As a member of FIRE CHIEF magazine's editorial advisory board, I was asked to reflect on the past 50 years of fire service education and training. It forced me to think back on my 40 years of experience and then some. All I can say is we have come a long way.

In the early years, fire education was mostly informal. Training was usually done at or after a working fire, of which there were many. The more experienced members of the department would take the less experienced ones under their wings after a call and go over what had happened. This type of training actually worked, but there was no standardization and a macho concept of firefighting prevailed. A firefighter wasn't considered good unless he walked out of a fire building with black stuff running out of his nose while on his way to light up a cigarette. When air packs were introduced, some departments maintained that wearing them made you less of a firefighter.

Though that training method continued through the mid-1970s, some of that attitude began to change 1956 in, when the National Fire Protection Association issued the standard on the fire hazards of materials. This made some fire officers think a bit about such things. It was an ever-so-small spark toward today's thinking.

Training manuals known as Redbooks from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) were beginning to be circulated throughout the country in the 1960s. These manuals were validated by what is now called the International Fire Service Training Association. The publisher of those manuals evolved into a separate organization in 1973 known as Fire Protection Publications.

Formal fire education and training began to take on some importance in the early 1970s. From 1971 to 1972 the Maryland State Fireman's Association developed a document entitled Report of the President's Special Committee for the Development of Firefighting and Rescue Education, Training and Facilities Program. This was a 10-year plan to incorporate the university and state government in firefighter education and training. This document and a few others led to the creation of the now-famous Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute in 1975. By the 1980s MFRI was a leading publisher of fire and emergency services manuals.

The landmark document America Burning: The Report of the National Commission of Fire Prevention and Control, prompted lawmakers to pass Public Law 93-498, The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974. Its passage into law, combined with PL93-498, created the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fire Academy, establishing a formal national fire education program.

In the 1980s, a small conference created in 1928 hosted by the insurance industry with emphasis on firefighter instructors began to dramatically increase in size. That conference continues to grow, and today is one of the largest conferences in the nation. That conference is, of course, the Fire Department Instructors Conference.

Through the 1980s and '90s the need for formalized firefighter education and training had become ingrained in the fire and emergency services. In 2000, NFPA 1000, Fire Service Professional Qualifications, formally outlined a national standard for a qualified firefighter. Specifically, it introduced the categories of Firefighter I and II, arguably the most radical change agent that descended on the fire service.

Over the same time, training accidents were increasing, leading to deaths and injuries of firefighters. NFPA 1403, Live Fire Training, was created in 2002, bringing the safety of firefighters during training to the forefront.

Today the fire service has standard training models for most aspects of the profession, and it has placed a strong emphasis on the prevention of firefighter deaths and injuries. The saying “everyone goes home” is beginning to be a universal motto for the fire service.

In 2004, a large number of fire service organizations attended the Firefighter Life Safety Summit hosted by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The parties agreed to 16 life-safety initiatives for the fire and emergency services. This prompted the launch of the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Near-Miss Program and the Safety Stand Down.

We already are seeing a move toward Web-based training that will continue in the future, including an increase of the use of virtual-reality programs similar to the fire inspection course developed by the Wilson (N.C.) Fire Department. More and more facilitative and hands-on training will take place, not only on the fire training ground but in the classrooms and on computer screens.

Fire service education and training has gone through quite an evolutionary process, and it will continue to evolve as long as change becomes more accepted. What has occurred in fire education and training in the last 50 years is exciting and a testimony to our brothers and sisters in the fire service. I am looking forward to the future of fire service education and training. How about you?