Our Staff

Our instructional staff is very special. Many were very good instructors in their own right, even before beginning to teach with F.I.R.E.S. Many have had and continue to have extensive training with their own team and/or department. Most have had more courses than the average firefighter or rescuer. Many have had "tons" of field experience. All this before they begin to teach with us.

Then the serious training begins. We have taught our instructional staff! Some, "from the start." Jacque and his staff have a very special relationship with each other. The have an extremely strong bond upon which to build exceptional instructional careers. Jacque and every F.I.R.E.S. instructor work to teach and enhance each other's abilities.

Our instructors serve an apprenticeship as Instructor Trainee (1 to 2 year average). After our Instructor trainees serve this apprenticeship, they become Assistant Instructors. They are now capable of teaching various segments in selected courses. They have learned our course content and the methods we use to teach. They are also very capable of acting upon and performing any necessary rescue or emergency action that might occur during a class (their response, actions, and reactions to various situations must be finely tuned and refined - lives may depend on it).

In a period of 2 to 4 years, many of these competent Assistant Instructors will become F.I.R.E.S. Lead Instructors. They have become very capable teachers and are responsible for delivering quality instruction (and in many cases - they are responsible for the lives of their students, the other instructors, and/or their own). They are also able to coordinate the activities of up to 30 students and up to 5 instructors during a class. They must insure that the class "flows" safely and efficiently so that the students learn and accomplish as much as they possibly can, in the short time that we have to teach them. F.I.R.E.S. instructors truly are "special people."

Those few instructors who have not "come up through the ranks," with us, have to be very special, for us to choose them. They have to be very good in their chosen field. But, even that is not enough. They will still serve as an Assistant Instructor until they learn our course content and our method of teaching it to our students. Once they have proven their abilities to teach the material, lead other instructors, and conduct safe, high quality, productive classes, they become F.I.R.E.S. Lead Instructors (usually in a period of 1 to 3 years).