Accredited Certification Update NEWS

Changes in Kentucky's IFSAC Accredited Certification Program for 2008

***Kentucky scheduled for Re-accreditation in 2008***

Every IFSAC accredited entity must go through a re-accreditation evaluation every 5 years to maintain status. Also, each NFPA professional qualification standard typically undergoes a revision every 5 years. So, in September 2008, Kentucky will be re-evaluated for it accreditation. Plans are to upgrade all of our accreditations to the latest NFPA edition. This will require revising all skill sheets, test banks and policies that relate to each certification level offered and accredited.
Kentucky will continue to test firefighters to the current accredited standards until September 1st, 2008. September 1st will be the transition date, and we will begin to test firefighters to the current standard in effect at that time. What this means is all written and skills testing will utilize updated skill sheets and test banks after September 1st, 2008. These updated skill sheets will not be available for publishing until after July 1st, 2008. They will be published on this website as soon as they are available.

These changes can have an impact on firefighters that have partially completed their IFSAC accredited certification when the transition occurs. Certifications are issued based on whether or not the firefighter meets the requirements of the standard.
An example of this is: If a firefighter completes and passes the skills portion of Firefighter 1 and 2 on March 1st, 2008, but does not pass the written exam for FF 1 and 2 until September 2, 2008, the firefighter must retake the skills to be eligible for a certification to FF 1 and 2. This is due to the fact that the skills completed in March were to the 2002 edition of NFPA 1001 and the written was taken under the 2008 edition of NFPA 1001. The firefighter cannot be certified to the 2008 standard because he/she did not meet the skills requirement of the 2008 standard.
KENTUCKY FIREFIGHTERS THAT WANT TO CERTIFY UNDER THE CURRENT ACCREDITED NFPA STANDARDS MUST COMPLETE ALL COMPONENTS BY AUGUST 31, 2008.
Kentucky will be certifying to the following standard versions until August 31st, 2008:
Firefighter 1- NFPA 1001:2002 edition
Firefighter 2- NFPA 1001:2002 edition
Haz Mat Awareness- NFPA 472:2002 edition
Haz Mat Operations- NFPA 472:2002 edition
Driver Operator/ Pumper- NFPA 1002:2003 edition
Driver Operator/ Mobile Water Supply- NFPA 1002:2003 edition
Driver Operator/ Aerial- NFPA 1002:2003 edition
Fire Service Instructor 1- NFPA 1041:2002 edition
Airport Firefighter- NFPA 1003:2000 edition

SKILL SHEETS CHANGE

Beginning January 1, 2008, firefighters will be evaluated with NEW Skill Sheets. These new sheets contain an evaluation of the candidiates performance with Safety in mind. Near the bottom of each evaluation document, the evaluator shall determine if the skill was performed in a safe manner. If the evaluator determined the candidate was NOT safe, a failing grade will be awarded.
The new skill sheets have been posted on this website. Also, skill sheets may now be downloaded in groups instead of by individual sheets only. We hope this increases convenience and reduces your time in downloading. Individual sheets are still available for downloading as well.

SKILLS TESTING

Beginning January 1, 2008, candidates will no longer be informed of the specific skills evaluated at each of the skill stations. They will merely be informed of the type of skill to be tested at each station.
Example: Station 2 may be an evaluation of Ladder skills and Station 3 may be an evaluation of Hose skills. This means that the candidate may be required to perform 1 of a possible 13 skills at Station 2.
It is the intent of the accreditation committee to increase the level of difficulty each year for the skills performance testing of firefighters to ensure that personnel are being evaluated on the quality of their training and ability to perform job functions from practice and knowledge, not memorization of material.

BRING YOUR SKILL SHEETS

Beginning January 1, 2008, candidates will no longer be supplied copies of skill sheets for memorization at the skills testing sites. It shall become the responsibility of each candidate to arrive at skills testing prepared to be evaluated. It is strongly recommended that candidates bring a complete set of Kentucky Firefighter 1 skills sheets and a basic training manual, such as the IFSTA Essentials of Firefighting, 4th Edition, for review immediately prior to FF 1 testing and during idle times between skill stations. For FF2 testing sessions, it is recommended that candidates arrive with a complete set of Kentucky Firefighter 2 skills sheets, Haz Mat Operations skill sheets, 4th Edition Essentials of Firefighter test and the 3rd Edition of IFSTA Hazardous Materials for the First Responder. Candidates are examined for their skills in Hazardous Materials Operations during FF2 skills testing, so the later text may prove useful.
It is not the purpose of bringing skill sheets to the testing site to provide evaluations sheets for the evaluators, they are merely to serve the student as review/study material prior to testing, as they will not be provided to students as in the past.

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