North Yorkshire On-Call Firefighter Tests
How North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service selects on-call firefighters, who is exempt from its written tests, and what happens at Thirsk and Easingwold
The written tests, and who skips them
North Yorkshire’s on-call firefighter page lists “Written Tests - unless exempt” among the selection tests at your local station. The exemption is the unusual part: if you can provide evidence that you have obtained your maths and English qualifications, you are exempt from the written tests, provided your initial application is successful. The page does not say which qualifications or grades count, so ask the recruitment team before you assume you are exempt.
If you do sit them, the practice booklet the service links is the national preparation booklet for the NFA tests: Working with Numbers (45 minutes), Understanding Information (30 minutes) and Situational Awareness and Problem Solving (35 minutes). It says calculators are not permitted for the numbers test. How each test works and how it is marked is on our NFA practice page.
The on-call selection stages
- At your local station. A Watch Manager contacts you and invites you to selection tests: the Chester Step test, the written tests unless you are exempt, and an interview with questions based on the on-call firefighter role.
- Assessment day in Thirsk. At the Transport and Logistics Hub: a maximal breath-by-breath assessment, medical screening, uniform fitting and face fit testing.
- Physical selection at Easingwold. The Occupational Based Physical Selection Assessments, at the Training Centre.
- Before the course. At least eight training (drill) nights and one pre-course learning day.
- Safe to Ride. A two-week course at the Training Centre in Easingwold.
The medical is a full examination by the service’s Recruitment Medical Team, and the page is blunt that if your eyesight or medical results do not meet the standard, your application will not proceed.
The fitness standards
The service’s physical fitness selection tests page publishes timed standards for the role-based tests: casualty evacuation of a 55 kg dummy over 30 metres in 41 seconds, a 550-metre functional firefighting simulation in 25-metre shuttles within 5 minutes 37 seconds, the enclosed space test in 5 minutes, manual dexterity within 5 minutes 8 seconds, a climb to two-thirds of a 13.5-metre ladder, and an overhead barbell press building to 30 kg. For the breath-by-breath treadmill test, which runs to exhaustion, the pass is 42.3 ml/kg/min.
Where you need to live or work
You must live and/or work within about four minutes’ travel of the station, and stay within that while you are available. If you are within eight minutes, the service encourages you to email the recruitment team anyway. It says it is especially keen on people who can cover daytimes and weekends between 6am and 6pm, and it holds on-call recruitment events throughout the year rather than in one window. If your station has no vacancy, sign up for vacancy alerts on its careers page.
Practise the NFA tests
- NFA Working with Numbers (32 questions · 45 minutes · free) - The 45-minute numbers test, without a calculator, as the booklet says. Free here.
- NFA Understanding Information (25 questions · 30 minutes) - The 30-minute test of reading and understanding written information.
- NFA Situational Awareness and Problem Solving (30 questions · 35 minutes) - The 35-minute test of spotting hazards and solving practical problems safely.
- NFA Full Written Tests (87 questions · 110 minutes) - All three back to back at full length.
For the skills underneath, see our pages on numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning, and our guide to the UK firefighter written tests.
Common questions
Does North Yorkshire use the same tests for wholetime firefighters?
This page covers on-call recruitment. The service has a separate wholetime recruitment page, and its fitness page shows wholetime candidates take a bleep test at level 8.7 that on-call candidates do not. Check the wholetime page for its written stage.
Can I use a calculator in the numbers test?
No. The national booklet the service links says calculators are not permitted.
Are your tests the real ones?
No. They are independent practice written to the published NFA format, and are not supplied or endorsed by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.