Website Calgary Fire Department
Qualifications
- Be 18 years of age or older.
- Eligibility to work in Canada.
- Have a high school diploma or equivalency.
- Have a valid Class 5 driver’s license or provincial/territorial equivalent without a Graduated Driver’s License (GDL) status and with less than 7 demerit points.
- No criminal activity in the past 3 years.
- Have been granted a pardon or record suspension for any criminal convictions.
- The minimum medical certificate required is Advanced First Aid (AFA).
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification at the Health Care Provider (HCP) level or a Basic Life Support (BLS). All pre-hire qualifications must be current and valid at time of hire.
- Alberta Class 1, 2, or 3 driver’s license with Air Brake (Q) endorsement, or provincial equivalent. All pre-hire qualifications must be current and valid at time of hire.
- Meet all our immunization requirements.
You do not need your medical certification, CPR-HCP/BLS or professional driver’s license before you apply, however it will make your application more competitive.
You will need these qualifications in order to qualify for a Conditional Job Offer. Please note these standards may be changed due to operational requirements.
You do not need these qualifications to apply, however, they will strengthen your application.
- Post-secondary degree (if you went to school outside of North America, you must provide an assessment from the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada), or a journeyman certificate.
- Firefighter training.
- Experience as a full-time firefighter; including military, seasonal, forestry, paid on-call, or volunteer.
- Experience in Emergency Services or uniformed Public Servant roles (Law Enforcement, EMS, Military, Corrections, Park Ranger, Peace Officer).
- Cadet Program experience (Fire, Police, Sea, Air, Army, etc).
- Recent volunteering and/or community involvement (unpaid positions not including firefighting).
Our medical and fitness requirements have been set to ensure safety. Our requirements are based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582 Standard.
Read the linked document disqualifying medical conditions, which is a basic overview/summary developed by our CFD physicians. This is not an exhaustive/all-inclusive list, but rather a summary of common conditions they see that require further information and may be disqualifying in some instances.
For a complete list, please refer to the most up to date NFPA medical guidelines for disqualifying medical conditions for recruits. For more in depth details, a copy of the NFPA 1582 guideline can be purchased from NFPA.org.
If you think you may have any of the disqualifying medical conditions in the Standard, bring the NFPA information to your healthcare provider to be assessed.
Applicants who are successful in reaching Step 10 of the Firefighter Applicant Intake will be required to attend a medical assessment.
Applicants with disqualifying medical conditions and those who do not meet the requirements may be deemed unfit to do the job. (Sometimes the disqualifying conditions are in a grey zone, as are the guidelines, and do not necessarily disqualify someone).
Please contact the CFD Wellness Centre Physicians if you require further clarification on disqualifying medical conditions at: (403) 873-2352.
To prepare for the intense physical demands of recruit training and a firefighting career, you should have already made a commitment to life-long fitness and self-improvement in the areas of:
- Flexibility.
- Muscle endurance.
- Muscle strength and power.
- Cardiovascular endurance.
- Healthy body composition.
- Fundamental movement techniques (pushing, pulling, lifting, squatting, lunging, carrying, and dragging).
You will go through a complete physical exam and treadmill assessment at our Wellness Centre.
The treadmill assessment is a VO2 test, measuring your oxygen use, and requires maximum effort. You must reach a minimum of 12 minutes and 30 seconds on the treadmill while wearing a mask that will measure how efficiently your body uses oxygen.
