Fire Inspector Qualifications - A Path for Professional Development

Photo credit: Los Angeles Fire Department

It has been almost thirteen years since I walked into the fire academy to get the education I needed for a career. My intention was to become a “firefighter” however, it was in the academy, that I learned of the various pathways that title and role could follow. Of the nearly 400 hours of training that is required to become a certified firefighter in the state of Florida, about four of those hours are dedicated to fire prevention. It was with this brief introduction that I knew the path my career would follow.

A quick search on professional development in the fire service will return a plethora of information on career guidance and advancement. The majority of this information will be based on the operations and suppression side of the industry.  There is a disproportionately small amount of information on career development for the fire prevention, inspections, and plan review divisions of this field.

With the many different certification bodies, educational programs, and course options, it can be difficult to create a clear path for success in the field.  However, with some simple guidance and a bit of persistence success can be had. The starting point is within yourself. You must determine the goals and objectives that you have for your career. Do you want to work for a municipal fire department or an industrial type of department? Do you want to work in public service, or the private sector? Are you excited about a career in your “hometown” department, or are you looking forward to the travel and “adventure” that overseas contract work can provide? What part of fire prevention do you want to focus on - inspections, plan review, public education, or investigations? Where are you now and where do you want to be, and what is the ultimate goal of your career? Do you desire to move up the career ladder - inspector, supervisor, chief? The answers to these questions will help to shed light on your career pathway.

After you have an idea of what direction you want your fire inspection and plan review career to follow, you will need to obtain the necessary certifications.  Typically, you will find that these requirements follow these four primary certification paths. These are State specific requirements, IFSAC/ProBoard, International Code Council (ICC), and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Always start with your state’s requirements. Some states defer the certification process to these other listed certifying bodies, and others have their own programs for certification.  Beyond the state requirements, the chart below, shows the certification levels that are available, in the order they should be obtained within.

For certifications related to advancement, there are many options. There is currently no set standard for obtaining the top rank within fire prevention (such as Fire Marshal or Chief of Prevention). The state of Florida and the state of California are two states that provide a formal certification for these positions. Their programs can serve as a model for other states, departments, and organizations to follow.

Model Programs

Florida

California

The chart below is based on the Department of Defense (DoD) requirements for fire service positions. This can serve as a general guide to professional development and advancement. In the least, this provides a framework to build your career on, it can be modified to meet your particular state or departments requirements.

Keep in mind that the career path presented here is showing only the path of fire inspector and plans examiner, to Chief Officer.  There are additional certification requirements for those who desire to take the fire prevention path of public educator, fire investigator, or community risk reduction specialist. Though there is overlap in the certification process, each of these have their own path to the top positions in this field.

Inspectores de Bomberos abrumados

Fuente: Oakland Post  - San Pablo Apartment Fire

El Bay Area News Group publicó recientemente un artículo titulado, “Quemado: Cómo los abrumados inspectores de bomberos nos protegen”. Este es un informe de investigación que detalla cómo los departamentos de bomberos del área de la bahía de California no están logrando los requerimientos anuales de inspección de incendios. Este artículo muestra las deficiencias de los organismos de prevención de incendios y pide respuestas a los oficiales de bomberos locales.

Los autores del artículo analizaron las estadísticas de un período de ocho años y muestran

que las inspecciones anuales requeridas en las escuelas K-12 (nota del traductor: desde

Kinder hasta grado 12) y en las propiedades residenciales multifamiliares no se llevan a cabo. Varios departamentos de bomberos admiten que ni siquiera saben dónde están estas propiedades o cuántas existen en su jurisdicción. Estas brechas en las inspecciones se atribuyen a los bajos niveles del personal y a los inadecuados sistemas de recopilación de datos. Estos dos elementos críticos conducen fácilmente a "departamentos de bomberos abrumados y a menudo desorganizados". Un Fire Marshal (Inspector de Bomberos)  afirma que los hallazgos en este informe de investigación revelan "una falla sistemática de los programas de inspección en su departamento y en otros".

Este es un artículo importante para que todos los inspectores de incendios lean: →

http://extras.mercurynews.com/fireinspection/

El libro “Fire Prevention Blueprint: Seven Disciplines for Building Effective

Fire Prevention Organizations”, (disponible en Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/2JAkka6), aborda estos problemas y proporciona siete disciplinas que los departamentos de prevención y seguridad de los cuerpos de bomberos deben implementar para lograr un rendimiento eficaz y eficiente.

Las siete disciplinas descritas en el Fire Prevention Blueprint, están estructuradas para

ayudar a los departamentos de bomberos a evitar el abatimiento y crear un camino claro

de acción para sus organizaciones en la prevención de incendios.

Disciplina # 1: Conocer a la comunidad.

Disciplina # 2: Tener un plan.

Disciplina # 3: Hacer cumplir los códigos (normatividad).

Disciplina # 4: Realizar revisión del plan e inspecciones de campo.

Disciplina # 5: Investigar incidentes de fuego.

Disciplina # 6: Educar al público.

Disciplina # 7: Tener el personal adecuado.

Puede utilizar nuestra herramienta "FPO Effectiveness Tool"

(Disponible en: http://thecodecoach.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-fpo-effectiveness-tool.html),

para evaluar dónde se encuentra su institución y qué áreas deben mejorarse para lograr la

máxima efectividad.

