Fire Academy Head Tells Why It Took 3 Years to Put Courses Into Field
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Superintendent
The last three years at the National Fire Academy have been spent on research, planning and development— laying the necessary foundations for the academy to operate efficiently and to the benefit of the nation’s fire service.
This year, the academy is in the field, sponsoring fire courses in the 10 federal regions. The academy’s preparations are about to reach fruition. Directions have been established and implementation is about to commence. The time is propitious for summarizing what we have done and describing our projections into the future. This is our report to the nation’s fire service.
Why was the National Fire Academy deemed to be necessary? The National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control found that the quality of training in the fire service ranged “from excellence to total absence.” There was no systematic interchange of information among fire service educators. Fire service careers tended to be intellectually unstimulating. Yet, the fire service thirsted for more and better training and education. Hiring practices were parochial. Training was too oriented toward fire suppression, and insufficiently toward fire prevention. Too many fire departments paid insufficient attention in their training to “such important fields as arson investigation and fire-safe design of buildings.”
Rising share of budget
This buildup of academy activities is reflected in the yearly budgets that the National Fire Administration has submitted to Congress. In its first full-year budget request, the one for fiscal 1976, only 12 percent of the budget was allocated to the development of the academy. By far the largest proportion of the NFPCA budget was designated for fire research and fire safety research and development, which were programs for which the technical groundwork had been laid. During the first eight months of its existence, the NFPCA’s work on the academy consisted primarily of preliminary research, planning and development to lay the right foundation for the academy’s programs.
In the budget that NFPCA submitted to Congress for fiscal 1977,20 percent of the requested funds were for the academy and for fiscal 1978, the proportion increased to 25 percent.
Our concern over the last three years has been to lay a sound foundation for the academy. Our preparatory work has taken us along five main roads: finding a site for the academy, initiating the assistance (APAP) program, starting research and consultation, beginning curricular development, and completing studies for the academy’s long-range program.
Academy site acquired
The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 authorized the secretary of commerce to find a suitable site for the academy. Congress had in mind a small campus that would serve as a national focal point for the training of fire officers. A maximum of $9 million was authorized for the construction of academy facilities on the selected site.
The acquisition of the Marjorie Webster Junior College site in the north corner of the District of Columbia was particularly fortunate because it uniquely meets the future needs of the NFPCA and the academy. The site is 8 1/2 acres and contains three main buildings and four houses. We hope to have the academy in operation by the fall of 1979, and because the site is relatively self-contained, we envision the emergence of a close cameraderie among academy instructors, NFPCA staff and the members of the fire service attending on-site programs. Fire service students from different parts of the country will be able to share their experiences with one another. This an important feature of the academy’s on-site educational offerings—diminishing local, state and regional parochialisms that have been criticized as serious barriers to the professional development of the American fire service.
Financial assistance
The National Fire Administration is authorized by the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to assist state and local fire service training programs through grants, contracts, or other means. Since this financial assistance is limited to no more than 4 percent of NFPCA’s total yearly appropriation, it is a relatively small sum.
To assess how this money could best be spent, the NFPCA first sponsored a national survey of fire service training and education programs. The results indicated that technical and financial assistance was needed at all levels of the fire service—state, county, and local.
Only a few states had a mandated fire training agency. In others, the responsibility has been assumed by state agencies (such as departments of education or a state fire marshal). In others, the function has been adopted by state firemen’s or state fire chiefs’ associations. While all but one state had some form of state training program, only a few had a single agency legally responsible for fire service training.
Because it is unrealistic to deal directly with 27,000 fire departments, the academy has encouraged the formation of a single organization responsible for fire service training and education in each state. To foster this development, the academy planning assistance program (APAP) was started in February 1976. APAP provides grants, without any matching fund requirement, for states to either assess and coordinate their resources in a design plan or to develop a five-year statewide training and education plan. Grant application guidelines are available from the National Fire Academy.
In its own planning, the academy will rely heavily on the training and and education needs identified in state design and five-year plans because they contain the best information currently available.
Data-gathering priority
Because of the lack of facts about the fire service, the academy has placed a high priority during the last three years on collecting and analyzing nationwide data on fire training and education. The first step was to sponsor a national survey of fire training and education, which was conducted under contract by a consortium of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the International Society of Fire Service Instructors. Information was received in 1975 from 49 states, the District of Columbia and three United States territories; from 246 colleges and universities that offered fire instruction; and from 2727 fire departments that formed a scientific sample of all departments.
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In addition to some of the facts mentioned earlier in this article, the consortium reported that officer development programs were not available in many localities and those that were available lacked uniformity. The number of qualified fire service instructors was limited. Training of fire personnel in fire prevention was, at best, minimal. Technical training for arson investigators needed to be improved and their numbers increased. The role of two-year colleges in fire training and education needed to be more clearly defined. Altogether, there were sharp differences among states and among fire departments within states in the quality and extent of the fire training and education provided. No nationally recognized standards prevailed, and there were substantial gaps in training and education, especially for the officer and specialist ranks.
