Comprehensive Questions
(Frequently Tested) with
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According to NFPA, how many levels of fire officers are there? - Answer: 4
Which level of fire officer is generally associated with supervising a single fire company or
apparatus? - Answer: Fire Officer I
What is the lowest level of fire officer that is qualified for a chief officer position? - Answer: Fire
Officer III
Which level of fire officer is generally associated as being the senior non chief officer in a
department? - Answer: Fire Officer II
At the Fire Officer I level, emphasis is placed on accomplishing the departments goals and
objectives by work through ________ to achieve the desired results. - Answer: Subordinates
Within the NFPA requirements for Fire Officer I, what are the requirements for certification as
an instructor? - Answer: NFPA Fire Instructor I
Which term does the International Association of Fire Chiefs use for Fire Officer I? - Answer:
Supervising Fire Officer
,Historically, how did the fire service originate in the United States? - Answer: As communities of
civilian volunteers.
According to the NFPA, approximately what percentage of fire fighters in the United States are
volunteers? - Answer: 69 percent
Which type of fire department uses full-time career personnel with volunteer or paid-on-call to
staff the department? - Answer: Combination
Although there are four common forms of staffing fire department organizations, most
discussions divide the fire fighters into which two categories? - Answer: Career and Volunteer
Which type of organization do private industries or nongovernmental organizations use to
provide fire protection for factories, processing plants, and large private facilities? - Answer:
Brigades
In 1871, two major fires occurred that would change the way the United States viewed and
responded to fire. What was one of those fires? - Answer: The Great Chicago Fire
When steam-powered fire engines were introduced in the 1800s, what was the reaction of
many volunteer fire fighters? - Answer: Fire fighters were threatened by the apparatus and
resisted their use.
Which devices introduced in the 1850s enabled citizens to send a coded telegraph signal to the
fire department dispatch center? - Answer: Public call boxes
What was the first building codes originally developed to prevent? - Answer: Building collapse
,Which industry played a major role in the development of the first model building codes? -
Answer: The insurance industry
Despite the invention of technical firefighting equipment, what is the most important resource
on a fire scene? - Answer: Fire fighters
To which rank do fire fighters report directly? - Answer: Lieutenant
Of the following chief officer titles, which is the lowest in rank? - Answer: Battalion chief
Which level of administrative chief fire officer is responsible for managing the activities of
several fire companies within a defined geographic area, usually in more than one fire station? -
Answer: Battalion chief
Who has the ultimate administrative responsibility in a fire department? - Answer: Fire chief
Which condition could ensue if it were not for the principle of unity of command? - Answer: Fire
fighters could receive multiple, possibly conflicting, orders from different officers.
Most experts believe that span of control should extend to no more than _______ people. -
Answer: 5
With _______, the specific assignment of a task to an individual makes that person responsible
for completing the task and prevents duplication of job assignments. - Answer: Division of labor
What is the general term for guidelines that a department establishes for fire fighters? - Answer:
Discipline
, All of the following are common ways of organizing a fire department except one. Choose the
exception. - Answer: Demographics
Which of the four functions of management deals with developing a scheme, program, or
method that is worked out beforehand to accomplish an objective? - Answer: Planning
Which of the four functions of management does the fire officer use to take the available
people, equipment, structure, and time and develop them into an orderly, functional, and
structural unit? - Answer: Organizing
Which of the four functions of management means guiding or directing in a course of action? -
Answer: Leading
Which of the four functions of management is used when a fire officer considers the impact on
the budget before making purchases? - Answer: Controlling
Which type of organization document is developed by various government or government-
authorized organizations to implement a law that has been passed by a government body? -
Answer: Regulation
Which type of organization document is developed to provide definite guidelines for present
and future actions? - Answer: Policy
Which type of organizational document establishes or prescribes specific operational or
administrative methods to be followed routinely for the performance of designated operations
or actions? - Answer: Standard operating procedure
What was the (often corrupt) system called that was used to appoint or promote people to
public jobs prior to the modern use of merit-based system? - Answer: Spoils system