Fire Instructor Information
  By: Steve Prziborowski - Battalion Chief, Santa Clara County F.D.

This section of the website is dedicated to providing information to current and future fire service instructors, to ensure they are appropriately prepared and credentialed to become the best fire service instructor they can be.

Want to become a Fire Service Instructor?
Fire Instructor Resources
Fire Instructor 1A and 1B Resources
 

It's not easy becoming a fire service instructor, and not everyone is meant to become a fire service instructor. However, if you are very passionate about adult learning, education and training, as well as making a positive difference in the fire service and your community, becoming a fire service instructor may be for you!

Here are the most common ways to function as a fire service instructor:

1. Teaching for your fire department, on duty or off duty.
2. Teaching for a community college fire technology program.
3. Working on your own, as an independent contractor teaching for other agencies or private institutions, or by hosting and sponsoring your own classes.

The most common types of fire related courses to teach include:

1. CPR and First Aid certification classes.
2. State Certified fire related courses.
3. College level, semester or quarter elective or degree classes.

How do I get started as a fire service instructor?

1. Decide what you are most qualified to instruct.
2. Ensure you have at least taken the class or classes you desire to instruct, and have some form of documented experience to provide some credibility. To get some experience, start out at the company level within your own crew, and start documenting your hours and courses taught. Instructing a 30 minute class, 10 days a month equals 5 hours. Do that over the course of a year, and you now have 60 hours of teaching experience. It doesn't take long if you are motivated to obtain teaching experience to put on your resume.
3. If you are planning to teach at the college level, realize you may be required to possess the minimum of a two-year degree. If you ever want to be the primary instructor of a college level class, it is in your best interest to have a four year and/or a graduate degree, to successfully compete with the other applicants.
4. Realize you may have to start at the bottom, and work your way up to your "perfect teaching assignment." This may also include having to volunteer your time, just to get the experience. Do what you have to do to get documented experience to make you more marketable in the future.
5. Of the above three common ways to function as a fire service instructor, see which of the them may work best for you given your situation.

Teaching for your fire department, on duty or off duty:

- Talk to your Department Training Officer to let them know of your interest, as well as your qualifications (education, training, experience, and certifications).
- Opportunities may include teaching at your department recruit academy, on a regular basis for department-wide training classes, or on an every day basis at your own fire station.
- If you are a firefighter or engineer, ask your company officer if you can teach a class or a skill. It can be one skill or a series of skills. It can be a lecture or a hands-on drill. It can be 5 minutes or 2 hours.
- If you are the company officer, you should already be providing your crew at least 2 hours of training a shift, so hopefully you're documenting your experience.
- Attempt to be the Department "subject matter expert," in a specific subject area so you can become the go-to person who is always asked to teach.

Teaching for a community college fire technology program:

- Start by contacting the fire technology coordinator/director at your local community college offering a fire (and/or EMS) program. Advise them of your interest to get involved, be prepared to provide them with a resume documenting your formal education (they will probably want at least a two-year degree), your certifications and licenses, your fire service experience specific to the subject you desire to instruct, and most importantly, advise them of the subjects you may be interested in. Before you let them know of your interests, make sure you take a look at the classes they typically offer so you know what may or may not be an option to teach.
- Be prepared to work nights and weekends, and short hours (2 to 4 hours at a time), since many college classes are only a few hours in length and at different times to accommodate different types of students.
- Don't limit yourself to your local community college; you may have to drive an hour or two to find a vacancy.
- Classes at the college level open up on a hit or miss basis, so check back regularly with the fire technology coordinator/director. Since most classes are on the quarter or semester system, and only offered once or twice a year, you may not find an instructor opening in January at the start of the semester. However, there may be an opening come June or July if that instructor decides to retire or move-on. Be persistent and patient, but don't give up.

Working on your own, as an independent contractor teaching for other agencies or private institutions, or by hosting and sponsoring your own classes:

- This can be the toughest, or easiest way to go about teaching classes. If there are no vacancies at your department (outside of your fire station on duty), and there are no vacancies at the college, you may be forced to either attempt to open up your own business or find private institutions that hire independent contractors (folks they pay a set hourly rate or fee to, without any benefits or form of permanent employment commitment).
- If attempting to start your own business, realize it may be easier to teach for a college, fire department, or private institution because of all of the logistical items you will need for your class (classroom, apparatus, tools and equipment, audio/visual items, marketing, invoicing students and collecting registration fees, liability insurance, administrative services, etc.).

