Starting Fall 2024!

The Experienced Firefighter Pathway is an alternative delivery method designed to allow full-time firefighters to complete their Fire Protection Technician associate degree while continuing to work and serve their communities. Firefighters with certain experience and certification can take advantage of Western's Credit for Prior Learning opportunities to provide a shorter and fully online avenue to complete their degree. 

An individual who might be a good candidate for the Experienced Firefighter Pathway meets MOST of the following criteria:

• 5 years of full-time firefighting experience or volunteer/paid, on-call/part-time equivalent.
• IFSAC or ProBoard Firefighter 1, Hazmat Ops, Firefighter 2, Fire Inspector, Pumper Driver/Operator certification.
• EMT-Basic certification/license.
• Discipline to complete multiple assignments with multiple deadlines.
• Consistent access to computer and ability to get online.
• Successful completion of a college course or the skills to produce a multiple page, properly formatted student research paper (with assistance available, if needed).
• Basic computer skills to produce documents and presentations, participate in online meetings, post and reply on online discussion boards, and access the online library and search engines to conduct research.

Additionally, students should possess professional maturity to participate in each course and engage with the content and course. Fully online education requires a large amount of time spent engaging with course content, with other students, and doing individual research on various topics. Students should be prepared to commit a large amount of time to their coursework.

Find out more about how this pathway helps address the firefighter shortage and hear from graduates of the program on our News Center blog.

Courses

The Experienced Firefighter Pathway is completed in the following manner:

Fire Course Module

These courses will be offered in three separate 7-week sessions and will require a minimum commitment of three hours, twice per week.

State Certification Courses

The following courses are completed through Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) by submitting state certifications for college credit. A $90 payment/course applies for CPL courses.

Note: Certificates must be IFSAC or ProBoard, approved by program chair.
*Hazmat ops is included on some Firefighter 1 certificates

General Education Courses

These five courses represent the requirement for the general education portion of the degree. These courses are offered in various terms and delivery methods. Students will be expected to complete these courses on their own. This can be done in addition to the fire courses, during the summer term, or after completion of the fire courses. Your College Advisor will work with you to determine the best course load for you. Prior college courses may be substituted for these requirements upon approval from the program chair and dean.

Credit for Prior Learning

These courses are typically able to be completed through a credit for prior learning package. These will be discussed and worked on during the three academic terms. Students that lack training to satisfy these requirements may need to attend additional courses.