Firefighter II

Course Description

FFP0031C – Firefighter II is a 301-clock-hour postsecondary adult vocational course and the second half of Florida's Firefighter Minimum Standards training. With FFP0030C Firefighter I at 191 hours, the complete program runs 492 clock hours. Like all PSAV courses it carries zero college credit — it is state certification training delivered at centers approved by the Florida Bureau of Fire Standards and Training.

This is the certification-level course. Where Firefighter I establishes the skills to operate under supervision, Firefighter II carries the training to the level of competency Florida requires for a firefighter working in the hot zone — an immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) environment. It is aligned to NFPA 1001 Firefighter II performance requirements and is where the majority of live fire and hands-on evaluation occurs.

Content builds on Firefighter I and covers advanced fire behavior and reading fire conditions; coordinated fire attack and interior operations; firefighter survival and rapid intervention — self-rescue, entanglement, low-air emergencies, and Mayday procedures; advanced search and rescue; advanced ventilation; vehicle extrication and rescue tools; hazardous materials operations; fire cause determination and evidence preservation; sprinkler and standpipe operations; foam and flammable liquid firefighting; fire prevention and inspection fundamentals; fire service communications and reporting; and live fire evolutions conducted under NFPA 1403 conditions.

Offered at approximately 12 Florida institutions and training centers.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Read fire conditions and predict fire behavior in a structure.
• Perform a coordinated interior fire attack as part of a team.
• Operate as a member of a rapid intervention team.
• Perform firefighter self-rescue including entanglement escape and emergency egress.
• Declare and manage a Mayday and apply air management under emergency conditions.
• Conduct advanced search and rescue operations including large-area search.
• Perform advanced ventilation including vertical operations on a pitched roof.
• Perform vehicle extrication using hydraulic and hand rescue tools.
• Stabilize a vehicle and protect a trapped patient during extrication.
• Perform hazardous materials operations-level responsibilities including defensive control.
• Operate foam systems and control flammable liquid fires.
• Support sprinkler and standpipe systems during fireground operations.
• Preserve a fire scene and identify indicators relevant to cause determination.
• Conduct a basic fire safety survey and public education contact.
• Complete fire service reports and communicate on the fireground.
• Perform under live fire conditions in compliance with NFPA 1403.
• Demonstrate all required skills to Florida Minimum Standards evaluation criteria.
• Demonstrate readiness for the Florida state certification examination.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe technical rescue awareness including confined space and trench.
• Describe wildland-urban interface operations.
• Describe firefighter behavioral health and critical incident stress.
• Describe fire service physical fitness and cancer risk reduction.
• Describe company officer responsibilities and the path to Fire Officer I.
• Describe EMS integration and the dual-role firefighter.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Advanced fire behavior — reading smoke, flow paths, and ventilation-limited fire.
• Coordinated fire attack — interior operations, hose advancement, and crew integrity.
• Firefighter survival — self-rescue, entanglement, emergency egress, and Mayday.
• Rapid intervention — RIT deployment, air supply, and downed firefighter removal.
• Advanced search and rescue — techniques, orientation, and victim removal.
• Advanced ventilation — vertical operations, roof cuts, and coordination with attack.
• Vehicle extrication — stabilization, tools, access, and patient protection.
• Hazardous materials operations — defensive control, decontamination, and product identification.
• Foam and flammable liquids — application methods and systems.
• Fire protection systems — supporting sprinklers and standpipes on the fireground.
• Fire cause determination — scene preservation and evidence handling.
• Fire prevention and public education — surveys and community contact.
• Communications and reporting — radio discipline and incident documentation.
• Building construction — collapse indicators and tactical implications.
• Live fire evolutions — supervised burns under NFPA 1403.
• State examination preparation — written and practical.

Optional Topics

• Technical rescue awareness.
• Wildland-urban interface.
• Behavioral health and critical incident stress.
• Fitness and occupational cancer risk reduction.
• Company officer fundamentals.
• EMS integration.

