Diploma and Degree Opportunities
About the CFSA
The Certificate in Fire Service Administration provides in-service training for fire fighters and officers to add management education to their technical training. By the time fire service officers are promoted to administrative positions in their departments they have years of fireground training and experience. At this point in their careers they need a new kind of training to prepare them for the new challenges they face. The Certificate in Fire Service Administration (CFSA) was created by the Dalhousie University College of Continuing Education (formerly Henson College) to help fire service officers develop their administrative and managerial skills.
Applicants for the CFSA must have
Back to page index ...
Who should enrol?
This program is available across Canada to career and volunteer fire service officers and firefighters who want to become officers.
Back to page index ...
CFSA Certificate Requirements
To obtain the certificate students must complete 9 courses. Students are required to obtain some breadth of understanding in fire service administration. As a consequence students must complete the following required courses:
Required Courses (6)
- Fire Department Human Resource Management I (formerly Personnel Mgt. I)
- Municipal Finance
- Fire Service Law
- Program Evaluation and Statistics
- Fire Service Strategic Planning I
and one of
- Fire Suppression Management or
- Fire Prevention Management
In addition to the 6 required courses above, students must complete 3 elective courses from the list below.
- Disaster Management and the Fire Department
- Emergency Medical Service Management and the Fire Department
- Fire Department Human Resource Management II (formerly PMB)
- Fire Service Strategic Planning II (a double course, SP I is a prerequisite)
- Fire Suppression Management or Fire Prevention Management (first one taken counts as a required course; second as an elective)
- Municipal Government and Service Delivery
- Organizational Behaviour
- Theoretical Foundations of Incident Command: Thinking
- Theoretical Foundations of Incident Command: Acting (TFIC: Thinking is a prerequisite)
- Theoretical Foundations of Fire Protection Planning (pre-requisite Program Evaluation and Statistics)
- Theoretical Foundations of Fire Protection Planning II (pre-requisite TFFPP)
Back to page index ...
Areas of Specialization and Courses
There are four areas of specialization in the CFSA; Human Resource Management, Operational Planning, Strategic Planning and Emergency Management. See the elective courses you need for each area of specialization below:
Human Resources Management
Organizational Behaviour
Fire Department Human Resource Management II (formerly PMB)
Plus one other elective
Operational Planning Specialization
Fire Suppression Management and
Fire Prevention Management (first course taken counts as a required course, second as an elective)
and two of:
Disaster Management and the Fire Department
Emergency Medical Services Management and the Fire Department
Theoretical Foundations of Fire Protection Planning (pre-requisite Program Evaluation and Statistics)
Theoretical Foundations of Fire Protection Planning II (pre-requisite TFFPP)
Strategic Planning
Fire Service Strategic Planning II (a double course)
Plus one other elective
or
Municipal Government and Service Delivery
Disaster Management and the Fire Department
Plus one other elective
Emergency Management
Three of:
Emergency Medical Service Management and the Fire Department
Disaster Management and the Fire Department
Theoretical Foundations of Incident Command: Thinking
Theoretical Foundations of Incident Command: Acting
Note: The Incident Command courses will count toward one Certificate only.
Back to page index ...
Instructors
The CFSA program relies on varied expertise of many professionals who act as instructors. Short biographies for some of the CFSA instructors can be found by clicking the following link: Instructors
Back to page index ...
The Online Option
The CFSA can be taken over the web by means of Dalhousie's BLS (Blackboard Learning System) servers. The benefits of BLS are:
- better communication about fire service administration among students instructors across Canada and abroad;
- better communication about useful web sites that "mushroom" on the internet;
- development of computer skills.
Participation in BLS courses is optional. Students who choose the online option may complete one fewer assignment per course but are graded for their participation in online discussions.
To use BLS you must have access to the internet at least three times per week. The minimum requirement for your computer is Windows 95/98 and Netscape 4.7 or Internet Explorer 5.5.
If you want the BLS option simply check the online box on your registration form (available under the link for registration on the menu to the left.) A week before the course starts you will be sent an e-mail with a username and instructions to log into your course on BLS. If you have any questions about this please contact Grace Temani.
Back to page index ...
The Advanced Certificate in Fire Service Administration
The CFSA can be upgraded to the Advanced Certificate in Fire Service Administration. For more information click here.
Back to page index ...
