Have you ever heard someone ask, “Why go for a Chief Fire Officer Designation? I can already do my job, what is in it for me?” The Commission on Chief Fire Officer Designation explains: To have the designation of CFO, an individual has been able to demonstrate education, leadership and management skills and possesses the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the fire and emergency services profession. The commission has set a mission to assist in the professional development of fire and emergency service personnel by providing guidance for career planning through participation in the Professional Designation Program.

I believe some of you are now thinking the same thing I did when I first heard about this program. I was sitting in one of my final Executive Fire Officer courses when Chief Rich Marinucci came in to explain the then-new program. Sitting there, hearing about a certified chief officer program just about floored me: Why did we all sit through four years of EFO when now there was another hoop to jump through?

Marinucci explained that this was not another hoop, but a program that looks at the individual as a whole. It's not intended to be an educational program; it's a program that puts substance into the work that chief officers do every day and recognizes the individual by designating him or her, if all of the standards are met. These are the same standards that all chief fire officers routinely should be operating under, whether they are a career, volunteer or combination chief officer.

Best candidates

It took me a little investigating to determine that this was a worthwhile program. It was not — and still is not — for all. For those chief officers who are on the “downhill slide” of their careers, the program will mean little to them. This is a program for those officers and future officers who hold the future of the fire service; for those who strive and seek leadership prospects. It's a program that a new company officer can use as a career-planning device.

To plan and prepare yourself to be competitive in the market of chief fire officers or fire chiefs, much is needed to prove a level of know-how. The International Association of Fire Chiefs has recognized this and has developed a policy statement on designation “encouraging all of its chief fire officers to participate and undertake the process to become a CFOD as a means to enhance the level of professionalism for chief officers throughout the world.”

In turn the Professional Development Committee of the IAFC, led by Chief Jim Broman, has also recognized this program and supported it. In the IAFC Officer Development Handbook, another career-planning tool, they not only recognize CFOD but encourage the program for chief officers in career development “effectively credential your knowledge and skills.”

The International City/County Management Association has been an effective participant and partner in the development and continued success of the designation program. Since the beginning, the association has had representation on the commission. It's no surprise that over the years chief officers have become more professional, more educated, have given back to the fire service and may even be a little smarter than they were a few decades ago — or a least we should hope for such. This has not gone unnoticed; county and city managers have realized that the designation program can be used as a benchmarking tool to evaluate possible candidates or even presently employed chiefs.

Make no question, not all of ICMA members know of this program or they may have heard briefly about it, but forgotten it. The commissions for both Chief Fire Officer Designation and fire department accreditation plan to change this with the help of ICMA. In the future this will be a known tool. It is the commission's goal to see more chief positions be required or recommended to have CFOD. It is hoped you are not the one whose résumé is pushed to the back because it may not have been worth your time to start or finish the CFOD program.

Another argument is that CFOD is too expensive. As you plan your budgets each year, aren't there always direct and indirect costs to your organization's, the community and employees to acquire the credentials that are required by departments? Yes, we are the ones who require these credentials for our employees to make them better employees for our communities.

Should we not uphold ourselves to the same requirements or raise the bar for ourselves and set the example? Each day, each year we raise the bar for our employees at the lower levels — Firefighter I and II, EMT, Paramedic, Hazmat Technician, Instructor I and II, and so on.

Push harder

Granted the process is not and should not be a short, easy assignment. It requires you to look completely and comprehensively at your experience and abilities in many areas. The application is set up into two categories: Category A and Category B.

Category A is divided into seven components: personal and employment, letters of reference, professional development, professional contributions, professional memberships, community involvement and affiliations, and certification statement. If you are able to meet all of the requirements in Category A, you are exempt from completing the technical competencies as assigned in Category B. Both competencies are a thorough measurement of who you are, what you have accomplished and what you have given back to the community and fire service.

Once you have completed the application and sent it back to the CFOD offices, the staff goes through it to make sure everything is in order. Then a copy is sent out to two different peer assessors. The assessors are trained by an appointed trainer from the commission to ensure consistency. The commission is also in the process of adopting a policy that requires peer assessors to evaluate a certain number of applications in a selected time frame. Also included is a policy for ongoing training for assessors, depending on their length of service. The commission is always striving to improve the system and process to ensure objectivity.

Once in the hands of the two assessors, each goes first through Category A and determines that the minimum points available are met. They will then grade and ensure that all of the appropriate information is intact and then read the letters of reference. They will further ensure the education and certifications match the requirements and that the transcripts and certifications match what the applicant is claiming. A review of the training/courses of the last five years will be completed.

The professional goals of the applicant will be read and reviewed. These goals will later be reviewed again to match up to the applicant's overall project to determine if the applicant determined a personal weakness and where more attention may be needed in the future to make him or her a more rounded chief officer.

The applicant will have listed professional contributions and memberships made or had over the last five years for review by the assessor. On the application the applicant will further list his or her community involvement and relevant affiliations during the past five years. These will be further reviewed by the assessor.

There is a precursor that ties into Category A. If a candidate is able to answer yes to any of eight questions, Category B won't need to be completed by the candidate. These are questions that tie in with time on the job, educational level and promotion level. There is also the opinion of chiefs from an accredited agency and those requesting reciprocity from an approved designation program, such as the DOD's, or international designation programs.

Another reason given for the length of the project is Category B. This is a large section of the application. The applicant is required to prove 20 technical competencies, either from ongoing performance or by having done them in the past. These competencies are a must for today's chiefs.

Better off

If you are interested in applying or learning more about Chief Fire Officer Designation, please contact Debbie Sobotka at 4501 Singer Court, Suite 180, Chantilly, Va. 20151; 866-866-CFAI; www.cfainet.org/home/cfod/index.asp

And if you still think about designation as just another “merit badge,” I remind you of an article about CFOD and accreditation by Chief Ron Coleman, who wrote “… being an Eagle Scout is an achievement of a lifetime, even if you are a teenager. And the world has never been worse off because of the presence of an Eagle Scout.”

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Richard R. Carrizzo, who holds the designation of CFO, is the fire chief for Southern Platte (Mo.) Fire Protection District. He serves as commissioner for CFOD, representing combination departments. He holds a master's degree in business administration and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program.

Program Chairs

So who administers this program? The designation program is administered by the Commission on Chief Fire Officer Designation, which was established to support the enhanced professionalism through the designation of chief fire officers. They oversee and manage the day-to-day operations, subject to the oversight of the board of directors of Commission on Fire Accreditation International.

Commissioners are responsible to formulate and monitor commission activities and recommend the budget to the directors. They act on requests for designation in accordance with standards set by the full commission membership. Understand that none of this could be done without the office staff that is hired by the directors. The staff is an invaluable asset not only to the directors and commission, but all candidates and possible candidates.

The commission is composed of:

• Fire agency head representing career departments,
• Fire agency head representing volunteer departments,
• Fire agency head representing combination departments,
• ICMA representative,
• International fire service representative,
• Diversity representative,
• Academic representative,
• Federal representative and
• At-large representative.

When a position opens, the commission solicits and accepts nominations from appropriate organizations to fill the vacant positions. An entity nominating a person must commit to funding its nominee's attendance at commission meetings, or otherwise assure the nominees have meeting expenses covered. The term of each commission member is three years. Terms are staggered for members.