Fire Marshal's Communiqué

Fire Marshal's Communiqué

June 13, 2008

2008-05

INCORPORATING THE ONTARIO FIREFIGHTER STANDARD
(2007 EDITION) INTO ONTARIO CURRICULA

(External Distribution)

In Ontario, firefighter curricula are based on the Ontario Firefighter Standard. This standard was revised in late 2007 and has resulted in a number of curriculum changes. Additionally, the Ontario Firefighter Standard exceeds NFPA 1001, Standard for Firefighter Professional Qualification (2008), which was also revised. To ensure continued accreditation with IFSAC and ProBoard, the curriculum design team took all these standards changes into consideration.

All of the changes in the Ontario and NFPA 1001 standards were analysed to determine the extent to which curricula needed to be revised. As a result, a single standardized curriculum for firefighters in Ontario was developed. This curriculum, which is called the Ontario Standardized Curriculum Firefighters Document, outlines the learning outcomes, the key content areas and the performance testing requirements for all firefighter education and training in Ontario.

Ontario continues to deliver firefighter education and training through municipal fire services as well as community colleges with signed agreements with the Office of the Fire Marshal / Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs.

The Ontario Fire College is incorporating the changes in this standardized curriculum into the Ontario Firefighter Curriculum Learner and Trainer Guides, for dissemination in June 2008.

Community colleges will announce when the revised pre-service programs will be implemented.

In accordance with the requirements of the accreditation bodies, ProBoard and IFSAC, provincial testing to the new standards will begin in November 2009.

An overview of the changes in the curricula that resulted from the revisions mentioned above can be found in the chart on the back of this page.

Ontario Standardized Curriculum for Firefighters Document (2008 Edition)

Note:

Significant changes from the former Ontario Firefighter Curriculum and the Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training Programs (2002) are noted.
For the most part, repositioning of course material from one location to another is not noted here.
The total time to meet the entire curriculum has not changed.

Module or Section	Summary of Key Changes
Introduction to the Fire Service	Includes content on Firefighter Safety Practices
Fire Behaviour	Minimal changes
Fire Ground Operations
- Firefighter Survival	New Content
- Apparatus	Consistent theory on Aerials and Tankers
- Incident Management	Includes content on Pre-Incident Planning
- Fire Suppression	New content in Hydraulics, Flammable Gas Cylinders Fires, Ignitable Liquid Fires and Wildland Fires
Emergency Patient Care	This section was revised to reflect the role of firefighters more accurately. Therefore, there was significant reduction in content for all areas, except Pre-Hospital Care Sections that were deleted entirely include: Abdominal, Endocrine, Infant/Child, Older Adult, Behavioural / Psychological, Environmental A new section entitled “other” contains minimal content formerly in Endocrine and Environmental sections
Environmental Protection & Rescue	Building Construction and Collapse – New Content Trench Rescue – New Content Hazardous Materials Awareness will continue to be based on NFPA 472, 2002, which exceeds the 2008 standard, as it is designed in keeping with the role of fire service response at this level. The Hazardous Materials Operations section is based on NFPA 2008 Chapter 5. This is a theory chapter that requires one skill (Emergency Decon)
Education & Fire Prevention in the Community	Public Education / Relations: This section was revised to reflect the role of firefighters more accurately

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