Fire Officer Exam (FOE) cheat sheet

Fire department management functions are commonly summarized as POSDCORB: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting.

ICS span of control is 3 to 7 subordinates per supervisor, with 5 as the optimal ratio.

Budget formats include line-item, performance, program, and zero-based; zero-based budgeting requires justification of every expenditure from a zero base each cycle.

Risk management steps are hazard identification, frequency and severity evaluation, prioritization, control selection, implementation, and monitoring.

NFPA 1500 addresses fire department occupational safety, health, and wellness programs.

NFPA 1710 applies to career fire department deployment; NFPA 1720 applies to volunteer and combination departments.

Progressive discipline typically moves from verbal warning to written warning to suspension to termination, with documentation at each step.

NFPA 1911 covers inspection, maintenance, and testing of in-service fire apparatus.

Garrity protections apply when a public employee is compelled to answer investigative questions; the compelled statements cannot be used in a criminal proceeding but may be used administratively.

Weingarten rights give a unionized employee the right to a union representative at an investigatory interview that the employee reasonably believes may lead to discipline.

Loudermill due process requires notice of charges and an opportunity to respond before a public employee is deprived of a property interest such as continued employment.

FLSA 7(k) allows fire departments to use a 7- to 28-day work period; overtime for fire personnel generally begins after 212 hours in a 28-day period.

FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period and generally requires 1,250 hours of service in the prior 12 months.

The ADA requires reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities unless it imposes undue hardship.

The seven tests of just cause include reasonable rule, notice, investigation, fair investigation, proof, equal treatment, and a penalty that fits the offense.

A typical grievance procedure moves through immediate supervisor, middle management, labor relations, and arbitration.

Occupant load is computed from floor area and use; common factors include 100 gross square feet per person for business and 15 net square feet per person for unconcentrated assembly.

The IBC generally requires at least two means of egress where the occupant load is 50 or more, with limited single-exit exceptions.

Fire code permits are commonly required for hot work, open burning, flammable-liquid storage, explosives, and tent or canopy assemblies.

A light-hazard sprinkler design commonly uses 0.10 gpm per square foot over 1,500 square feet; ordinary hazard commonly uses 0.15 gpm per square foot over 1,500 square feet.

A Knox box is a secure key box at a building entrance that allows fire personnel to retrieve keys or controls during an emergency.

A certificate of occupancy confirms that a building complies with applicable codes and may be occupied for its approved use.

Code enforcement generally follows inspection, notice of violation, a compliance time limit, reinspection, and an appeal process.

Inspection types include construction, occupancy, complaint, periodic, and follow-up inspections.

The four standardized fire cause classifications are accidental, natural, incendiary, and undetermined.

NFPA 921 describes the scientific method for fire and explosion investigations, including origin analysis, fire patterns, hypothesis testing, and documentation.

NFPA 1033 defines the professional qualifications for fire investigators.

Origin determination uses fire patterns, witness statements, damage analysis, fuel load, ventilation, and physics rather than a single indicator.

A V-shaped pattern can indicate upward fire spread but is not by itself proof of cause or origin.

Chain of custody documents who collected, handled, transferred, and stored evidence to show it has not been altered or contaminated.

Miranda warnings apply to custodial interrogation by law enforcement; a fire investigator acting as an agent of law enforcement can trigger the same requirement.

A fire investigation report commonly documents origin, cause, cause classification, responsibility, and supporting evidence.

RECEO-VS stands for Rescue, Exposures, Containment, Extinguishment, Overhaul, Ventilation, and Salvage.

SLICE-RS stands for Size-up, Locate the fire, Identify the flow path, Cool from a safe location, Extinguish, Rescue, and Salvage.

The Iowa fire flow formula estimates needed fire flow in gallons per minute as 100 times the square root of building volume in cubic feet divided by 100.

Offensive operations are chosen when savable life or property exists and interior conditions are tenable; defensive operations are chosen when collapse risk or fire volume makes interior operations unsafe.

Ventilation must be coordinated with fire attack so that the flow path does not draw heat and smoke toward occupants or crews.

A Mayday report commonly uses LUNAR: Location, Unit, Name, Air, and Resources.

Primary search covers all affected areas for immediate victims; secondary search rechecks after the primary search and during stabilization.

A 1.75-inch handline typically flows 150 to 200 gpm; a master stream generally flows 350 gpm or more.

ICS has five major functional areas: Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance/Administration.

Unified Command is used when multiple agencies with jurisdiction or responsibility jointly set objectives without relinquishing their own authority.

