Firefighter interview questions and answers
You can use these Firefighter interview questions as a guide to identify the desired skills and qualifications in your candidates.
Firefighter Interview Questions
Firefighters hold a high level of responsibility. They’re workers in the public’s service so hiring criteria should extend beyond their capabilities to do the job. During the oral interview, you should look for signs that they’re brave, compassionate and reliable people with quick thinking and reflexes.
Firefighter qualifications may vary depending on location and fire agency. Often they have undergone training at a college, school or academy. They may have also received training from the fire department they applied to after they passed a series of different tests. Volunteering experience in firefighting departments may be a great way to screen entry-level candidates. CPR or even a complete EMT training are commonly required.
Since this profession deals with a lot of emergencies and unforeseen incidents, situational questions are great to assess candidates. Look for high levels of motivation, patience and problem-solving aptitude. The following questions will give you an idea of how to look for the best candidates. If you aren’t hiring for a fire department but rather a fire equipment manufacturing company or other type of business, taylor your questions to suit the role’s profile.
Operational and Situational questions
- Imagine that you’ve been called to extinguish a fire at a building and one of the residents that were taken out starts to panic and wants to go back inside. How do you handle this?
- What would you do if you noticed a fellow firefighter stealing something during a fire extinguishing operation?
- How would you care for an unconscious person?
- Imagine you receive two different orders from senior firefighters at the same time. What do you do?
- How would you deal with an order that you think is wrong and would put you in unnecessary danger?
Role-specific questions
- What motivates you to be a firefighter?
- What can a firefighter do for fire prevention?
- What are the challenges that fire departments have to deal with nowadays?
- Do you know the mission statement of our agency?
- What’s the most important duty of a firefighter?
- What piece of firefighting equipment is most difficult to operate and why?
Behavioral questions
- Tell me about a conflict you had with a colleague. How did you resolve it?
- Give me an example of a time you had to deal with an emergency
- Recall a time when you made a mistake in using rescue equipment. What should you have done differently?