Ville de Québec Firefighter Recruitment: Requirements, Tests & Hiring Process

Requirements & Eligibility

The Service de protection contre l'incendie de Québec is the fire department for Quebec's capital, and it hires on a French-language provincial model that looks very different from Ontario or Western Canada. If you are an English-speaking candidate researching this department, the single most important thing to understand up front is that becoming a firefighter in Quebec is built around a formal Quebec fire-safety diploma, not an open aptitude test you can walk in and write. The training comes first; the competition comes second.

Here is what the most recent official Ville de Québec firefighter competition (POMPT-013-2025) required of applicants:

• A DEC in Techniques de sécurité incendie. The Ville de Québec posting is explicit: candidates must "détenir un DEC en techniques de sécurité incendie" — hold the college-level Diploma of College Studies in fire safety techniques. This matters. Under Quebec regulation, the minimum training to work as a firefighter in a city of more than 200,000 people is the DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Intervention en sécurité incendie, roughly 1,185 hours or about a year. Québec City, like some other large Quebec municipalities, sets the bar higher and asks for the full DEC — a program of about three years. If you only hold the DEP, verify against the live posting before you apply, because the wording on the last competition asked for the DEC.
• A Class 4A and a Class 3F Quebec driver's licence. The posting requires "un permis de conduire de classe 4A et de classe 3F," valid at the time of hiring. Class 4A covers emergency vehicles and Class 3F covers heavy trucks such as fire apparatus — you need both before you start, not after.
• Very good health and physical condition. Candidates must possess and maintain "une très bonne santé ainsi qu'une très bonne condition physique," confirmed later through physical testing and a medical exam.
• A clean record consistent with the organization's values. Your driving record, employment history and criminal background are all checked.
• Availability for rotating shifts. The job runs a 42-hour week on a 12-24-36 rotating shift model, so you must be available across the platoon schedule.

Manual-labour experience is listed as an asset — "posséder une expérience dans un emploi manuel sera considéré comme un atout" — not a hard requirement. If you are earlier in the journey, the honest path is to enrol in the DEC (or at minimum the DEP) at a recognized Quebec institution first, secure your licences, and then compete when a posting opens. There is no shortcut around the diploma.

The Aptitude Test

Let's be direct, because it saves you money and wasted study time: Québec City does not use any of the English-Canada firefighter aptitude tests. There is no OFAI FACT here (that is Ontario-only), no CPS, no OS/Gledhill-Shaw, no NFST, and no FireTEAM/NTN. Instead, the Ville de Québec selection process opens with two in-house, French-language screens:

• An eliminatory psychometric test — assessing personality traits, judgment and suitability for the role.
• An eliminatory cognitive test — assessing reasoning and general aptitude.

Both are administered in French by the city and both are pass/fail gates: if you don't clear them, you don't move on to interviews. Because these are municipal instruments, the department does not publish a public study package the way Ontario or the US test vendors do. The most reliable preparation is broad cognitive and psychometric practice done in French — reasoning, numeracy, mechanical logic, and honest, consistent responses on personality inventories.

We want to be straight with you about our own tools. Our aptitude test preparation covers the five English-Canada firefighter exams (OFAI FACT, CPS, OS/Gledhill-Shaw, NFST and FireTEAM/NTN) — it is not built for Québec City's French municipal test, and we won't pretend otherwise. If you are also considering English-speaking departments in Ontario or out West, that prep is genuinely useful. To see how the various Canadian test systems compare, browse our firefighter aptitude test directory. For Québec specifically, your DEC/DEP program and French cognitive practice are what count.

Hiring Process & Timeline

The Ville de Québec runs a clearly staged, elimination-style competition. Based on the last published competition, the order is:

• 1. Application review. You apply online at ville.quebec.qc.ca/emplois during an open competition window and submit your documents — DEC, licences and supporting proof. The city screens candidacies and invites qualified applicants forward.
• 2. Psychometric and cognitive tests (eliminatory). Invited candidates sit the two French screening tests. Fail either and the process ends here.
• 3. Interviews. Candidates who pass the tests are called to interview.
• 4. Physical tests, medical exam and background check. Those who succeed at interview move to physical testing, a medical examination, and verification of criminal and employment history.

