In January, I wrote about significant budget cuts in Arizona that effectively suspended all fire and training certification programs. Today, I’m happy to report that there’s a new plan in place for providing training and certification in Arizona.

"Ever since the suspension of fire training and certification in January by the Arizona State Fire Marshal’s Office, a number of fire service leaders, representing a cross-section of the Arizona fire service, have been diligently working on an alternative plan,” says Ron Dennis, executive director of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association (AFCA). “This plan is now in place and is outside of state government control. We are in the process of re-establishing our state status with the National Fire Academy, TRADE and the outreach grant process.”
 
The plan involves the creation of the Arizona Center for Fire Service Excellence (AzCFSE), under the policy direction of the Arizona Fire Services Institute (AFSI). The AzCFSE would be administered and coordinated by the Arizona State Fire Training Committee (ASFTC), a non-profit entity that has primarily planned and coordinated the annual State Fire School.

Start-up funding will be provided jointly by the ASFTC and the member organizations of AFSI, but the goal of the program is to be financially self-sufficient through fees and other revenue streams. A workgroup has been assembled to draft an operations plan which will be presented to AFSI at their May meeting. Business operations are scheduled to begin on May 3.

“Hopefully we can develop a model that can be used by other states that are experiencing similar issues within their own state governments,” Dennis says.

First up on the AzCFE’s agenda: contacting programs, organizations and individuals who have been left in limbo over the last several months as a result of training operations suspended by the state, and coordinating whatever activities are necessary to complete those processes. In addition, the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association reports that instructor application packets have been approved and acceptance letters will be mailed in the next 15 days.

Dennis will be making a presentation on the recent developments to the North American Training Directors Association this coming Friday at 1 p.m. at FDIC in Indianapolis. For more information, visit www.azcfse.org or contact Chief Paul Adams at padams@avondale.org or Ron Dennis at ronboden@cox.net.