Resources & Tools

• Florida Bureau of Fire Standards and Training curriculum — the state-mandated content; the training center supplies it and it, not a commercial text, is authoritative.
• Essentials of Fire Fighting (IFSTA), Fire Protection Publications — the standard reference.
• NFPA 1001 — Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications, Firefighter II level.
• NFPA 1403 — Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions; governs how live burns must be conducted.
• NFPA 1407 — rapid intervention crew training.
• Chapter 633, Florida Statutes and Rule Chapter 69A-37, F.A.C. — certification law and rules.
• Florida State Fire College (Ocala) — the state training institution; publishes certification requirements and examination information.
• Emergency Response Guidebook — free from USDOT; used in hazardous materials operations.
• Training facilities — burn building, tower, extrication yard, and apparatus.

Career Pathways

• Firefighter (SOC 33-2011) — municipal, county, and fire district departments; this course completes the training requirement.
• Firefighter/EMT and Firefighter/Paramedic — the configuration most Florida departments actually hire.
• Airport Rescue Firefighter — Florida's commercial airports.
• Industrial and Facility Firefighter — ports, refineries, and large campuses.
• Wildland Firefighter — Florida Forest Service and federal agencies.
• Driver/Engineer, Fire Officer, and Fire Investigator — through experience and further certification.
• Fire Inspector (SOC 33-2021) — via FFP1510 and the Inspector I sequence.

Special Information

This is where Florida certification is actually earned

Completing FFP0031C makes a candidate eligible to sit the Florida Firefighter certification examination — a written test and a practical skills evaluation administered by the Bureau of Fire Standards and Training. Certification is granted by the Division of State Fire Marshal, not by the college. The full requirement is:

Note that the halves are not equal — Firefighter II is roughly 60 percent of the program, and it is the more physically and technically demanding half.

Plan the EMT or paramedic credential alongside this, not after it

The great majority of Florida fire department calls are medical rather than fire, and most Florida departments hire dual-certified Firefighter/EMTs or Firefighter/Paramedics. A candidate holding firefighter certification alone competes at a real disadvantage, and paramedic certification is frequently what separates a hired candidate from one still applying. Many Florida programs run the fire and EMS tracks concurrently for exactly this reason — ask about that structure before enrolling rather than after finishing.

Zero credit, and what it does count toward

FFP0031C is PSAV: clock hours, no college credit, no application toward an associate degree. The college-credit fire science courses carry FFP1xxx and FFP2xxx numbers — including FFP1810C (Fire Fighting Tactics and Strategy I) and FFP1510 (Codes and Standards) — and those do count toward an A.S. in Fire Science Technology. Several Florida colleges award block credit toward that degree for completed Minimum Standards certification, under local articulation agreements rather than statewide SCNS equivalency. Ask the specific college.

Live fire and survival training carry real risk, and the discipline reflects it

Live burn evolutions are governed by NFPA 1403, which specifies instructor-to-student ratios, fuel loads, water supply, safety officers, and accountability; firefighter fatalities have occurred in training when those controls failed. The survival and Mayday content in this course is taught because firefighters die in structures they cannot get out of. Students who do not follow direction on the drill ground are removed, and the standard is closer to a fire department than to a classroom.

The physical demand increases sharply from Firefighter I

This half carries the majority of live fire, extrication, and survival work, performed in full structural gear and SCBA in Florida heat. Candidates should arrive with cardiovascular and strength conditioning already established. Heat stress is a serious and recurring hazard, and hydration and acclimatization are taught for that reason.

Course numbering

The course appears as FFP0031, FFP0031C, and at some institutions FFP0031V (variable hours). It pairs with FFP0030 / FFP0030C for Firefighter I. PSAV clock-hour courses do not transfer as college credit in any case — what transfers is the state certification, which is portable across Florida departments.