In order to take a certification test, a department chief or administrator must fill out an Exam Request Form. Because the form requires a signature, it must be emailed as a pdf or Word document, faxed, or mailed to the Certification Office. Due to the number of tests being conducted statewide, test requests must be received 30 days prior to the requested test date. The exception to the 30 day requirement is if you take the exam at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy (UFRA) on their monthly test date – the first Friday of each month. If you plan to test at UFRA, please call the Certification Office in advance to schedule your test.
The Exam Request Form has a space to indicate where you would like the test to be conducted. Tests are usually conducted at a fire station or city building. Tests can also be conducted at the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy.
Written – The number of questions for each test can be found in the Certification Standard for that test level under the heading Certification Examinations and subheading Written Examinations.
Skills – Each skills test consists of three skills from the Certification Standard, or 10% of the skills (whichever is greater).
All questions for the written tests are taken from texts that are listed in each Certification Standard. The list of texts can be found under the heading Department Training and the subheading of Written Objectives.
All the skills that may be tested are listed in the Certification Standard as Manipulative Skills Objectives. Prior to the exam, you should have completed each skill successfully and completed an "in-house" version of the exam to show competency. At that point, you should be adequately prepared for the skills portion of the test.
At all certification exams, candidates must have, and present, a current picture ID.
Written test - Noting the exception below, you are not required to bring anything with you to take a written exam (pencils and scratch paper will be provided).
Wildland test – Bring the Fireline Handbook and IRPG.
Skills test – Before a skills test will be administered, training records will be checked by the Certification Tester. You will not be tested if you do not have a completed Training Record. Training Records can be found in the Appendix of the Certification Standard for each level. Training Records are checked for the following:
Training records must be signed by a department chief, training officer, or instructor.
To be a Certification Tester, a person must meet the following criteria:
Be an active member of a fire department in Utah.
Be certified, as a minimum, as Firefighter I. It is strongly recommended that the person be certified as Instructor I.
Submit a Certification Tester Application, which can be obtained by contacting the Certification Program Manager, along with two letters of recommendation.
Certification Testers must adhere to the following:
Attend and complete the Certification Tester course as offered by the Certification Office.
Attend training every year (for updates) or as determined by the Certification Council.
Be state certified at equal to or higher than the level they are testing unless otherwise approved by the Certification Council.
Adhere to all other Certification Tester policies and procedures listed in the Certification Policies and Procedures Manual.
A passing score on the written test is 70%. The skills test is 100% pass/fail.
Tests are mailed back to UFRA by the certification tester. After the tests are received, they are graded and scores are entered into our database. At that point, results are mailed to the department/organization. This can take up to 30 days. (Results are not mailed to individuals.)
In order to protect the individual, test results cannot be given over the phone. Even if a social security number is given, identity cannot be verified by phone.
After the tests are received at the Certification Office (usually about five days after the exam), results will be mailed to the department/organization within 30 days.
An individual is allowed to take the written and skills test three times within a one year period (30 days are required between each attempt). A different version of the written test is given each time. When a skills test is taken for the 2nd time, the candidate will be re-tested on the skill they failed. When a skills test is taken a 3rd time, the candidate is tested on the skill they missed plus one additional skill from the same section of the standard.
After a 3rd attempt failure, an individual has two options:
Option 1: Wait one year after the third attempt to re-enter the testing process for that level. At that point, the individual enters the testing process as if for the first time (1st attempts). The individual is required to pass both written and skills portions of the test again (even if one or the other was passed originally).
Option 2: Petition the certification program manager for re-entry into the system prior to the one year requirement. This would allow the candidate to re-enter the examination process 120 days after the last test date but the candidate must re-take a class in the level that was failed. The Council must act on the petition at its next scheduled meeting. The Council will notify the candidate as to their decision within 30 days after the meeting.
