National Academy Hearings Develop Dates for Courses
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As a result of meetings in each of the 10 federal districts of the nation, the National Fire Academy is establishing dates for presenting courses in as many states as possible.
The courses offered by the NFA are fire and arson investigation, instructor development, labor-management relations, arson detection, management overview for fire service officers, and pesticides-hazardous materials.
Those specifically invited to the meetings, which were open to the public, were state directors of fire service training, state fire marshals, and chiefs of fire departments that qualify for membership in the IAFC Metropolitan Committee (departments that serve a population of at least 200,000 or have at least 400 members). Actual membership is not a requirement.
Student selection
The students who will participate in the academy’s regional courses will be selected by the state training directors, state fire marshals and metropolitan chiefs, who will have an assigned number of slots to fill for each course. The NFA will not participate in the selection of students.
However, those named to attend NFA regional courses should be capable of transferring the material throughout their state or fire department. Anthony R. Granito, NFA deputy superintendent, advised the Federal Region 2 meeting in New York City in November.
The meeting for Region 2, which consists of New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico, followed the pattern for scheduling courses that was used in the other regional meetings. Because of its distance from the two states, Puerto Rico was not represented at the meeting but will get separate consideration by the NFA.
Although it is the academy’s intent to limit its courses to 20 students, Granito explained that some increases could be made. Thus, a quota of 22 students was set for courses to be presented in Region 2 to allow equitable apportionment of student slots. In New York State, the metropolitan committee category departments are Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers. In New Jersey, they are Jersey City and Newark. Each of these departments was assigned two student slots. The two state training entities, the New Jersey State Fire College and the New York Division of Fire Prevention and Control, each received four slots—two on the basis of state training leadership and two more because neither state has a state fire marshal.
States set priorities
The representatives from the two states were asked to caucus during the lunch break and set their priorities for the six courses offered. Both states gave their first priority to the instructor development course. This was the only conflict in priorities and it was quickly settled when the New Jersey people agreed that New York’s offer to sponsor this course at the New York State Academy of Fire Science at Montour Falls provided a location reasonably convenient to New Jersey students. The 40-hour instructor course will be presented May 1 to 5.
The other courses were then scheduled as follows:
Fire and arson investigation, an 80hour, two-week course, at the fire department training center in New York City June 19 to 30;
Arson detection, a 24-hour, three-day course, at the New York State Academy of Fire Science July 21-23;
Management overview for fire service officers, a 20-hour, 2’/2-day course, in New Jersey at a February date and place to be determined;
Labor-management relations, a 40hour, five-day course, in New Jersey at an August date and place to be determined; and
Pesticides-hazardous materials, a 16-hour, two-day course, in New Jersey at a September date and place to be determined.
There is no tuition for the NFA regional courses. Associated costs, such as for meals, lodging and salaries, incurred by students will have to be determined by the states and fire departments, Granito explained.
The national academy’s associate superintendent for education and training, Herbert L. Antzes, told those attending the Region 2 meeting that the academy was seeking a “partnership relationship, a service relationship with you.” He described the NFA program as an effort to support and assist—not supplant—state and local training. Antzes also voiced the hope that the best instructors would be placed in the courses by state and local sponsors.
Dissent voiced
Opposition to the NFA program was voiced at the end of the meeting by Deputy Chief Paul Reeves of Syracuse, who said he also spoke for Chief Thomas F. Hanlon of Syracuse.
“We want to go on record that we’re opposed to the direction you’re taking,” Reeves declared, stating that the accent should be on fire prevention and public education.
“You aren’t going to save any lives with management programs,” Reeves asserted. Granito responded by saying that one third of the academy budget has gone to public education and the programs offered were “what people around the country told us were the requirements.” He explained that he was referring to congressional testimony, fire chiefs and fire fighters. Granito said that it will take a long time and a lot of money to develop fire prevention courses. If the NFD had hastily produced such courses in the first few months, and they failed in individual departments, he continued, the academy would have lost its validity and ability to conduct other courses.
NFA Superintendent David M. McCormack pointed out that the courses now being offered don’t represent the entire academy effort, but they are a “response to what people in the field feel are their needs.” He added that “public education is something we’re moving on right now.”
—Staff photos
