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10th Anniversary of the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) Conference

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Gregory B. Cade, U.S. Fire Administrator

On May 31, 2008, I was honored to join 151 individuals attending the 10th anniversary of the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) Conference. This three-day conference was conducted on- site at the United States Fire Administration's (USFA) National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. This year's agenda included annual updates on professional development activities and model fire science, fire prevention and now, emergency medical services (EMS) management curricula and from the publishers who produce the textbooks supporting them.

This year was a special year: in order to commemorate the long history of USFA's leadership and involvement in higher education, including the 30th anniversary of the Open Learning Fire Service Program (now the Degrees at a Distance Program), and those who have made significant contributions to the success of higher education opportunities for firefighters, a new "FESHE Lasting Achievement Award" was created. This award provides the USFA the opportunity to honor individuals or groups who have made contributions that forever changed the direction of fire and EMS management education.

Further, Mr. Clinton Smoke, Dr. William Kramer, and Ron Coleman were accorded the status of FESHE Emeritus. This honor recognizes their career-long contributions to fire and emergency services higher education, as well as their participation at our annual conferences.

After attending these events, I would like to congratulate the National Fire Academy (NFA) and the representatives of the 100 higher learning institutions who have committed themselves to standardizing fire and emergency services education by adopting the model fire science and EMS management curricula and providing quality education to their students, the next generation of first responders, and leaders. As a result of the NFA's FESHE program, there now exists a robust, national model curriculum of fire-related and EMS management courses for colleges and universities to adopt as their own.

Today, through improved higher education, we see our firefighters accomplishing extraordinary life saving medical tasks. However, the fire and emergency medical services continue to increase the scope and scale of the services they provide to the public, increasing the breadth of knowledge necessary for managers. Our firefighters are facing challenging residential and commercial environments, an aging population, challenging hazardous materials on our roadways, and complex rescue operations, in addition to the tasks their predecessors performed. While extrication, water rescue, and rapid intervention team (RIT) operations have all grow more complex, so too have the complexity of threat, vulnerability, risk assessments, and the consequences of terrorism.

If the past is our guide, we all can be confident the complexity and scope of America's emergency needs will only continue to grow. While we find today's firefighters more educated and able to handle these complex emergencies, there is nothing on the horizon to indicate this trend for highly trained and prepared firefighters will not continue. FESHE, through its programs, is helping to prepare fire and EMS leaders to meet these challenges, and prepare for the future of the service.

USFA and FEMA remain committed to providing opportunities for firefighters and emergency medical technicians to secure access to higher education, and to working with FESHE to ensure the continued success of its programs.

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