The academy sought further advice through a series of conferences in the latter half of 1975 with selected fire chiefs, state fire training instructors, fire science educators and volunteer fire service representatives. Each meeting helped sharpen the academy’s knowledge of fire training and education in the United States and enabled it to appreciate how different segments of the fire service view their needs and the academy’s role in satisfying those needs.
Needs defined
The fire chiefs’ conference stressed management training for fire service officers with labor relations and collective bargaining a top priority. The state fire training representatives suggested early development of instructor training and fire and arson investigation courses. A need was seen for an NFPCA clearinghouse for education and training materials and resources.
Paid fire fighter representatives felt that academy courses should be offered to all levels of the fire service and they endorsed the idea of correspondence courses. The college and university group recommended study stipends, correspondence courses, video courses and individualized learning. It also supported the development of model courses for fire science programs.
The volunteers, who comprise the largest single group of fire fighters in the United States, felt that academy programs should be available to all fire fighters. Their recommendations about courses tended to favor fire department management with emphasis on command tactics.
In the subsequent two years, the academy has followed the same strategy in gathering nationwide information and getting advice from affected recipient groups so that a satisfactory academy policy could be developed. The academy is currently funding a national survey of fire chiefs by the International Association of Fire Chiefs to determine the demand for different types of academy courses among chiefs in different types of fire departments.
Development of courses
The National Fire Academy has also been involved in the development of courses in fire safety subjects of national priority. It has also laid plans to offer courses with an adjunct facility in the 10 federal regions covering the nation.
The academy’s development effort has taken the direction of creating course packages that could be used not only by its own instructors, but by other instructors as well. Of the 26 courses in the academy’s five-year plan, some have been completed, others have been developed to the testing stage and still others are only in their initial development. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act authorizes the academy to “develop model curricular, training programs, and other educational materials.” To do this well, it takes time— especially since we are purposely operating with a small staff and shall be satisfied with nothing less than the best.
The federal act and the documents that preceded it were critical of the relative lack of emphasis on fire prevention and the accent on fire suppression. In terms of education, this translates to an emphasis on subjects such as fire-safe design of buildings, code development and enforcement, building inspection, fire and arson investigation, and public education. These, then, were also given high priority by the academy.
Fire safety education
Public education in fire safety was regarded as so fundamental that a special provision was written into the act for that purpose. In response to this legislative mandate, the NFPCA created a public education office, separate from and on an equal footing with the academy.
By early 1976, the NFPCA public education officer identified about 20 local public education projects that reduced fire, death or injury rates by 36 to 78 percent. Since public education seems to be a promising avenue for reducing fire losses, three of the academy’s 26 courses being developed are concerned with this subject. Two are directed toward the training of public education specialists, levels I and II, and one deals with the administration of public education programs.
Another legislative mandate that the academy is stressing is the national priority given to fire prevention. Fire suppression will always be a fundamental task for the fire service and sound command strategy and tactics on the fireground will always remain important. The issue is one of balance. Too little attention has been paid by fire departments to the practical benefits that can flow from an equal emphasis on prevention. To correct this imbalance, many of the courses being developed by the academy tend to lean in the direction of prevention rather than suppression.
Executive curriculum
The 26 courses in the academy’s current plan fall into five general areas.
The first is an executive curriculum series aimed at senior fire service officers. The courses on planning and management include systems analysis for fire service operations, fire protection, master planning^ labor-management relations for tHe fire service, management of fire prevention programs, administration of public education programs, and risk analysis.
A second set of three courses is aimed at the first three fire officer levels. The contents of these courses are being aligned with National Fire Protection Association Standard 1021, “Fire Officer Professional Qualifications.”
The federal act authorizes the academy to prepare and disseminate model questions suitable for entrance and promotion examinations. The contents of these questions will also be aligned with the existing standards and with the courses developed by the academy.
Courses for specialists
A third set of 11 courses is directed toward instruction in selected fire service specialties. They are fire inspector (levels I and II), fire and arson investigator (levels I and II), fire instructor (levels I and II), public education specialist (levels I and II), and one course each in code development and enforcement, hazardous materials, and fire data coding and format.
The National Fire Academy conducted its first class in educational methodology I for fire instructors at the Baltimore, Md., Fire Academy last January 9-13. The course was attended by 21 instructors representing 17 state and local fire service organizations throughout the Department of Commerce’s Region III.
The course is packaged in 21 lesson plan modules, addressing communications skills, performance objectives, lesson planning, educational methodology and theories, training aids, practice teaching, evaluation, and student counseling. Critiques completed by the students indicated that the course was relevant,comprehensiveand educationally sound.
