Look no further than Oklahoma State University to find a nationally-acclaimed
program preparing fire service professionals to protect art, history, people,
and property throughout the world from fires, chemical releases, floods
and other disasters. Since World War II, OSU’s Fire Protection program
has been referred to as the “West Point of the Fire Service.”
By David Althouse
It has been our country’s unfortunate experience in recent years to realize the expertise and heroism of our nation’s fire service professionals.
Dealing with our daily tragedies, and all too often trying to bring order to hellish situations previously unthinkable, our nation’s fire service specialists have proven their capabilities, as well as their character, time after time.
Fire service professionals operate in a challenging and ever-changing field requiring rigorous pre-career training and study, continuous career-long education and instruction, and physical fitness.
Demanding mental, physical and behavioral standards are necessary to insure the selection of the highest-caliber individuals capable of successfully performing their duties under the most exacting of circumstances. The mental and physical demands of fire service professionals are extremely high, as these individuals are often required to wear protective clothing and gear for long periods in situations where peoples’ lives depend on their quick decisions and actions.
Charged with sharpening the many necessary skills and increasing the expertise of these first-rate professionals is Oklahoma State University’s nationally recognized Fire Service Training.
Ed Kirtley, Director at OSU FST, said OSU’s Fire Service Training began in 1931 as the first fire program at then-Oklahoma A&M.
“Fire Service Training was established as a partnership with the Oklahoma State Fireman’s Association, now the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association,” Kirtley said. “The OSFA could no longer manage the state fire school due to it becoming so large; they asked Oklahoma A&M to take over management and delivery of fire training. All other fire programs trace their roots to FST.”
Kirtley adds, “As an outreach program of OSU, under authority of its College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, FST provides training and educational services that enable Oklahoma emergency responders to safely meet recognized standards of professional competence.”
FST is one of the most prolific outreach programs at OSU, Kirtley explained, delivering over 2,400 courses and reaching over 27,000 students in 2010. What began in 1931 as a program to teach basic firefighting skills now provides training in ten professional skill areas.
These ten skill levels are firefighting, emergency medical services, officer/instructor, technical rescue, driver/operator, National Incident Management System, Incident Command System, hazardous materials, industrial, emergency management and wildland firefighting.
“Training is provided by FST in all 77 counties in Oklahoma,” Kirtley said. “FST works closely with the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management, the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, the Oklahoma Department of Health and the National Fire Academy to deliver training to other emergency responders including EMT’s, police officers and emergency managers.”
As the first university-based state fire service training program, OSU’s FS T established the model for training agencies in other states. Its tradition intertwines with the history of Oklahoma’s fire service, providing influence with the fire service, the legislature and other stakeholders.
These days, OSU serves as the educational center for all things firefighting, and is fortunate to have on their campus the International Fire Service Training Association/Fire Protection Publications, Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training, the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress, and the Fire Protection and Safety Technology degree program.
“OSU provides great service in a critical area of need at the best of levels,” said Dr. Khaled Gasem, Interim Dean, College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. “In fact, our impact is felt worldwide due to the tradition of excellence we have in fire protection.”
Spreading OSU’s fire training influence worldwide is the International Fire Service Training Association/Fire Protection Publications.
Jason Hanson, Marketing Manager at OSU Fire Protection Publications, said every fire department in North America has used their manuals. Today, 85 percent of North America’s fire departments use their manual, Essentials of Fire Fighting, for basic firefighter training. Sales of the manual surpassed the two million mark in 2009 and has been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, Turkish, French, Hebrew, Icelandic and Japanese. OSU FPP currently publishes 30 different titles.
“Not only are our manuals used extensively throughout North America and numerous foreign countries, but are also utilized worldwide by all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and the Canadian Defense Forces,” Hanson said. “Essentials of Fire Fighting is the most widely used training publication in the history of the fire service.”
Hanson said OSU’s FPP also administers a highly active research unit, conducting numerous research projects related to public fire, life safety and firefighter safety issues. Many of these projects are funded by various federal government programs or agencies.
“More than $6 million of funded research has been performed by the FPP research staff in recent years,” Hanson said. “Projects include alerting people with disabilities to fire conditions in their homes, appropriate fire and life safety education for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, reducing fire deaths in high-risk populations, improving responder safety at roadway emergency incidents, and improving the visibility and conspicuity of emergency vehicles.”
“There is no other place in the country that has more to offer the fire service than the programs here at OSU,” Hanson said.
Mike Larranaga, department head, Fire Protection and Safety Technology, said the program was called a “National Treasure whose work is of great national importance” in 2008 by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in the White House.
“The program is the only one of its type in North America accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, and is the oldest and largest fire-related program in North America. The program provides amazing employment opportunities and lifelong networking for its graduates. It truly is a ‘National Treasure,’” Larranaga said.
Fire Protection and Safety Technology students command amazing career opportunities, said Larranaga, with many receiving multiple employment opportunities. Yearly salaries range from $45,000 to $73,000.
Some of the top career positions available to these students are fire protection and hazardous materials specialists, building and fire inspectors, safety engineers, emergency managers, industrial hygienists, firefighters and fire investigators.
In 1943, Horatio Bond, chief engineer for the National Fire Protection Association, spent the summer with then-Oklahoma A&M’s Fire Protection and Safety Technology faculty to study the effects of fire bombings in World War II for his writings on the use of fire in warfare.
At the end of that summer 68 years ago, he named what is now OSU the “West Point of the Fire Service,” a university that does for the nation’s fire service what West Point Military Academy does for its military.
In 2012, the “West Point of the Fire Service” is widely recognized as the world leader in preparing students for careers in fire protection, safety, industrial hygiene/exposure science and the fire service. Its alumni enjoy employment around the world in consulting, academia, government, industry, healthcare and other fields.
For an exciting and rewarding career field where professionals are aggressively sought for high-paying jobs, aspiring Oklahoma students need look no further than the Fire Service programs of Oklahoma State University – the “West Point of the Fire Service.”
For more information about the fire service programs of Oklahoma State University, visit:
Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology
Fire Protection and Safety Technology
www.ifsac.org
IFSAC International Fire Service Accreditation Congress
www.ifsta.org
IFSTA International Fire Service Training Association/Fpp Fire Protection Publications
Excellent article, I worked for FST in the late 80′s under Nancy Trench after trying out for a year at FPP with Gene Carlson. OSU graduates permeate the fire protection business in both the public and private sectors. A prospective student with unlimited potential stopped by our office today, anxious to head to Stillwater and strengthen a chain of grads that goes back to the 1950′s (Barry Bush and Dr. Tom Dawson). The Fire Technologies program at Lakes Region Community College (formerly New Hampshire Vocational and NH Technical College) has had at least one OSU grad in a full-time faculty position for more than 30 years. Currently, there are two; Department Chair Allen Coen and Professor Gary Courtney. There have been about 1200 graduates from this program since 1990 and OSU is the most frequently chosen transfer University. I was fundamentally improved as a person and as a professional not only by Harold Mace, Jim VanDeVort, Sam Goldwater, Don Davis and Professors Borgelt and Brock but by all of the family of Oklahoma State University and the Fire Department of the City of Stillwater. Thanks. GM Courtney, Professor, Lakes Region Community College, Laconia New Hampshire.
Very nice article. Thank you.