The Fire Department's promotional exams may be the most challenging civil service tests in the city. The guys who take them certainly think so. "The fire exam is definitely the toughest there is, ten times harder than cops or anything else," Captain Joe Loftus told The Observer recently.
In the past few years, a cottage industry has sprung up to help firefighters study for the exams that allow them to rise through the ranks. Capt. Loftus and a group of his colleagues were at the forefront three years ago when they launched LtQuestions.com, a simple WordPress site that offers fellow firefighters sample tests--16 for only $96.