Message from the Director
Happy New Year! Here at the Fire Academy, we’ve wrapped up another year of service to the Indiana fire community. A great thing about starting a new year is that we all get a chance to start fresh with a positive mindset to do more training and provide better service to our communities!
In this month's edition of The Bugle, we will have the first of a new three-part series on "Designing Your Training Program" from South Bend Assistant Chief of Instruction, Brandon Roark. We will discuss the significance of adult continuing education (CE) for fire service instructors.
Being an instructor in the fire service is a significant responsibility and a major privilege. As an instructor, you can shape the future of firefighting by imparting knowledge, skills and values. The list would be very long if I tried to define all the ways it is a privilege. However, here are two ways that highlight why being a fire department instructor is a privilege.
Knowledge Transfer: Instructors play a crucial role in transferring their expertise and experience to the next generation of firefighters. They share insights from years of service, contributing to new firefighters' overall growth and proficiency.
Professional Development: As an instructor, you can actively contribute to the professional development of firefighters. This involves teaching firefighting techniques and instilling a sense of responsibility, teamwork and leadership.Professional development is not only for you to develop others but more importantly, it is for the betterment of you as an instructor and that is why the Board of Firefighting Personnel Standards and Education (BFPSE) has an adult education requirement for instructors.
Often, I have heard that the adult education requirement is difficult to meet because you must attend a class. As the new academy director, I have made it one of my goals to help make participating in an adult education session easier. Last summer, when I traveled in all 10 IDHS districts, we reorganized and reinstated the district training group to work and provide FREE adult education sessions closer to home in all ten regional homeland security districts. Here is the 2024 schedule of district training meetings that will offer at least one hour of adult education topics from the 11 listed categories in the 655 IAC language for adult education.
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We have provided these district meeting opportunities with adult education built into them and funded several adult education classes already scheduled for 2024, with more to come later in the year. Here are the current planned class flyers for these adult education opportunities:
The Indiana Fire & Public Safety Academy also offers a Public Safety Leadership Development course that has a two-hour section within the course that covers students' personalities and reading people that meets the requirements for adult education CE. If you attend these courses, you can count those as two hours of adult education.
Indiana instructors have another excellent opportunity for adult education at the world's largest and most significant annual conference in April at FDIC. However, only some classes at FDIC would meet the 11 topics listed in the board rules. I took the time for this edition and went through the upcoming 2024 class catalog to list what will meet the adult education criteria if you plan on attending FDIC this year.
While it is essential that as fire service instructors we make every attempt to be a good role model by going to classes, there are times when we are on duty and unable to get off work or get a shift trade to attend an adult education class in person. Plenty of opportunities exist to get your CE hours via online sources. The academy currently is working on identifying several sources and online learning opportunities that we hope to post on the instructor’s corner of our website.
Online Adult Education courses:
If you complete any of these online courses, please make sure you print off a copy of the completion certificate to verify the number of CEUs and that you have completed the training. These may be required if your certification is audited.
I hope the information in this edition sheds some light on the adult education CE requirement for fire service instructors since my staff has fielded many questions concerning CE requirements. Stay tuned for next month's edition, where we will focus on fire service instructor audits.
Thanks,
John Shafer Indiana Fire and Public Safety Academy Director
Designing Your Training Programs Pt. 1 with Brandon Roark
Physical adversity, austere environments, fear, despair and death are the challenges faced by those who serve in our agencies when they hit the streets. It does not matter if they are an EMR, EMT, Paramedic, Firefighter, Engineer, Officer or any combination thereof; each one must be prepared to make contact with adversity in a rapidly declining environment while managing their fear and anxiety in the face of absolute risk, injury or death. This must all occur while ensuring their mission or task is completed as timely and safely as possible. Your training should be about enabling those who serve to deploy, fight, win and come home to their families and loved ones.
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Fire Department Spotlight: Shipshewana Fire Department
The Shipshewana Fire Department comprises 26 volunteer firefighters: one chief, one assistant chief, three captains, one chaplain and 20 firefighters. This fire department covers the northwest corner of LaGrange County, IN, including the Town of Shipshewana, Newbury Township, Van Buren Township, and 8 miles of I-80/90 Indiana Toll Road. In this 70-square-mile area, Shipshewana Fire Department provides first responder medical assistance, search and rescue and fire protection.
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