Chief Lepore has served as a rater on numerous Assessment Centers for Assistant Chief, Battalion Chief, Captain and Lieutenant promotional examinations. He has evaluated the tactical scenario (major incident), oral interview (including resume), oral presentation, personnel issue, in-basket exercise, and teaching demonstrations.

In addition to serving as a rater, he has been involved in writing Assessment Center promotional examinations. Chief Lepore believes that writing exams forces one to look at the exam with a completely different set of glasses. The need to pay attention to details is reinforced from the development side of the exam process.

Chief Lepore’s experience rating exams includes California fire departments, as well as departments in Oregon and Colorado. He has served on Assessment Center panels with his peers from all over the country. He has worked on examinations that were developed from a myriad of different consultants, and on exams which were developed by in-house fire service experts. Whichever the case, he believes that candidates should not waste time trying to identify which consultant has been contracted to administer the Assessment Center. Instead he believes the candidate should spend time preparing for the position. In other words, spending time researching the Assessment Center could be time spent preparing for the position.

Candidates often wonder how a Chief Officer can evaluate a candidate without knowing the particulars of their department. It’s actually quite simple. Skill and talent will reveal themselves whether the candidate is in a promotional process, or entry-level. The candidate who has done his or her homework and is prepared will always rise above the crowd.

Chief Lepore doesn’t believe in "having a bad day" when it comes to the Assessment Center. He believes that a candidate, who did not score well on the exam, really was not prepared for the position. If he or she was prepared, it would have been reflected in the final score. Unfortunately for the candidate, he or she was not as well prepared as they believed. The raters identified this and it was reflected in the candidate’s overall score.

There are basic fire ground tactics and strategies that should be employed whether you are pulling hose on the East or West coast, in the snow, or in the scorching desert sun. The basics are universal.

While Chief Lepore does not endorse studying for the Assessment Center instead of the job, he believes exams are very predictable. He encourages candidates to put themselves in the shoes of the person writing the exam. In other words, step out of the role of the Test Taker, and become the TEST MAKER.

Ask yourself, "What do you think a person promoted to the position should know?" Since you are now thinking like the test maker, how would you write the Assessment Center? Oddly enough, a candidate who becomes proficient in all of the areas listed below will most likely score well on the exam. More importantly, he or she will be prepared to function in the position.

A candidate aspiring to promote to the level of Lieutenant, Captain, or Chief Officer should have a strong grasp of the following concepts:

Operational

  • Structure fires

  • Hazardous materials

  • Multi-casualty incidents

  • Weapons of Mass Destruction

  • Wild land fires

  • Swift water rescue

  • Confined Space

  • Refinery fires

  • Airport incidents

  • Marine firefighting

  • Firefighter down – RIC deployment

Administrative Issues

  • Policy enforcement

  • Policy writing

  • Citizen complaint

Miscellaneous

  • Vehicle accident

Personnel Issues

  • Employee conflicts

  • Unmotivated employee

  • Probationary employee evaluations

  • Abnormal sick leave usage

  • Employee showing up late

  • Employee suspected to be under the influence

  • Sexual harassment

  • Discrimination

Injury Procedures

  • Firefighter stuck with a dirty needle on an EMS call

  • Firefighter injured on duty

  • Firefighter returning to work from an injury

Chief Lepore offers private coaching for candidates who aspire to promote. His advice to candidates is to meet earlier, rather than later. He guarantees that you will walk away with a "To do" list to get you prepared for the exam. The longer you have before the exam, the more effectively you will be able to tackle your list. In addition, Chief Lepore will share a unique way of identifying and solving issues, both from the Operational and Administrative perspective.

The cost for a private coaching session is $75 per hour. He does not offer telephone coaching, as he does not believe the candidate gets his or her money’s worth.


When meeting with Chief Lepore, each candidate can decide where he or she wishes to focus attention. The services offered are:

  • Tactical using the Digital Combustion software, review of an incident narrative, including what went wrong and how YOU as the IC would have done things differently (This is becoming popular for AC and BC examinations)
  • Personnel Issues using role players (if desired)
  • Oral Interview using 150 questions from his upcoming book, "Smoke Your Promotional Interview"
  • Oral presentation
  • Review of basic tactics and strategies by physically sitting in front of buildings and conducting real-time exercises