Volunteer Firefighters who pass all parts of the test may get up to 10 points service credit. Volunteers with two years of continuous service will get three service credit points. Another point will be added for each additional full year of continuous service, up to the maximum of 10 points.

Eligible Lists

Candidates who pass the examination are placed on eligible lists based on test scores, volunteer points, residency, and location preference. The eligible pool lasts for at least two years.

Examples of how Volunteer Points and Residency work Scenario:
• Ewing Township is a civil service jurisdiction and has three volunteer fire districts (FD1, FD2 and FD3). Ewing has residential preference;

• The city of Trenton is a civil service jurisdiction but is not a volunteer department. Trenton has residential preference;

• Princeton has a volunteer fire department, but is not a civil service jurisdiction;

• Burlington City is a volunteer civil service jurisdiction with no districts and no residential preference;

• Ewing Township, Trenton and Princeton are all in Mercer County. Burlington City is in Burlington County.

Example 1:
• John lives in Ewing Township and has been a volunteer at FD1 for two years. His final average on the fire fighter test was 90.000;

• John will appear on the Ewing Township FD1 list with a score of 93.000, because he was awarded 3 points for two years of volunteer service;

• He will also appear on the lists for Ewing Township FD2 and FD3, with a score of 90.000. He has not been given volunteer points with FD2 or FD3 because his volunteer service was not with the;

• He will not appear on Trenton’s list because of Trenton’s residential preference. However, if Trenton exhausts their municipal list, they may ask for a county-wide list, at which time John will be eligible for appointment in Trenton. He will be grouped with all non-Trenton, Mercer County residents and ranked according to vet preference and his test score of 90.000;

• He will also appear on the list for Burlington City with a score of 90.000. Because Burlington City has no residency requirements, every fire fighter candidate in the state who passed the test will appear on the Burlington City list.

Example 2:
• Bonnie lives in Trenton and has never been a volunteer. Her final average on the fire fighter test was 92.000. As a non-volunteer, her score will be 92.000 on any list for which she is eligible.

• Bonnie will not appear on any of the lists for Ewing. However, if Ewing FD 2 exhausts their municipal list, they may ask for a county-wide list, at which time Bonnie will be eligible for appointment in Ewing. She will be grouped with all non-Ewing, Mercer County residents and ranked according to vet preference and her test score.

• Bonnie will be on the list for Trenton.

• She will also be on the list for Burlington City.

Example 3:
• Mike lives in Princeton and has been a volunteer in Princeton for 12 years. His final average on the fire fighter test was 76.000. As a volunteer for a non-civil service jurisdiction, Mike will not be awarded volunteer points on any lists:

• The only list that Mike will appear on initially is the list for Burlington City. He will not be Awarded volunteer points because he does not volunteer in Burlington City.

• If any of the Ewing fire districts or Trenton exhaust their municipal lists and ask for a Mercer County list, Mike will then become eligible for appointment, based upon his vet preference and his score of 76.000.