Executive Fire Officer Program selection criteria (four-year program)

As an EFO Program student, you are enhancing your professional development through a unique series of four graduate and upper-division-baccalaureate equivalent courses taken over a four-year period. Each course is two weeks in length. You must complete an Applied Research Project (ARP) that relates to your organization within six months after the completion of each of the four courses.

Selection criteria

Only students accepted into the EFO Program can attend EFO courses. Selection criteria for the EFO Program is divided between two areas: service and academic.

Service requirement

At the time of application, you must be in a rank/position that complies with one of the following:

• Chief of Department or equivalent.
• Chief Officer or equivalent heading a major bureau or division within a fire department/Emergency Medical Services organization. Examples of functions include suppression, emergency medical, prevention, emergency management and training.
• Battalion-level chief officer from metro-size fire organization.

If you are not in one of these positions, but serve in a supervisory level position (e.g. Battalion Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, etc.) and aspire to a more senior position of authority, we will consider you under the service requirement if you can demonstrate having previously exercised leadership within your organization. This audience category is referred to as “Key Leading Candidates.”

Firefighters, firefighter paramedics, engineers, drivers or chauffeurs are not considered as eligible.

Academic requirement

The EFO Program selection process regarding the academic pre-requisite features a two-tiered transcript-based evaluation process.

Tier 1

1. You must have a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 60 college credit hours (or quarter-hour equivalent) must come from course work not associated with “credit by examination and/or “life experiences” (including credit for non-academic certificate courses and/or professional certifications).
• No more than 30 college credit hours (or quarter-hour equivalent) from “credit by examination” i.e. DANTES Subject Standardized Test (DSST), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), etc.
• No more than 30 college credit hours from “life experiences” (including credit for non-academic certificate courses and/or professional certifications).
2. Include with your application package an official transcript and one of the following:
• A letter from the degree granting institution certifying that no more than 30 hours of the college credit (or quarter-hour equivalent) came from “credit by examination” and/or 30 hours of the college credit came from “life experience” (including credit for non-academic certificate courses and/or professional certification).
• A copy of the policy of the degree granting institution indicating that no more than 30 hours of the college credit (or quarter-hour equivalent) towards a baccalaureate degree may be gained through “credit by examination”, and no more than 30 hours of college credit towards a baccalaureate degree may be gained through “life experience” (including credit for non-academic certificate courses and/or professional certifications).

Tier 2

If you have a degree from a nationally or regionally accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, but don’t meet the 30/30/60 credit hours distribution described under Tier 1, you will  be categorized as “Tier 2”. Tier 2 applicants will compete for the remaining vacancies after all Tier 1 applicants have been admitted.

Other documentation and criteria considerations

National Fire Academy staff may consider additional changes in required documentation necessary to facilitate this modified selection process. For example: if details in the official transcript include the number of credits by examination and life experience, additional documents may not be required.

Other selection criteria (e.g., rank, position, responsibilities, etc.) as previously described within Service Requirement remain in practice. The National Fire Academy will provide a review of the selection process and relevant criteria to the National Fire Academy Board of Visitors at the end of each year.