Our Story: From One Firefighter to 1.2 Million
FiredUp kicked off in 2019 when John, a firefighter like you, bombed his captain's exam. He wrote 600 practice questions to bounce back, shared them with his crew (because that’s what we do), and sparked an idea. Why not help firefighters everywhere? He teamed up with developers to create FiredUp, and it grew from there.
Fast forward to 2024—enter Pete, John’s firehouse buddy and a software engineer with 10 years on the job. Together, they rebuilt FiredUp from scratch into V2, all while juggling shifts. Now, it’s 100% firefighter-owned and operated, built by IAFF union members for you.
Why V2? Because You Deserve An Exam RIT Team
Picture this: you’re on fire attack, and there’s no one outside to pull you out if things go south. Lousy feeling, right? That’s how promotional exams can feel—solo and stressful. FiredUp is your RIT team for the process. We’ve already helped over 20,000 firefighters, and with 600 logging in daily, our old system was sweating like a probie prepping dinner in the firehouse kitchen.
V2 is a total rebuild, ready for all 1.2 million U.S. firefighters (yep, Peter means it—1.2 million users could log in at once!). Every question, every line of code—crafted by firefighters. It’s here to back you up, big time.
What’s New in V2?
Here’s the rundown on what’s fresh in V2:
Quiz Customization:
Upped quiz questions from 100 to 200—more practice, less panic.
Pick as many sources (aka books) and chapters as you want.
Toggle real-time feedback on or off to mimic test day.
Set time limits per question or quiz—beat the clock like it’s a PPE drill.
Draft a quiz and finish later if the tones drop.
Tweak settings mid-quiz—because plans change on the fireground too.
Better Quizzes:
Questions in order, by page, or random—your call.
Auto-saves every move, so you’re covered if you catch a call.
“Lifelines” to gray out wrong answers or peek at the right one (no shame, we’ve all needed a boost).
Bookmark questions to revisit later or create retakes.
Review quizzes and retry with the same, new, or just wrong questions.
Feedback That Helps:
Flag a question if we goofed—we’re firefighters, not perfect!
Get an A-F grade based on national standards.
Check the “National Average” to see how you stack up against 20,000+ other firefighters. Beat it consistently? You’re crushing it.
Source Requests:
Punch in an ISBN to request books—see what others want too. (Old requests didn’t make the jump, so we’re starting fresh.)
Books that have the most amount of requests, will receive priority.
What’s Next? The Roadmap
We’ve got big plans to keep FiredUp blazing:
Adaptive AI Quizzes: A smart quiz that learns how you think, ending only when you’ve mastered it all—like the NREMT test. Pete’s been geeking out on this one, and it’s almost ready.
All Questions, One Page: Back by demand! See every question at once (no Adaptive AI or timers here, though).
Mobile App: iOS and Android apps for offline studying—because Wi-Fi’s spotty at the station.
More Than Books: If your department (or local) buys a membership for your entire department (or your entire union membership), we will take your Policies, SOGs, Protocols, and build custom questions to help you prepare. We will even let the agency or union that requested these questions export them for their own use anywhere.
Book Overload: We’re aiming to add every fire service promotion book. We’re behind; we’re on it!
Quiz Sharing: Share quizzes with your crew so they don’t have to guess the sources. When you share a quiz, you will be able to share it with others in your department, or the entire nation.
Flash Cards: We are bringing back flashcards so you can study your way.
Hydraulics Calculator: Input your hose loads and coefficients; we’ll crunch every pressure scenario for you.
Scenarios for Lt/Capt/Chief: Practice size-ups and ops with your department’s SOGs—real-world IC training.
When Will You Know About Updates?
We post weekly blog updates every Friday, detailing all changes to FiredUp. With V2, updates roll out seamlessly—no downtime, so you won’t notice a thing. We monitor errors 24/7 and act on your feedback fast. For example, just 6 hours after launch, a user requested sorting reviewed questions by page order. We delivered that update in hours, no disruption. Expect frequent, rapid updates as we grow. Errors may pop up, but we’re on them, fixing issues ASAP to keep your experience smooth.
Terms of Service Reminder
We get it—not everyone dives into the fine print like Pete. But our Terms of Service are critical and still apply. Please respect them:
No Account Sharing: We offer discounted memberships for departments and union locals. Sharing accounts hurts our small, firefighter-run business. Soon, we’ll enforce Multi-Factor Authentication for suspected shared accounts.
No Extracting Questions: Every question is written by us, from books we’ve studied. Copying or sharing them elsewhere is stealing. It harms us and every FiredUp user. We’re just firefighters, not a corporate giant.
Own the Source Material: The books we base questions on are copyrighted, like our content. You must own the book to use its practice questions, supporting fellow firefighters who authored them.
Simply put: Don’t share accounts, don’t copy questions, and own the books you’re studying. Let’s keep FiredUp fair for everyone.
You’re Why We’re Here
We’re stoked you’re with us, and your feedback keeps us sharp. We’re active-duty firefighters who get it—honest input is how we grow. We’re grinding to add books and features you want, and we’ll keep being your RIT team for promotions. Thanks for sticking with us when we’re a little late on scene—your promotion and next rank is worth it!
Keep the feedback coming, and let’s get you promoted!