By Amy Leigh Womack
The Macon Telegraph

MACON, Ga. — A study committee will examine the annual test used to recertify firefighters, the same test the state used late last year to assess Macon-Bibb County firefighters' training.

The fire department has come under intense scrutiny after just 59 percent of 123 firefighters evaluated in December passed a test of basic firefighting skills.

The Macon-Bibb County department was the first unit to undergo such an in-depth investigation and be brought before the Georgia Firefighters Training and Standards Council for possible action. Whatever action the council, the regulatory agency for Georgia fire departments, takes will set a precedent across the state.

Lyn Pardue, the council's executive director, said the new committee will be made up of 12 to 24 people from small, medium and large fire departments. They will review the testing process while discussing challenges they face at their respective departments. Training chiefs, training officers, fire chiefs and other experienced firefighters will sit on the committee.

Although Macon-Bibb firefighters' concerns about inconsistencies in evaluation methods and the manner in which skills were tested have become public, Pardue said the new panel isn't being formed specifically to examine any one department's testing experience.

Instead, he said the testing procedures have evolved since first being instituted in 2005 as departments across the state have been tested, and there are enough cases to determine whether the evaluation method should be tweaked.

Houston County firefighters were visited recently by state evaluators and passed a spot check of basic firefighting skills, eliminating the need for further testing, Pardue said.

Randy Windham, a committee member and Warner Robins fire training chief, said the group will be determining what's best for all firefighters across the state.

"We want to look at it to see if there's a better way to test," he said. "We want to be fair, but we're also concerned about the safety of our firefighters."

Pardue said the council has formed advisory committees in the past to pull in experts and fine-tune testing procedures for other state certifications.

Marvin Riggins, the interim fire chief in Macon, said both he and Training Chief Donnie Mercer will sit on the committee examining testing procedures. He said he supports a review of the test.

"It's healthy for the fire department to examine itself."

He said he hopes the committee will reach its conclusions in time for the Standards and Training Council's meeting in May.

"That's why we're anxious to get things started," Riggins said.

Pardue said there's no deadline for the committee to make recommendations to the council.

With a timetable of all firefighters passing the state test by late July, Riggins said six fire companies are rotating in and out of the department's Tinker Drive training facility daily, going through testing stations and being evaluated by the fire department's training staff.

"Every week we change skills," he said, adding that firefighters rotate through the evaluation process about once every two weeks.

Between evaluation days, Riggins said firefighters are brushing up on their skills at their individual stations while also performing their daily firefighting duties.

"I have faith in our folks," Riggins said. "We're working diligently."

As a part of his plan to prepare firefighters to pass the final round of testing, Riggins said he will invite evaluators from across the state to help firefighters through a practice test and critique their performance.

After the practice test, Riggins said, evaluators from the Standards and Training Council will be invited back to test firefighters.

But even after the testing is complete, Riggins said firefighters who don't pass still will have time to take written and practical exams to maintain their certification and keep their jobs. The department has a total of 388 firefighters, Within weeks of the release of firefighters' test results, Macon Mayor Robert Reichert said firefighters who fail the final test likely will be fired if their failure puts the department at risk of losing its state certification.

Riggins has said firefighters must be certified "as a condition of employment."

Copyright 2008 The Macon Telegraph