Firefighters face many high-risk situations, from battling fires to managing hazardous materials and medical emergencies. The inherent dangers of these scenarios are reflected in the statistics from the U.S. Fire Administration, which reported 141 on-duty firefighter fatalities in 2021. Recognizing the critical need for enhanced safety, the…

The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to understand the perceptions of fire service employees about generational conflict within fire service organizations across the United States. The findings of the study could allow fire service organization leaders to develop better conflict resolution practices related to generational…

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…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have challenges with communication, changes in routine, and processing social information and communication that can affect their ability to learn and respond successfully to safety threats. When given behavioral skills training (BST), children with and without ASD have demonstrated gains in safety…

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…

Spatio-temporal processes are ubiquitous and prevalent across disciplines. Understanding the mechanisms underlying processes and integrating this information into models is of great interest, as it can improve forecasting accuracy and align with scientific motivation. Examples of such models include Partial Differential Equation (PDE) Models or…

This multi-case study analyzed the formal and informal development of adaptive capacity in fire service leaders within the context of increasingly complex situations driven by urbanization and climate change. Triangulating interviews, observations, and documentation review, this study included two urban fire service cases impacted by past complex…

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…

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…

Problem: Research about paramedic education, specifically, the field internship and capstone experience is limited. Particularly scarce are studies regarding the student's perspective. Previous research (Joyce, et al., 2011) indicated paramedics view their field internship as the most valuable portion of their education. This phase of paramedic…