On timing: the department hires against future temporary needs rather than a fixed annual intake, so windows are not on a rigid calendar. The most recent competition, POMPT-013-2025, accepted applications from September 10 to October 1, 2025 — a tight three-week window. Treat that as a typical recent pattern, not a guaranteed schedule, and don't wait for a reminder: the application window can be short, and you must already hold your DEC and both licences to apply. The department posts openings on its own site and its social channels, so monitoring ville.quebec.qc.ca/emplois directly is the reliable move.

Because the whole thing hinges on already having the diploma, the realistic timeline for most people is measured in years, not weeks: complete the DEC (or DEP), obtain the Class 4A and 3F licences, then compete when a window opens. If you're weighing Québec against other markets while you train, our firefighter recruitment by city index lays out how different departments across Canada hire.

Fitness Standard

Québec City requires candidates to possess and maintain a "very good physical condition," and it confirms this through physical tests and a medical examination late in the process — after the interview stage. The department's public posting does not name a specific standardized fitness battery or publish exact pass marks, so we won't invent one. What we can tell you is what the job demands and what Quebec fire-recruit testing generally looks like, so you arrive ready.

Firefighting is one of the most physically demanding jobs there is: dragging charged hose, raising ladders, forcing entry, carrying equipment up stairs, and working under heavy air packs and turnout gear. Quebec fire programs and municipal tests typically evaluate job-related tasks — hose drags and advances, equipment carries and hoists, forcible-entry simulations, stair climbs with load, and search-and-rescue drags — plus general aerobic and muscular endurance. Build your training around functional strength, grip endurance, aerobic capacity and the ability to work while breathing through a mask.

Because the medical exam runs alongside the physical, don't neglect the basics: vision, hearing, cardiovascular health and overall wellness all get scrutinized. Show up in genuinely good shape, not just able to scrape a minimum. The candidates who clear this stage comfortably are the ones who trained like the job for months beforehand. When the live posting appears, read it carefully for any named test or standard and prepare specifically to that.

The Interview

If you clear the psychometric and cognitive tests, the interview is your chance to show the department who you are beyond a diploma. In Quebec, this is conducted in French, and interviewers are looking for the same core things fire services everywhere value: judgment, teamwork, integrity, motivation for this specific department, an understanding of the firefighter's role in prevention as well as suppression, and evidence you can stay calm and work safely under pressure.

Come ready to talk concretely about why you want to serve Québec City specifically, what you learned during your DEC or DEP training, how you handle conflict and stress, and times you've demonstrated reliability and discipline. Structure your answers with real examples rather than generic statements — panels can tell the difference immediately. Because the tasks list emphasizes fire suppression, prevention activities, and station and equipment maintenance, showing that you understand the full scope of the day-to-day job (not just the dramatic parts) reads as maturity.

Interview coaching is one area where our services transfer cleanly to Quebec, since the underlying competencies are universal. Our firefighter interview course walks you through the questions panels actually ask and how to structure winning answers. And while your Quebec application is submitted through the city portal, a sharp, results-focused application file still matters — our firefighter resume service can help you present your training, licences and experience in the strongest possible light. On pay: recruits start at the entry rate and progress through the scale to first-class firefighter — see the salary grid below for the current Ville de Québec figures.

Service de protection contre l'incendie de Québec (Ville de Québec) Firefighter Salary

2026 official salary scale published by the Ville de Québec. Progression runs from pompier recrue (recruit) to pompier 1re classe (first-class firefighter).

Sources: www.ville.quebec.qc.ca

See how Service de protection contre l'incendie de Québec (Ville de Québec) pay compares across Canada — full firefighter salary breakdown by city →

Frequently Asked Questions

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