Want to become a Fire Service Instructor?

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. Note: If you start teaching on your own make sure you have errors and omission liability insurance coverage.

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

1. Helping your Training Officer by teaching a class at your fire station.
2. CPR and First Aid certification classes.
3. MBFTE qualified fire related courses.
4. Fire training classes sponsored by one of the local fire colleges.
5. College level, semester or quarter elective or degree classes.

How do I get started as a fire service instructor?

Decide what you are most qualified to instruct.
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.

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.

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.

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 program, 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 3 hours.

If you are the company officer, a captain or lieutenant, 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.).

1. 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.

2. If you plan on teaching MBFTE qualified classes, learn what the requirements are to become a MBFTE qualified instructor. For Minnesota, I will cover in depth the requirements to become a MBFTE qualified instructor below, at the end of this section.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 Minnesota Fire Service Instructor able to deliver Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education (MBFTE) qualified courses:

Follow the instructions for becoming a MBFTE qualified instructor, found in the latest version of the MBFTE Policy and Procedures Manual: http://www.mbfte.state.mn.us/

Complete and submit the required documentation (per the above mentioned MBFTE Policy and Procedures Manual) and Instructor Application : http://www.mbfte.state.mn.us/

Wait a few months until you hear word from them via the mail that your application has been accepted or denied by the MBFTE Review 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 a Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education (MBFTE) qualified courses:

Before even attempting to deliver a MBFTE qualified 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://www.mbfte.state.mn.us/
Submit a course scheduling form appropriate to the course you want to teach: http://www.mbfte.state.mn.us/
Follow the instructions for setting up, for hosting, for delivering, and for completing/return a course, found in the latest version of the MBFTE Policy and Procedures Manual: http://www.mbfte.state.mn.us/

Minnesota Fire Service Certification Board - Important Information For Instructors http://www.mnfirecert.org/

The mission of the Minnesota Fire Service Certification Board is to provide a means of recognition of persons who achieve the levels of competency specified in established standards.

The Minnesota Fire Service Certification Board was established in 1987 to meet the needs of Minnesota's fire service to recognize various levels of training competencies and proficiencies of the state's firefighting community. The organization offers certification on a voluntary basis to individuals that work or live in Minnesota and engage in the occupation of firefighting.

These certification levels are available to members of career and volunteer fire departments, as well as others working in the field.

Fire Instructor I
Fire Instructor II
Contact Information:
Theresa Zikmund, Executive Director
2650 Fox Ridge NE
Blaine, MN 55449
tzikmund@mfscb.org

(866)566-0911