The Denver Fire Department is the latest city agency to tap into Metro State's foreign language expertise. The college is providing language competency assessments to firefighters who are seeking certification as Spanish speakers. A group of about 10 firefighters—including Fire Chief Larry Trujillo—will be on campus Saturday morning to take the series of tests.

The firefighter language competency program is modeled after the Denver Police Department's three-year old partnership with Metro State in which the college develops and administers exams to officers seeking bilingual certification. Depending upon their certification level—oral proficiency or two more advanced levels of oral and written proficiency—police officers can earn an extra $100-$200 per month.

To date, about 150 Denver police officers have been through Metro State's program, said David Conde, associate vice president for Academic Affairs, who developed the testing program. "Not only is this a great community service," Conde says, "but we're also helping these agencies demonstrate that they value foreign language skills among their employees."

The firefighter program will certify employees at the oral competency level. Successfully passing the test will give firefighters an extra $100 per month in their paychecks. The program stems from a growing need for emergency responders to have bilingual skills. "More and more, we've being called on to converse with people in other languages," explains Administration Division Chief Jim Hunsaker. "This is a great cooperative effort between Metro and the fire department. I'm sure once the word is out in the fire department we'll have a number of people going through the program."