6. Learn as much as you can about being an instructor. This includes completing classes in educational methodology through your State Fire Training Division or the National Fire Academy, or even at the college level.
7. If you plan on teaching state certified classes, learn what the requirements are to become a state certified instructor. For California, I will cover in depth the requirements to become a state certified instructor below, at the end of this section.
8. Continuously educate yourself on the latest training techniques and methodologies to ensure you are up-to-date and able to provide the highest quality of instruction to the most important person - the student in front of you during a class.
9. Understand the commitment you will need to become a fire service instructor. You will need to make yourself available to students not only during class, but before and after class as well. In virtually every teaching environment, you typically don't get paid for preparation time, which may include lesson plan development and/or maintenance.
10. Last, but not least, if you ever find yourself getting complacent and just going through the motions, pass the torch to someone else who is highly motivated, highly passionate, highly dedicated and highly driven to be the best darn fire service instructor they can be!

Becoming a California Fire Service Instructor able to deliver state certified courses:

- Follow the instructions for becoming a State certified instructor,  found in the latest version of the State Fire Training Policy and Procedures Manual: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/training/sftproceduresmanual.pdf
- Complete and submit  the required documentation (per the abovementioned State Fire Training Policy and Procedures Manual) and California State Fire Training Instructor Application : http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/training/TInstructorApplication.pdf
- Wait a few months until you hear word from them via the mail that your application has been accepted or denied by the PACE II Committee.
- Key point: Completely follow the instructions when submitting your application and documentation as that is probably one of the biggest reasons instructor applications are denied.

Delivering California State certified courses:

- Before even attempting to deliver a California State certified course, understand what books and materials, and other specific course information (course prerequisites, total hours, course description, course outline, maximum number of students, etc.) are necessary for each course: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/training/CIARM.pdf
- Submit a course scheduling form appropriate to the course you want to teach: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/sftdownloads.html
- Follow the instructions for setting up, for hosting, for delivering, and for completing/return a course, found in the latest version of the State Fire Training Policy and Procedures Manual: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/training/sftproceduresmanual.pdf

California State Fire Training - Important Information For Instructors

Effective January 1, 2008, CFSTES and FSTEP fees will change as follows:

- Certification fees will increase by $10
- FSTEP course registration fee will increase $15 per student
- CFSTES course registration fee will increase $30 per student and will include the student manual / supplement provided by the SFT bookstore. Additional materials may be required from other sources, and are listed on the Course Information and Required Materials Manual available on their website at http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/sftdownloads.html

If you have any questions regarding the fee increase, you may contact Christy Owen, Manager, State Fire Training - Certification and Registration at 916-327-2129 or via email at christy.owen@fire.ca.gov

For more information regarding this fee increase, and how it may affect you as a student or an instructor, go to: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/training/FeeSchedule2008.pdf

Fire Department Training Division Websites:

Long Beach (CA) Fire Department Training Division
Los Angeles (CA) Fire Department Training Division

Fire Service Books:

Firefighters Bookstore
FSP Books and Videos
International Fire Service Training Association
Jones and Bartlett Publishers
National Fire Protection Association
Pennwell Publishing
Shelton State Bookstore
Thomson Delmar Learning

Fire Service News & Information Websites:

1stResponder.com
Canada's Firefighting Portal
Capecodfd.com
Daily Dispatch (Nationwide fire service news service, state-by-state)
Firefighter Nation
Firefighters' Search Engine
FirefightingNews.com
Fire-Rescue Village
South Carolina Fire Service News & Information
With The Command.com

Fire Service Publications:

Code 3 Magazine (Free!)
EMS Magazine
Firehouse Magazine
Fire Apparatus Journal
Fire Chief Magazine
Fire Engineering Magazine
Fire Nuggets
Fire Rescue Magazine
Fire Times
Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS)
U.S. Fire Professionals & Emergency Responders Information
911 Magazine

Instructor / Public Speaking Resources:

Presentations.com
Toastmasters

Organizations / Associations:

California Fire Technology Directors Association
California State Fire Training Division
California State Fire Training Division - Up-to-date Statewide schedule of state certified classes open for registration
California State Fire Training Division - Instructor Database (make sure your info is up-to-date, look for instructors to teach classes for/with)
International Fire Service Accreditation Congress
International Society of Fire Service Instructors
Monterey County (CA) Fire Training Officers Association
National Fire Academy - For Students and Instructors
North American Fire Technology Directors
Northern California Training Officers Association
Pro Board: National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications
Riverside County (CA) Fire Training Officers Association
San Diego County (CA) Fire Training Officers Association
Solano-Napa County (CA) Fire Training Officers Association
Southern California Training Officers Association

Course Templates

- These are the templates used to complete your homework assignments.

- The best way to download these templates is to right click on each item and save it to your desktop. Keep this template on your desktop as the original and then rename each document as you make changes.

- All of the below templates were created in Microsoft Word.