Autor:  Aaron Johnson

Traducido por:  Fernando Castillo, Colombia

Overwhelmed Fire Inspectors

San Pablo Apartment Fire - Oakland Post

The Bay Area News Group recently published an article entitled, “Burned Out: How Overwhelmed Fire Inspectors Fail to Protect Us.”  This is an investigative report that details how California’s Bay Area fire departments are not achieving annual fire inspection requirements.  This article shows the deficiencies of the fire prevention organizations and calls for answers from the local fire officials.

The article’s authors looked at statistics over an eight year period, and show that annual required inspections in K-12 schools and multi-family residential properties are failing to be conducted. Several departments admit to not even knowing where these properties are or how many exist in their jurisdiction.  These inspection gaps are blamed on low staffing levels, and inadequate data collection systems. These two critical elements easily lead to “overwhelmed and often disorganized fire departments”. One Fire Marshal states that the findings in this investigative report reveal “a systematic failure of inspection programs in his and other departments”.

This is an important article for all fire inspectors to read → http://extras.mercurynews.com/fireinspection/

Fire Prevention Blueprint: Seven Disciplines for Building Effective Fire Prevention Organizations addresses these issues and provides seven disciplines fire prevention organizations need to implement for effective and efficient performance.

The seven disciplines outlined in the Fire Prevention Blueprint are structured to help fire departments prevent overwhelm and create a clear path of action for their fire prevention organizations.

Discipline #1: Know the community.

Discipline #2:  Have a plan.

Discipline #3:  Enforce the code.

Discipline #4: Conduct plan review and field inspections.

Discipline #5:  Investigate fire incidents.

Discipline #6:  Educate the public.

Discipline #7:  Be adequately staffed.

You can utilize our "FPO Effectiveness Tool" to assess where your organization is, and what areas need to be improved on to achieve maximum effectiveness.

More about the Fire Prevention Blueprint:

• Fire Prevention Blueprint
• How to Build an Effective Fire Prevention Organization
• Seven Disciplines for Effective FPO's

Florida Fire Prevention Code, 6th Edition

January 1, 2018 marked the effective date of the 6th edition of the Florida Fire Prevention Code. The Florida Fire Prevention Code is composed of the 2015 editions of NFPA 1, Fire Code and NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, with Florida specific amendments.

These Florida state specific amendments, local amendments, informal interpretations, past editions, and future notices can be accessed from the Florida Fire Prevention Code page, from the Division of State Fire Marshal. 

The full list of adopted codes, standards, and referenced documents and editions are listed in FAC 69A-60.005.

Douglas True, Fire Prevention at Dade City, has built an amazing set of plan review spreadsheets based on this latest edition of the FFPC. These sheets include plans review checklists and calculations.  This document can be downloaded here, http://bit.ly/FFPC_plansreview.

Florida Fire Prevention Code, 6th Edition can be purchased from BNi Building News.

Time Management for the Fire Inspector

Today's lean fire prevention organizations must function more effectively and efficiently than ever.  The key to achieving effectiveness and efficiency is time management. NFPA 1730, Standard on Organization and Deployment of Fire Prevention Inspection and Code Enforcement, Plan Review, Investigation, and Public Education Operations serves as a benchmark for the essential functions of a fire prevention organization or program.  Though, this standard requires only the essential items, even these can seem overwhelming to the understaffed, and overworked fire prevention organization. However, these, and much more, can be accomplished through the effective and efficient use of the inspectors time.  

In his book, The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker provides a 3 step process for time management:

1. Record time
2. Manage time
3. Consolidate time

Time cannot be managed until it can first be found.  The first step toward time management is to record, track, and log how your time is currently being spent. The best way to accomplish this is through the use of a daily log. I always carry a notebook with me. I document every work task that I complete throughout the day. At the end of each day, I review where my time went that day and I prepare the next days schedule to determine where I want my time to go. At the end of each week I send out a an update e-mail on important projects and issues. This weekly activity provides another opportunity to review and evaluate where my time is being spent. At the end of each year I present all of our inspection data, numbers, and time to the department as bench-marking exercise.  Annually, our fire prevention personnel conduct a staffing/task analysis to determine what exactly is being done, how long it is taking to do, and if staffing levels are adequate. All these activities serve to ensure that our time is being used to its maximum potential.

After reviewing where our time is going, it must be managed. The best way to start managing your time is to diagnose and eliminate non-productive and wasteful activities. To determine if a task is non-productive, apply this 3 part 'diagnostic exam'.

1. Does this activity need to be done at all? What would happen if it were never done again? 
2. Can this activity be done by someone else? 
3. Does this task waste other people's time?

Identify and eliminate those tasks that only serve to waste time and produce no results.  Only do the tasks that require you to do them, otherwise, delegate the task to others.  Eliminate those tasks that waste's others time, or find a more productive way to accomplish the goal, so that no ones time is wasted.

Finally, look at the time that you have and consolidate what is there.  This is commonly referred to as, "batching".  This is when you take the time available throughout the day, put that time together, and focus on specific task(s) completion.  It is best if this time can be uninterrupted.  Working in this manner is a more effective and efficient way of working than to jump from task to task, or working in spats of short time spans. For example, schedule all your plan reviews to be conducted on a certain day or portion of ("plan review day"), make one day your day for meetings, set aside a specific time to conduct inspections and stay within the geographical area. 

When considering time management for the fire inspector look to NFPA 1730. This standard provides a formula to determine the time requirements for common fire prevention tasks and demonstrates how to ensure that available time is being used most efficiently.