North Wales Firefighter Tests and Selection

Two routes, the same written tests

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service uses the national firefighter written tests on both its routes. Its on-call applicant information (December 2025) calls the in-person day the “Practical assessment day for National Fire Selection Tests”. Its wholetime selection process calls the written stage the Working with Information Tests and links the National Firefighter Ability Tests Practice Booklet to prepare. What each national test contains, and how it is marked, is on our NFA practice page.

The content differs slightly by route. For on-call, the written ability assessment covers numerical information (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and making estimates) and different formats of written information. The wholetime page lists “understanding information, working with numbers, problem solving etc.”, so wholetime candidates should expect a problem-solving element as well.

On-call: nine stages

1. Online registration, with private realistic job preview questions to self-assess.
2. Eligibility review: over 18, right to work in the UK, no unspent convictions that bar you, able to reach the station in a satisfactory response time, and the station must be recruiting.
3. An availability grid, reviewed against the station’s needs.
4. Two online assessments, a Behavioural Styles Questionnaire and a Situational Judgement Test, then a Professional Discussion at the station with the Watch Manager and Station Support Officer or Locality Manager, in Welsh or English.
5. The practical assessment day: the written ability assessment and six physical tests (enclosed space, equipment assembly, ladder climb, equipment carry, casualty evacuation and ladder lift simulator). Each physical test has a permitted time, and failing to finish within it fails the physical assessment. Bring proof of your right to work.
6. A full medical.
7. Pre-employment checks, including two references and a Standard DBS check.
8. Appointment, subject to the Service’s needs.
9. Initial training in your first year: a 6-day initial firefighter module, a 10-day breathing apparatus module over two weeks and a 3-day road traffic collision module, some of it residential.

On-call firefighters typically live or work within about five minutes of the station, carry an alerter while on duty and attend a three-hour drill night once a week. The booklet says the average time to reach competence is 18 to 24 months.

Wholetime: seven stages, opening in 2027

The wholetime recruitment page says “Full-time Firefighter Recruitment opens in 2027”, and you must be 18 or over on 1 March 2027, with no upper age limit. You also need the right to work in the UK, a full UK driving licence and the ability to pass a Standard DBS check. The stages are:

1. Online registration, with the same private realistic job preview.
2. Online assessment: the Behavioural Styles Questionnaire and Situational Judgement Test.
3. The Working with Information Tests, at a fire service premises.
4. The Physical and Practical Assessment day.
5. A selection interview, in Welsh, English or both.
6. A medical with a drug and alcohol test, and pre-employment checks. You must show a visual acuity of at least 6/9 in each eye and good colour vision before the medical is booked, and laser eye surgery normally means waiting 12 months.
7. Appointment, then a 16-week initial course based mainly at the Training Centre in Rhyl.

The Welsh language requirement

You do not need to speak Welsh to apply. For on-call, your spoken Welsh is assessed either in the Professional Discussion, if you choose to hold it in Welsh, or in a short Welsh language assessment, and the result is used to plan your support. You need to reach Level 2 Welsh before the end of your probation, which the booklet describes as basic courtesy: pronouncing names and place names correctly, simple greetings and some simple phrases. The wholetime page asks for the same Level 2 commitment within your first year.

Practise the written tests

• NFA Working with Numbers (32 questions · 45 minutes · free) - Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and estimates, which North Wales names for both routes. Free here.
• NFA Understanding Information (25 questions · 30 minutes) - Reading different formats of written information and answering on them. Both routes.
• NFA Situational Awareness and Problem Solving (30 questions · 35 minutes) - Problem solving, which the wholetime page lists among the Working with Information Tests.
• NFA Full Written Tests (87 questions · 110 minutes) - All three national tests back to back at full length.

For the skills underneath, see our pages on numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and situational judgement, and our guide to the UK firefighter written tests.

Common questions

Can I take the North Wales written tests in Welsh?

The service offers the on-call Professional Discussion and the wholetime interview in Welsh or English. Its pages do not say whether the written tests are offered in Welsh, so ask the recruitment team. Our practice questions are in English.

When does wholetime recruitment open?

The service says 2027 and gives no exact date. On-call recruitment runs by station, and the eligibility review checks whether your station is actively recruiting.

Are your tests the real ones?

No. They are independent practice written to the published national test format, and are not supplied or endorsed by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.