five to eight fire service professionals. Questions were developed to focus on need-to-know and must-know information.