NIMS components include preparedness, communications and information management, resource management, command and management, and ongoing management and maintenance.

NIMS communications use plain language and common terminology; ten-codes are discouraged for multiagency incidents.

Emergency management phases are mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

ESF-4 addresses firefighting in the National Response Framework; ESF-8 addresses public health and medical services.

Common ICS forms include 201 (incident briefing), 202 (incident objectives), 203 (organization assignment), 204 (assignment list), 205 (communications list), and 214 (activity log).

The ADDIE model has five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.

Bloom's learning domains are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

A performance objective includes a condition, a behavior, and a standard.

Kirkpatrick's four evaluation levels are reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

NFPA 1041 covers fire service instructor professional qualifications; NFPA 1403 covers live-fire training; NFPA 1410 covers initial company tactical operations training.

Psychomotor skills require demonstration, practice, feedback, and evaluation; cognitive objectives use knowledge and comprehension verbs.

Training records commonly include date, instructor, objectives, attendance, skills practiced, and evaluation results.

The ERG is organized by yellow identification number, blue material name, orange response guide, and green isolation and protective-action distances.

Hazmat incident zones are hot (exclusion), warm (contamination reduction), and cold (support).

The ERG green section lists material-specific initial isolation and protective-action distances; responders use the specific table rather than one universal distance.

Protective clothing levels are A (vapor-tight with SCBA), B (liquid splash protection with SCBA), C (liquid splash protection with air-purifying respirator), and D (structural firefighting or work clothing).

DOT hazard classes are 1 explosives, 2 gases, 3 flammable liquids, 4 flammable solids, 5 oxidizers, 6 toxic substances, 7 radioactive materials, 8 corrosives, and 9 miscellaneous.

Decontamination generally proceeds from gross contamination removal to primary and secondary decon, with runoff control.

Technical rescue disciplines include confined space, trench, rope, structural collapse, vehicle and machinery, and water rescue.

Defensive hazmat operations establish isolation, deny entry, and protect exposures without making contact with the product.

The five building construction types are Type I fire-resistive, Type II noncombustible, Type III ordinary, Type IV heavy timber, and Type V wood frame.

Modern lightweight wood truss and engineered lumber can lose strength quickly under fire and may fail within minutes of flame impingement.

Flashover is the transition to full-room fire involvement when heat feedback ignites most combustible surfaces nearly simultaneously, often near 1,100°F (600°C).

Backdraft indicators include smoke puffing from openings, pressure differentials, limited ventilation, and high heat with incomplete combustion.

Wet-pipe sprinklers hold water at the head; dry-pipe systems use air pressure; preaction systems require detection or suppression activation; deluge systems open all heads.

Class I standpipes have 2.5-inch fire department connections; Class II have 1.5-inch occupant connections; Class III have both.

Conventional fire alarms group devices by zone; addressable systems identify individual devices.

Fire growth stages are incipient, growth, fully developed, and decay.

START triage sorts patients by respirations, perfusion, and mental status into immediate, delayed, minor, and deceased categories.

Adult CPR uses compressions at 100 to 120 per minute with a depth of at least 2 inches and no more than 2.4 inches, with a 30:2 compression-to-ventilation ratio for one- or two-rescuer adult BLS without an advanced airway.

An AED should be applied as soon as available and used with minimal interruption of compressions.

Life-threatening extremity hemorrhage is controlled with direct pressure, wound packing, or a tourniquet applied proximal to the bleeding and tightened until bleeding stops.

Vehicle extrication follows stabilization, access, disentanglement, and removal, with patient care coordinated throughout.

Patient assessment includes scene size-up, primary assessment, history, secondary assessment, and vital signs.

EMS medical direction includes a medical director, written protocols, online direction, and quality assurance review.

Rescue operations require trained personnel and appropriate equipment; recovery operations begin when there is no reasonable possibility of survival.

The five E's of prevention are education, enforcement, engineering, environment, and emergency response.

Community risk reduction identifies local risks, prioritizes them using data, and implements integrated strategies to reduce injury, death, and property loss.

Smoke alarms should be tested monthly and replaced every 10 years or per manufacturer instructions; ionization and photoelectric types detect different fire conditions.

Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries, with unattended cooking a major factor.

Home escape planning includes two ways out of every room, a meeting place, and practice.

The Haddon matrix examines injury prevention through host, agent, and environment factors before, during, and after an event.

NFPA 1730 addresses fire prevention inspection, code enforcement, plan review, investigation, and public education operations; NFPA 1452 addresses community risk reduction training.

Evaluation types include process, impact, and outcome measures.