Community Colleges and Fire Officer Development

By Chief James Harrington, Gates Fire District
Chairman, NYSAFC Paid Officers Committee

In the last edition of The NYSAFC Bugle, I spoke briefly about the utilization of the Consortium of Community Colleges and how they can play a role in fire officer development programs.

Last year, fire service leaders from Monroe County and representatives from Monroe Community College met to develop a pilot program that would assist a new fire officer with non-traditional learning programs. Several fire service leaders expressed their concern about the management, leadership, and supervision skills that new fire officers are lacking or have never dealt with. Some topics suggested to be addressed were managing conflict, building a team, delegation, initiating change, fire service laws, customer service, power and influence, problem solving, and diversity in the fire service, just to name a few.

College representatives took all the suggestions and recommendations made by this focus group back to their associates and developed a curriculum for a 12-week course. Some of the final topics incorporated into this course were identifying problems, personality typing, conflict modes, personal values, organizational culture, articulating a vision, motivation, goal setting, planning, and lastly, transitioning to a supervisor. These topics alone provided enough material to adequately fill a three-hour block of instruction. A retired chief fire officer and a faculty member of the college used a team teaching concept to assist in the instruction and delivery of this course to fire officers.

This pilot program was found to be very beneficial for even the most seasoned fire officers. Numerous benefits were taken away from this program. College staff and faculty are currently fine tuning the program for future delivery to a new class of fire officers later this year. By building on some of these required skill sets, the new fire officer can become more effective and efficient with their administrative responsibilities.

The Paid Officers Committee invites you to meet on Friday, June 14, 2013, at the Turning Stone during FIRE 2013. This meeting will give you an opportunity to network with other paid officers and provide feedback on the current needs of career fire officers in the state of New York. We will have specific information and an agenda available as we get closer to our June meeting. Please feel free to contact any member of the NYSAFC Paid Officers Committee with your thoughts or ideas on how we can help you strengthen your careers.