State Fire Training Office Approved Courses

The United States Fire Administration's National Fire Academy (NFA) is pleased to announce the State Fire Training Office (SFTO) Approval Program.

State fire service training systems need courses that the NFA, due to time and resource constraints, is unable to develop. The SFTO Approval Program recognizes that many state-developed courses may be equivalent to NFA courses in both content and quality.

The SFTO Approval Program Agreement states that the NFA and State fire service training systems have recognized a set of criteria and a process to have selected state courses approved as an NFA course. The state fire service training systems and the NFA manage a system for assessing courses submitted by individual States; this is a peer-review process using a designated review committee that is selected by the North American Fire Training Directors (NAFTD) to perform the assessment of submitted courses. The NFA provides assistance to the committee as needed. Approved courses then become NFA courses that are delivered locally using State qualified instructors. Students in NFA-approved courses are registered in the NFA student database and may receive NFA certificates.

Approved courses are available for distribution to other states (state-to-state) that may not have adequate resources to develop the courses. The states involved in these transactions will manage the process for the exchange of approved programs, cost recovery and instructor training requirements. This is a program for state-designated fire service organizations; approved courses are not available to individuals or individual departments.

If you or members of your organization are interested in the SFTO Approval Program, please contact your state fire service training office.

Further information may be obtained from Diane Close, the State training agencies point of contact at NFA for the SFTO Approval Program, at (800) 238-3358, ext. 1376, or (301) 447-1376.