Leadership roles and responsibilities in a volunteer fire department are no different from those of a full-time, paid, career department. Yet volunteer fire officers and fire chiefs have the added challenge of leading unpaid volunteers in an organization that typically has few resources to invest in formal leadership development. In the absence of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study how learning within the fire and rescue services may be conceptualized, with special attention paid to tunnel fire safety. Previous studies have developed a model to understand learning in emergency response work. The concept of learning is extended from observed changes in relevant settings to also…

The United States fire service is at a critical crossroads. Can it continue relying on outdated educational methodology to teach the 21st century fire instructor, or does it enact change to create an innovative, modern approach to instructor education? Fire Departments are rapidly losing decades of knowledge through retirement of their senior…

This article examines whether and to what extent school climate and previous experience of attempted suicide or suicide of someone close, affect the strategies adopted by Israeli school staff members in coping with a student's suicide. Participants included 84 homeroom teachers, principals, counselors, and psychologists who work at schools where a…

Numerous fires during demonstrations in secondary schools, museums, and science centers have occurred while using flammable liquids. This calls to light the need to educate undergraduate students and educators in the safe handling and use of these flammable chemicals. Understanding the benefits and risks of flammable liquids should be an essential…

America's fire departments are busier than ever, responding to both emergency and non-emergency calls that have dramatically increased over the last several decades (National Fire Protection Association [NFPA], 2021b). This dissertation in practice analyzed the on-duty training model of a mid-sized fire department in the northwestern United…

Immersive virtual reality (VR) is a technology that can be effective for procedural skills training through game-based simulations such as serious games. The current study describes the instructional design, development, and evaluation of the FSCHOOL fire preparedness serious game in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE-VR) for elementary…

This review paper synthesizes peer-reviewed empirical research published between 2010 and 2021 about wildland fire communication practices. Our goal was to systematically review and provide an overview of how wildland fire communication has been empirically studied, and theoretical and methodological underpinnings and representativeness of this…

The University of Maryland First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) was launched in 2014 and initially developed to provide a broad range of undergraduate students with research experience. As the program has grown and matured during six years of operation, the student outcomes targeted have evolved to include a broader range of…

In the twenty-first century, free speech and its twin, free inquiry have increasingly come under fire, and to a far greater degree than in the 1950s, censors come from within academia. Various forms of critical theory have gained substantial influence in U.S. higher education, where adherents use their power to brand free speech and free inquiry…

Fire and rescue operations in tunnels constitute unusual and complex working environments for first responders. The ability to make correct decisions, based on the tunnel's specific characteristics, demands welltrained incident commanders equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills. The potential catastrophic consequences of tunnel fires have…

Instructional design in a fire academy is essential for high academic achievement while students learn the basics of firefighting and hazardous materials. It is critical to explore concerns about balancing the students' cognitive load because of a significant decline in academic achievement. Students pursuing a firefighting career at a community…

Background: Treatment for adults who set fires relies upon valid and reliable assessment. Research is needed to ensure self-report measures are available for adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities and that they are robust. Method: Qualitative and quantitative data from three rounds of a Delphi exercise with practitioners and a focus group…

Scientists agree that we are on the precipice of a global climate crisis. How will it transform colleges and universities? In 2019, intense fires in the San Francisco Bay Area closed universities and drove afflicted people to shelter at other campuses. At the same time, extraordinary fires ravaged eastern Australia. Several universities responded…

This article explores school counselors' experiences of the 2017 Sonoma Complex wildfires. Thirty-eight school counselors completed a 20-item survey exploring impact and responses to the devastating wildfires. Results detail school counselors' insights regarding post-fire responses and the impact of the fires on students, families, and school…