Education In Fire Service

Another aspect of firefighting is the countless hours that we as firefighters put into training. We have to go through fire school which consits of approximately 240 hours of both class room and practical training. This does not count the hours that are required for hazardous material, vehicle extrication, pump operations, emergency vehicle operation and any other specialized training that comes along.
We also have endless hours of training at station level to keep us proficient in our skills. All of this is just for us to meet state requirements.
There are colleges that offer courses that will take our education level higher. One of these Colleges is Lake Supirior State University in Saulte Saint Marie Michigan. They offer a Bachelor's degree in fire science which would include all of the state minimum requirements and expand our education to include things like fire inspections, arson investigation, building construction, and other classes. There are also classes offered in tactical operations and managing fire manpower on the fire grounds.
With the aftermath of 9/11 and the start of Homeland Security, there are also NIMS (National Incident Management System) which we have to take in order to meet state requirements. The National Fire Academy in Maryland also offers classes that we can take online to further our education. And this is just the begining of your education for the fire service.
If you decide to start going on medical calls you have to at least have Medical First Responder training. Then you have EMT Basic, Specialist and then Paramedic. First Responder is approxitmatly 120 hours of both class and pratical instruction. EMT is approxitmately 6 months long. The same for EMT specialist. And Paramedic is a two year comitment to schooling. And then you have to do continuing education to keep your liscencure current.
They wonder why alot of us leave the fire service for these reasons.