A fourth set of three courses is concerned with marine fire prevention and control, aircraft fire control and crash rescue, and emergency medical service.
Finally, a set of three fire safety courses is directed toward architects, architect educators and students of architecture.
Other services considered
If funds are obtained, the academy plans to supplement its curricular development with ancillary services. These would include an instructional materials center and an information center that would disseminate selected copies of these collections on request. The course materials developed by the academy are intended to be used by any fire service or educational organization.
Until now the academy has operated predominantly in a planning, research and development mode. By 1979, we hope to concentrate much more heavily on a dissemination mode.
In addition to its curricular development, the academy has looked at college-level fire training and education. Of 242 colleges offering fire-related degree programs, 223 are community colleges.
The community college programs are relatively uncoordinated, show a lack of uniformity, and follow no common standard of excellence. The relation between these programs and the ones to be found in four-year colleges is also obscure. No standard exists whereby a fire fighter who has completed a twoyear program can transfer to a four-year program because the two programs are usually not coordinated.
Accent on planning
As part of the academy’s initial year of planning, research, and development, the NFPCA sponsored or undertook a number of studies to determine what the academy’s form of organization should be, what priorities it should have, what functions it should emphasize, and generally how it should conduct its federally mandated activities. The academy’s priorities, organizational structure, and operating procedures had to be thought out carefully, step by step, before its activities could begin. The federal budget process also required such studies.
The academy devoted a major portion of its energy in its first three years to such planning and management efforts so that its activities would be on a solid foundation.
A systems design for the academy, intended to describe its long-range functions, has recently been completed by Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development.
Far West Laboratory found that the bulk of the existing training tends to be through apprenticeship and on-the-job practice rather than through formal training institutions. Emphasis tends to be given to seniority and practical experience.
While the great majority of fire departments engages in some form of training, most of it is directed to fire fighters and relatively little to middle and senior management. In relation to the total budget, the proportion that fire departments allocate to training tends to be small—less than 5 percent on the average. Only about half the fire departments in the United States require certification of their instructors. Standards for certification are either nonexistent or local rather than national. No reliable data exists on the training competence of the instructors.
Little management training
Training of fire service officers tends to be concentrated on fireground command, with relatively little training offered in administrative or managerial skills. Fire prevention training, while present in the majority of fire departments, often occurs after assignment to the job, and tends therefore to be narrowly job-oriented.
Based on the review of the available information, the Far West Laboratory reached the conclusion that current fire service training is only minimally adequate for the fire fighter ranks and less than adequate for fire service officers. Thus, the report recommended that the academy concentrate its education efforts on fire service officers, fire instructors and associated professionals.
Viewed in their totality, we feel that all the planning and management studies have placed the academy on a firm footing. We therefore look confidently toward when we will be able to shift more securely into an implementation and dissemination mode.
To reduce the nation’s fire losses obviously requires the cooperative effort of all elements of the national fire community. The National Fire Academy has its part to play in this effort, but fire prevention and control will obviously continue to be the responsibility of state fire agencies and local fire departments. Given the large number of volunteer and paid fire service personnel, the conclusion is inescapable that the bulk of fire training and education will continue to be operated by entities other than the National Fire Academy. Nor would the academy have it otherwise.
Fire academy’s role
The Fire Prevention and Control Act envisioned a need for a national focus in fire prevention and control. Local and state programs have grown according to the needs of the moment, and they are extraordinarily diverse in quality, range, effectiveness and most other attributes. Congress and prominent members of the many organizations and associations that comprise the national fire community concluded that a concerted national effort to improve the existing system of fire protection was needed. The academy’s role in this effort is to aid the improvement of fire training and education.
All of the academy’s initial activities escribed in this article have this aim. Many of the nation’s fire service educators and other experts have helped us organize the academy and establish its activities on a sound basis. They have served on academy committees, attended academy conferences, and written, telephoned and met with us to raise questions and give us their recommendations.
When we are in a position to begin instruction at our residential facility in Washington, D.C., we hope to see many more of you. Our campus will accommodate about 300 students at any one time. We are authorized by law to provide student stipends, and if Congress approves our budget request, we shall be able to cover at least part of your costs of attendance. Perhaps we shall also see some of you in our outreach programs slated for operation in the 10 federal regions.
Hope to increase staff
Until now, the academy has been extremely busy with studies and developmental endeavors. This year we plan to ask Congress for an increase in staff so we can establish a system to disseminate information on specific academy course offerings, including a catalog listing courses and curricular materials.
If you wish to be on our mailing list or want to give us your reactions to our activities, past and future, please write to us. We hope to see you personally at fire service professional meetings and conferences and hope to see you eventually at the academy itself.
