Fire Leadership Academy

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The Fire Leadership Academy was established in 2016/17 to address a high turnover rate in Fire/EMS. With little or no incentive for youth to stay in the community after graduation and with the high cost to equip and train a new firefighter, it was clear if Flagler County was to improve retention they needed to establish a program to create their own pool of firefighters. Flagler County Fire Rescue in cooperation with the Flagler County School Board created a classroom-to-career curriculum with all approvals needed to open its doors in January 2017 and hiring their first graduates in 2019. In the end, Flagler County created a program with a built in hiring pool and the potential of a long-term employee that will contribute to the local economy. This program has been lauded as the first of its kind in the nation because it goes further than just preparing a student for entering the fire academy upon graduation; it prepares students to enter the workplace.