TCFP Certifications

The Texas Commission on Fire Protection follows the standards and develop the curriculum following the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 1001 Standard on Qualifications for a Professional Firefighter. This is a statewide certification that will cover minimum standards required to be hired and do the duties of a paid firefighter. A person in the state cannot work as a paid firefighter until these qualifications are met.

These standards cover 40 separate topics, and a minimum of 468 clock hours, though the average class will be closer to 600 plus hours for full completion. The topics will put the candidate through Firefighter I, and Firefighter II, hazardous materails awareness level, and hazardous matereials operations level.

Upon the successful completion of this course the firefighter will be in what the state calls a "certifiable" condition. What this basically means is, the student has successfully completed the entire course, has passed the required state skills and written exam; but has not taken and passed the TDH (Texas Department of Health) course and exam for an EMS certification of some level. The candidate will have 12 months to complete this part of the process to complete the basic firefighter certification.
This is a two-year certification unless the candidate becomes an employee of a municipal fire department and then it is an annual certification. The student may carry his or her own certification until employed and even after employment or retirement, but, must maintain a 20 hour training continuing education process to keep their certification. After employment it becomes the responsibility of the department to maintain a minimum of 20 hours CE training annually for recertification.