Certification Testing

Certification Testing In lieu of MSCB administered testing, the Board shall recognize all accredited NFPA-based Fire Fighter I and II certificates issued by the Mississippi Fire Academy after September 1, 2005 as being equivalent to the MSCB certification requirements. Furthermore, the MSCB shall adopt the same edition of the NFPA 1001 standard and similar fire fighter training curriculum as used by the Mississippi Fire Academy as the official state standard and curriculum for fire fighter certification training. Policies regarding the delivery of certification testing shall be delegated to the Mississippi State Fire Academy and established in accordance with criteria set forth by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress. Departments authorized to deliver certification training to their own employees must contract with the Mississippi State Fire Academy to complete the certification examination process. In general, Mississippi Fire Academy entrance requirements set forth for minimum standard certification (Fire Fighter I and II) shall be established by the MSCB as recommended by the Academy’s Executive Director. Such entrance requirements shall not apply to fire personnel who fall outside the scope of Miss. Code Ann. § 45-11-203 and therefore, are not within the jurisdiction of the MSCB. Academy entrance requirements established for non-minimum standard courses and other programs shall be set by the Executive Director in conjunction with the Academy’s Advisory Board. The minimum standards certification process requires all candidates to successfully complete the Candidate Physical Abilities Test (CPAT) prior to entering an approved Fire Fighter I and II training program. In order to meet the entrance requirements for certification training and testing, the CPAT exam must be administered at the Mississippi State Fire Academy or monitored by qualified Academy personnel at locations approved to by the Board to conduct the CPAT exam. The validity of any CPAT qualification shall expire one hundred and eighty (180) days after successful completion of the exam. Candidates must have officially started an approved certification-training program within the 180-day period. Should any candidate’s CPAT credentials expire before entering an approved certification-training program, the candidate must retake and successfully complete the CPAT exam. All subsequent CPAT qualifications shall remain valid for one hundred and eighty (180) days from the most recent test date. Miss. Code Ann. § 45-11-7 provides the Mississippi State Fire Academy with the authority to assess a reasonable fee to account for the cost providing off-campus certification testing and monitoring services. Such fees shall be directed to and paid by the entity or governing authority requesting the additional testing services.