Fire Service Administration Major (B.S.)

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Science in Fire Service Administration equips professionals with the leadership, management, and administrative skills to advance in the fire service field. The program emphasizes ethics, community risk reduction, and strategic decision-making, preparing graduates for careers in fire and emergency services, including fire chief, fire marshal, and emergency management coordinator.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Overview:

The Bachelor of Science in Fire Service Administration degree trains fire service professionals with the administrative, leadership, and management knowledge and skills needed to progress in the field of fire service. The program incorporates the knowledge and abilities necessary to handle the moral, social, situational, and ethical challenges of fire and emergency services.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate leadership skills and apply administrative techniques to fire and emergency services organizational management.
• Integrate research, critical thinking, and analytical decision-making abilities to address challenges in delivering and executing modern fire and emergency services.
• Apply ethical principles to assess moral and social issues in fire and emergency services and make principled decisions.
• Recognize and prioritize public safety threats and hazards and develop fire and emergency service community risk reduction plans.
• Conduct dynamic situational assessments and apply knowledge of risk reduction to create strategic incident action plans according to professional standards and best practices to reduce emergencies or disasters in the community.

Outline:

Program Content:

• The program emphasizes fire service leadership, management, and administration.
• Students study topics such as fire service ethics, community risk reduction, political and legal foundations for fire protection, statistics, change management, conflict management, fire prevention organization and management, personnel management for the fire service, applications of fire research, fire and emergency services administration, and media and strategic communication.
• The program also includes a capstone project that allows students to apply their knowledge and skills to a real-world fire service problem.

Structure:

• The program consists of 120 credits.
• Students can complete the program in three years of full-time study or four years of part-time study.
• The program is offered online and includes a mix of asynchronous and synchronous courses.

Course Schedule:

• Year 1 (Fall): COM 590 Professional Communication, CRIT 602 Advanced Critical Analysis and Strategic Thinking, FSA 605 Fire Service Ethics, FSA 610 Community Risk Reduction for the Fire and Emergency Services.
• Year 1 (Spring): FSA 635 Political and Legal Foundations for Fire Protection, FSA 665 or BEHS 665 Command and Control of Large-Scale Incidents or Disaster Management, FSA 710 Personnel Management for the Fire Service, MTH 504 Statistics.
• Year 2 (Fall): FSA 685 Fire Prevention Organization and Management, FSA 740 Applications of Fire Research, FSA 760 Fire and Emergency Services Administration.
• Year 2 (Spring): HRM 580 or HRM 635 Change Management or Managing Conflict, IDIS 601 Interdisciplinary Seminar.

Careers:

Graduates of the Fire Service Administration program may pursue careers in fire and emergency services, including the following:

• Fire Chief
• Fire Marshal
• Fire Inspector
• Fire Prevention Officer
• Emergency Management Coordinator
• Homeland Security Specialist
• Loss Control Specialist
• Arson Investigator
• Fire Protection Safety Consultant