Accommodations are made only for the written examination and may be in the form of: providing a reader (who will read in English only) to assist with the exam or by allowing additional time to complete a written examination. Candidates must make a request in writing to the Certification Council specifying the level of testing, the reason(s) for requesting testing accommodations, and the type of accommodation they are requesting (i.e., reader or extended time). A statement must accompany the request from the candidate's doctor or fire chief/administrator attesting to the need for testing accommodation.
Certification standards are documents that describe what needs to be learned and completed in order to certify at a certain level. The standards are available online.
Some certification levels have prerequisites that need to be met before a certification may be issued. For example, in order to receive the certification of Inspector I you must have the HazMat Awareness prerequisite fulfilled. Here is a complete list of prerequisites for each certification level. Following the example, you may test for the Inspector I level before testing for HazMat Awareness, but you have to successfully pass the HazMat Awareness test before you can certify at Inspector I.
Both IFSAC and Pro Board are accrediting bodies, not certifying agencies. When you receive Utah Certification, at most levels, your certificate comes with a uniquely numbered IFSAC gold seal on it. Both IFSAC and Pro Board will issue certificates in addition to the Utah Certificate that we issue. There is a cost for each accrediting body, IFSAC and Pro Board, and each require a separate application to be completed. The Pro Board application also enters you into a National Registry. This must be mailed to UFRA for verification.
UFRA enters all successful candidates for accredited levels into the IFSAC Registry shortly after the Utah Certification is issued using the seal number to track the individual. An IFSAC Certificate application can be downloaded here. This application can be mailed directly to IFSAC.
Copies of certificates can be printed from the UFRA website. Click "Records Lookup" from the top menu, on the Certification side enter your last name and the last four digits of your social security number to access your certificate(s).
Copies of certificates may be also acquired by contacting the Certification Office. Copies are $10.00 per certificate. Since IFSAC seal numbers are unique and only appear on the original seal and original certificate, copies will not have a seal on them; instead the seal number will be written on the copy of the certificate.
You may receive reciprocity for certifications issued in another state provided that the other state is IFSAC or Pro Board accredited. Go to those sites to see if the state you received your certifications from is a member of either organization. Reciprocity is $20.00 per level.
Test scores are valid for certification for three years provided that the individual has remained with a department and kept up on their training hours.
In the event that either scenario above has occurred, an individual will need to retest for each desired certification level because the training requirement for recertification has not been fulfilled for the length of time gone from the fire service or out of state.
Pro Board stands for National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications. Pro Board accredits organizations that use the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA's) professional qualification standards. Certifications that have a Pro Board seal are recognized in other states that are accredited by Pro Board.
IFSAC is the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. They are a self-governing system that accredits both fire service certification programs and higher education fire-related degree programs. Certifications that have an IFSAC seal are recognized in other states that are accredited by IFSAC.
The Utah Fire Service Certification Council (UFSCC) is the governing member for fire service certification and is authorized by the Department of Public Safety and State Fire Marshal's office to manage the certification program. The twelve-member Council, representing volunteer and paid departments, works in conjunction with the Certification Program Manager to establish uniform minimum standards for certifications, and ensure quality and uniformity in the certification system. The UFSCC is a working council that performs assigned duties and reports activities to the Fire Service Standards and Training Council. For more information, including a list of council members, please visit the Certification Council web page.
Certification is valid for a three-year period.* Each certified level may be renewed by having the chief/administrator of the department/organization submit a Certification/Recertification Request form. This form indicates that the individual has participated in at least thirty-six (36) hours of structured class and manipulative training per year, or a total of one hundred eight (108) hours of training in the previous certification period unless otherwise specified by a certification standard.
*Each time a new certification is issued (other than HazMat Technician and Wildland), the expiration date for all levels is updated to reflect the expiration date of the new certification.
There is a recertification fee of $5.00 per person. That fee will recertify all levels except HazMat Technician and Wildland which each carry a separate $5.00 fee.
HazMat Technician requires an updated training record/in-house exam (found in the certification standard) to be submitted in order to recertify.
Wildland recertification requires that an individual take a four-hour refresher course and submit the results of his/her fitness test every year. Both requirements must be completed within the year the individual wishes to participate in the wildland program.
