If you are planning a career in the fire service, a college education will not necessarily open department doors, but is needed to promote, according to a recent study.
The research project, enabled by an Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) College of Justice and Safety grant, employed two student researchers who gathered results from 59 chief fire officers nationwide. The author designed the survey and led the research effort. And while not saying that college has little value in hiring, many chiefs lamented the lack of educated applicants and the funds to attract those with higher education. Further, a number of chiefs with varying degrees of college attainment said the highest job of fire chief should require a master’s degree.
Ed Kaplan, former chief of the National Fire Academy (NFA) Education, Training and Partnerships Section, said he is surprised by the findings.
“The recognition of higher education’s importance in the fire service surprised me,” said Kaplan, who is now president of Gettysburg Learning Partners. “Not having had much data to work with during most of my 30 years running the FESHE (Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education network) and the Open Learning Fire Service Program/Degrees at a Distance Program at NFA, I had only anecdotal information to assess how essential or not degrees were in the fire service.”
The study and participant profiles
The study, “The Relevance of Higher Education in U.S. Fire Department Officer Promotion,” was conducted in the spring of 2014 and solicited answers from 59 fire chiefs (titles included battalion chief, division chiefs and assistant chiefs) from across the country. Not all study volunteers answered all of the questions, yielding a difference in some response totals. The highest concentration of responses was from populous Florida – 36% of all responses – to 4% from least-populous Alaska. A majority of the interviews were conducted live, via telephone conversations by EKU student researchers Emily Bays and Ellycia Villecas. Other responses were gathered from online questionnaires. The participants were solicited from news items in trade publications, emailed to state fire chiefs’ associations, and via the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) email list of fire service practitioners. Many of the study questions used the Likert-type Scale to gauge degree of response.
Eighty-three percent of respondents represent paid departments with 14% combination, paid and volunteer. The 59 reporting departments employ a total of 9,268 personnel, including administrative staff. The vast majority of department employees are operations or line personnel.
The 59 departments reported annual call volume ranging from 320 to 170,000. Seventy-one percent of the departments said they provide both advanced life support (ALS) along with fire suppression functions. The remainder provide basic life support (BLS) and fire (16%) and fire only (7%).
Respondents’ time in the fire service varies from three months to 34 years. Likewise, their tenure as a chief officer has a similar range in duration – six months to 27 years.
Fifty-eight chief officers responded that most have a bachelor’s degree (47%) or a master’s degree (45%). None have a doctorate or professional degree, while three have associates’ degrees, one has some college and one has a high school diploma or GED. Thirty-eight percent said they are enrolled in a college degree program or are pursuing a professional certification. The majority (62%) were not enrolled in any higher education courses at the time the research was conducted. Of those enrolled, three are seeking a doctorate degree, while the majority of those seeking a degree are working toward a master’s degree.
Rating the importance of higher education
When asked how, in the past five years, they would rank the importance of education requirements in their departments, 45% said it is essential, 38% said important, 16% said somewhat important and 2% said not important.
Participants were asked to rate the following statement: “Higher education is important to your successful advancement in the fire service.” Seventy-eight percent strongly agreed, 20% agreed, none disagreed and 2% strongly disagreed.
Generally, respondents say their departments seek higher education when hiring for all positions. As Table 1 (page 112) points out, the qualities seen most attributable to higher education are promotional potential (42 responses), critical thinking (39) and communication (36).
When asked if they would be willing to provide financial incentives for line personnel seeking higher education, if the money were budgeted, all but one chief (98%) said they would.
In comparing two similar questions, respondents were asked what they perceived the minimum amount of education for various positions in their departments and what their departments required for those positions.
Opinion versus requirements
“Opinions are one thing, but policies are another and (the survey results) reflect among those surveyed the significant gap between the two. Far fewer departments than the respondents themselves actually require associate’s degree for company officers and bachelor’s for chief officers,” Kaplan noted. “Ironically, when asked which attributes were most valuable to the department, the top responses were promotion potential, critical thinking and communication, the same ones necessary to bring about these changes in degree requirements.”
