1. (a) Applicants for Advanced Fire Inspector certification must complete the following requirements:

   1. (1) hold as a prerequisite an Intermediate Fire Inspector Certification as defined in §429.5 of this title (relating to Minimum Standards for Intermediate Fire Inspector Certification);

   2. (2) acquire a minimum of eight years of fire protection experience and complete the courses contained in one of the following options:

      1. (A) Option 1--Successfully complete six semester hours of fire science or fire technology from an approved Fire Protection Degree Program and submit documentation as required by the Commission that the courses comply with subsections (c) and (d) of this section; or
      2. (B) Option 2--Complete a minimum of 96 hours of instruction in any National Fire Academy courses; or
      3. (C) Option 3--Successfully complete three semester hours of college courses contained in Option 1 and a minimum of 48 hours in any National Fire Academy courses.
      4. (D) Option 4--Successfully complete any combination of courses that lead to International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) certification that total 96 recommended hours or more in the Commission curricula. Evidence of completion of the appropriate courses shall be a certification from the Commission or a valid documentation from another jurisdiction of accreditation from IFSAC. Option 4 may not be combined with any of the above options to obtain this certification. See exception outlined in subsection (d) of this section.
2. (b) College level courses from both the upper and lower division may be used to satisfy the education requirement for Advanced Fire Inspector Certification.
3. (c) Non-traditional credit awarded at the college level, such as credit for experience or credit by examination obtained from attending any school in the commission's document titled "Commission Certification Curriculum Manual" or for experience in the fire service, may not be counted toward higher levels of certification.
4. (d) The training required in this section must be in addition to any training used to qualify for any lower level of Fire Inspector Certification. Repeating a course or course of similar content cannot be used towards higher levels of certification.

Source Note:The provisions of this §429.7 adopted to be effective November 1, 1998, 23 TexReg 10896; amended to be effective June 9, 2002, 27 TexReg 4992.