New Curriculum and Certification Requirements for Company Officer

1. New Curriculum and Certification Requirements for Company Officer

2. Background In 2011 SFT recognized the need to update the course requirementsfor the Company Officer certification path • Fire Command IA was virtually unchanged since its inception • Fire Command IC added in 2004 due to Blue Ribbon Committee recommendations on interface LODD’s, had not been updated since introduced • Prevention IA & IB were designed for F/T Prevention personnel, not Company Officers

3. Background As a result effective Jan. 1, 2013, the following changes were made to the Fire Officer certification path: • Fire Command IA was replaced with Command IA • Fire Command IC was replaced by Command IC • Prevention IA & IB were replaced by Prevention I

4. Background (cont). The new Course Requirements were: • Command IA (Command Principles for Company Officers) • FireCommand IB (Incident Management for Company Officers) • Command IC (WUI Operations for the Company Officer) • Training Instructor IA (Cognitive Lesson Delivery) • Training Instructor IB (Psychomotor Lesson Delivery) • Fire Investigation IA (Fire Cause Origin and Determination) • Fire Management I (Management/Supervision for Company Officers) • Fire Prevention I (Fire/Life Safety Inspections for Company Officers) • I-300 (Intermediate ICS)

5. New Company Officer As part of the SFT Alignment Process, in July 2013 Cadre was tasked to update the FO path to align with the following NFPA Standards: - NFPA 1021, Professional Qualifications for FO I & II, - NFPA 1051, Professional Qualifications for Wildland FO I - NFPA 1041, Fire Instructor Professional Qualifications • As a result, a new Certification Training Standard (CTS) and six course plans were developed. • In November 2013 a Validation Cadre met to review and approved the work. • In February 2014 it was approved by STEAC

6. New Company Officer (cont) Courses for the new cert. path include: • Human Resource Management for CO’s (40 Hrs) • General Admin. Functions for CO’s (20 Hrs) • Fire Insp. & Investigations for CO’s (40 Hrs) • All Risk Command Op’s for CO’s (40 Hrs) • Wildland Inc. Op’s for CO’s (40 Hrs) • Instructional Methodology (40 Hrs) And, to satisfy misc. Federal & State Mandates: • Haz Mat IC (16 Hrs) To meet Sec. 5192 Title 8 • IS-200.B(16 Hrs) To meet Presidential Directive 5

7. New Company Officer (cont) Analysis/Summary of Issues • Title of the new path is now Company Officer • Prerequisite remains Firefighter II Certification. • Prereq for Wildland Inc. OP’s is S-290 (Classroom only!) • Instructor emphasis is on adapting not writing lesson plans • Upon completing courses & authorization of agency, candidates must complete a Task Book (Occupational Experience) from SFT. Task Book will verify completion of each JPR & be signed by the Chief • Final Component will be an on-line written certification exam given by a third party (TBD)

8. Company Officer Transition Period • Transition Period Begins July 1, 2014 and ends Dec. 31, 2016 During transition period both new Company Officer and current Fire Officer Curriculum are acceptable AND CANDIDATES NOW HAVE UNTIL 12/31/16 TO COMPLETE THE CURRENT FIRE OFFICER CERT PATH • After Dec 31, 2016, Fire Officer curriculum retired and No Longer Available!* • Cross over between classes will not be allowed *Courses with viable content may be reconfigured as an FSTEP class

9. CO Instructor Requirements • Human Resource Management: Current Management I Inst. ORcomplete the new course OR PACE II review • General. Admin. Functions: Current Management Inst. ORcomplete the new course ORa PACE II review • Fire Inspections & Invest: Current Prev. I Instructors ORcomplete the new course ORa PACE II review • All Risk Command OPS: Current Command 1A Inst. OR complete the new course OR a PACE II review • Wildland Inc. Ops: Current Command IC Inst. OR complete the new course OR a PACE II review • Instructional Methodology: TBD by new Fire Instructor cert. track timeline

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11. Why Alignment ? Blueprint 2020 (2008) adopted following Goals: • Implement a Quality Improvement Program (which includes updating the CTS for all certification paths) • Align Training to Nat’l Prof. Development Models (Such as FESHE, IFSAC & Pro Board) • Implement Capstone (Certification) Testing (use of instructor and publisher materials for written tests) • Use a Business Model for Training & Ed System(use of on-line tests for classes and certification process’)

12. Why Alignment ? • 2011 SFT began the process to implement these goals • As the process moved forward, all signs pointed to alignment with NFPA Standards

13. Why Alignment ? For Example: • Implement a Quality Improvement Program (updating the CTS for all certification paths) The most common Certification Path CTS’ are NFPA (updated 3 yrs) • Align Training to Nat’l Prof. Development Models (Such as FESHE, IFSAC & Pro-Board) IFSAC & Pro-Board follow NFPA standards • Implement Capstone (Certification) Testing (use of instructor and publisher materials for written tests) Other States use IFSAC & Pro-Board cert. & publisher based tests • Use a Business Model for Training & Ed System (use of on-line tests for classes and certification process’) Most existing on-line systems follow NFPA standards

14. Questions