At the company officer level, 40 respondents think an associate’s degree should be a minimum educational threshold, while only 17 report their department requires this education. Similarly, 42 respondents think a bachelor’s degree should be a minimum for a chief officer, which is far higher than the 16 departments that require a bachelor’s degree.
Perhaps the biggest contrast can be found in nine departments that require only a high school diploma or GED to be a fire chief, while 40 respondents said the threshold should be a master’s degree. None believe that high school or a GED are sufficient education to be qualified for the position of fire chief.
When asked “What is your highest level of education?” 2% answered high school or GED, 2% have some college credits, 5% have associates’ degrees, 47% hold bachelors’ degrees and 45% have earned masters’ degrees. None of the respondents hold doctorates or professional degrees.
Incentives for higher education
Along those lines, departments overwhelmingly provide some incentive for department members to pursue higher education – from tuition reimbursement to supplemental compensation and time off for coursework. Florida is the only state identified as providing monthly cash payments to firefighters, regardless of rank, for completion of associates’ and bachelors’ degrees. Of the respondents, 66% said their departments offer tuition reimbursement, 43% said their departments pay supplemental compensation for degrees earned, 45% said their departments grant time off for coursework, 25% said their departments offer other incentives and 5% said their departments offer no incentives (some departments provide multiple types of incentives).
The study also looked at whether higher education is considered critical for promotions within the fire service. When asked “In looking beyond your department, how do you view the value of higher education in the promotional process to officers in the fire service?” 56% answered essential, 37% said very important, 5% said somewhat important and 2% said not important.
In terms of promotional likelihood, the respondents said those working toward a position as a fire officer should seek higher education – obviously in addition to the necessary training required for this complex job.
Problems in attracting the college educated
When asked in an open-ended question about obstacles in attracting recruits with college education, several themes prevailed. Several respondents said the pool from which they hire from has few college-educated applicants. One said finding good candidates with the minimum training is difficult enough.
Low initial salaries offered to new firefighters was another refrain heard from respondents. Others said their departments are beginning to require college, which will be difficult in salary terms. One noted, “Our pay scale is not tied to our educational achievements.”
Another hindrance was reported due to civil service hiring rules, which departments must follow. While another respondent illustrated an entirely different obstacle: “The town manager does not support or believe we need educated firefighters.”
Valuable to all employees
A similar 2012 study by University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill graduate student Nick Geis provided striking similarities to the EKU study.
“The scope of this research is much larger than my study and the previous South Carolina study I used (in reviewing literature),” said Geis. “The importance of education from both my study and the one conducted in South Carolina are echoed in the EKU study – almost identically. Overall, I’m just really blown away that your results are almost the exact same as what I received in North Carolina, but are from a group of national respondents.”
Geis makes the argument concerning the positive influence of college at the hiring stage and department succession planning.
“If the fire service is able to attract candidates to entry-level positions (those fire chiefs indicated that higher education shouldn’t be required), then these candidates would still benefit the department by bringing the perceived positive impact of those employee qualities identified in this study and an additional benefit to the department by providing them with experienced personnel with the necessary education, skills and certifications to be able to promote from within to the higher level ranks,” said Geis.
Kaplan underscores this notion.
“In the August 2011 (Firehouse®) article, ‘Peers Are Driving Force for National Curriculum,’ our good friend, Larry Collins, retired associate dean of EKU’s College of Justice and Safety, captured these points well when he said, ‘I think the biggest success with FESHE is that we have more people pursuing degrees. I don’t know if it’s because of FESHE, but for whatever reason, the bar is being raised’,” Kaplan said.
He continued, “This study lays the foundation for addressing the larger question (the author) asked that started all this; i.e., what effect does higher education have on fire department performance? I agree … it’s a “benchmark for further inquiry.”
