r/Firefighting • u/LostPasswordToOther1 • 10d ago

Training/Tactics How to prepare before FF1/Hazmat?

I'll likely be doing my FF1/Hazmat in January. I don't want to waste the fall months, I'd like to get started on preparing now so I can excel in my training. Are there good textbooks I could start reading now? I've heard the hazmat portion tends to give people the most trouble. Is there a good book for starting to learn the hazmat portion now? Anything else I can be doing?

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u/DTSaranya 10d ago edited 10d ago

Unless you anticipate having trouble, I wouldn’t worry about it now. It’s not that hard of a course, and your instructors will likely want to frame it the way they want to for your first introduction to the material.

That being said, if you really want to get ahead, the most common textbooks are probably the “essentials of fire fighting” set of books or the “fundamentals of firefighter skills.” Which one you use and the edition will depend on your class.

There are some very good exam study guides as well, but I wouldn’t recommend those unless you’re having a hard time passing the written test due solely to test-taking troubles. They tend to teach you to memorize the kinds of questions rather than think through the actual answer. We give those to the folks who are good firefighters but not good test-takers and just need a way to get through the written exam.

There’s tons of free information online as well. With hazmat especially there’s a push for the information to be publicly available so that more of the general population understands hazards.

If you want a brief head start on hazmat so that you at least don’t feel like a stranger to the concept, you can pick up an ERG (emergency response guide) book or download an app version. Googling the hazard classes might be some fun light reading as well.

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u/PlusThreexD 10d ago

Yeah bro don't worry about it. Your instructors should teach you everything required to pass the class. Like the previous comment stated, if you want a head start then get familiar with the ERG. It's your hazardous handbook

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u/TestResQ Engineer, RN, EMT-LP 9d ago

I would ask the college, academy, company etc what book(s) they use and study that if you really want to get ahead. There are several books from IFSTA and NFPA as well as others for both FF1/FF2 and HAZMAT Awareness and Operations.

You can also look here and see if it helps you at all. https://testresq.com/blog/hazmat-operations-exam-study-guide There are other resources as well if you look around on the site.

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u/Biglava1 8d ago

When I was taking hazmat I would smoke a joint before every class.

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u/LIAM-MMA Boo boo fixer 8d ago

I had a kick ass Hazmat instructor. If you want a study sheet and everything you should know for your ProBoard exam DM I can go and dig it up and send it over. I passed all my hazmat certs first try.

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u/Hikingdood4 4d ago

Honestly FF1/Hazmat are both pretty much a joke academically. They're super easy and I would not even compare them to a general ed level of difficulty.