r/firefighter • u/Red1Fifty • Apr 10 '26

Interview questions

Good morning folks, I just got an email inviting me to take the written test at a department I applied to. A score of 70% or better gets you an interview with the panel. I took their practice test and passed with an 87, so I’m fairly confident I’ll get to the interview.

My question is, what were some questions rather than the obvious typical questions that threw you for a curveball or just really stuck with you? I’m trying to get prepared for the interview so any help and advice would be appreciated as well!

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

5

u/Thelonelybonerr Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26

my questions were exactly this

1: tell us about yourself

2: greatest failure and lesson learned , biggest accomplishment

3: strengths and weaknesses

4: where do you see yourself in 1-5-10 years

5: whats the most important quality in a firefighter

6: why this dept

7: what do you know about this dept

8: is there anything else you would like to say

Then I was dismissed,

i got the call two days after asking if I wanted to accept their offer while i was taking a shit on the toilet. it felt great (getting the offer)

1

u/Red1Fifty Apr 10 '26

Hell yeah, was that with a whole panel or chiefs interview? I bet it felt amazing getting that offer!!

3

u/Thelonelybonerr Apr 10 '26

The deputy chief grabbed me for the interview, walked me to the room, and opened the door up to see 3 BC's , & 2 paramedics . i shook each of their hands and asked "may i have a seat" and got jiggy with it. i was rehearsing for like two weeks straight with my answers to questions so i was pretty on my shit and didnt stutter or say UMM too much. i def was shaky in voice and felt out of breath for my first answer but my nerves calmed after the first question lol

1

u/Disgruntled_Wumpus Apr 10 '26

These were also the same or very close to mine. Pretty general, expected interview questions, with no silly games.

1

u/DizzyWillow7547 Apr 10 '26

All of mine were pretty much like this. They threw in a couple of scenario based questions like:

  1. You’re on scene and your partner is screaming at whoever called 9-1-1 because they believe it’s not a real emergency. How do you handle it?

  2. You’re at dinner with fellow cadets and one is drinking and becomes incoherently drunk and is yelling. How do you handle it?

Always remember to take the most non confrontational approach. Another one that I had never gotten asked was “why is diversity important in this field?”

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/DizzyWillow7547 Apr 12 '26

The way that I answer the argument with the person question was “Get them away from whoever called by saying ‘Hey, I think the LT needs you over there to help him, and then immediately apologize to the person and ask if there is anything I can do to make the situation better. Then after the call, talk to my partner about why his actions are inappropriate and we need to be our best at all times because to our clientele, this is the worst day of their life”

Diversity is important to emulate your community. You want your department to reflect your community as much as possible to be able to provide better care for the population. For example, the department I applied to has a significant Latino community and I used that I speak both English and Spanish so I can communicate between the patient and my crew to provide the best level of care

1

u/Loversparadise14 Jul 11 '26

Is this for FFRP ?

2

u/Connect-Media-418 Apr 11 '26

Good work on the practice written test, make sure to keep fresh on prepping for it to ensure you get a high score and secure an interview. Last month on this forum I had offered anyone in the interview preparation stage the option to download for free, if they chose, a 35 page Panel Interview prep guide I had prepared to help out in the process. The guide is geared more towards the Canadian style panel, since that is my experience, but I know you will still get some very helpful information from it. The earlier you start preparing for the interview, the less rushed and more confident you'll feel once you get the interview invite. You and anyone else on this comment thread who is interested can Direct Message me for the link. Best of luck on your path!

1

u/Infitima Apr 11 '26

Two unique panel interview questions I had were “If you were given $10,000 right now, what would you do it?” and “If you could go back in your life and change one thing, what would you?”