National Park Service Structural Fire Program reaccredited by Pro Board

NPS Structural Fire Chief Shane Crutcher and Training Chief Bradley Beaty receive certificate of reaccreditation from the Pro Board Committee on Accreditation.

Courtesy of Pro Board

In 2012, the National Park Service (NPS) became one of only two federal agencies to be accredited through the Pro Board, a system of international accreditation for fire service organizations. In 2017, the NPS was reaccredited, and now after five more years, it was time to again go through the process to become accredited for the third time and continue being recognized with more than 70 other national and international organizations.

Pro Board

The Pro Board was established in 1972 as the original fire service system for the accreditation of agencies that certify candidates to the various disciplines and levels identified in the National Fire Protection Association Professional Qualifications series of standards. For the NPS, Pro Board accreditation is the gold standard of third-party assessment and affirmation that our bureau’s testing process for firefighter training is fair, valid, and reliable.

NPS Structural Fire has a training program that certifies firefighters to the Firefighter I/II, Hazmat Awareness, Hazmat Operations, and Apparatus Driver Operator. Before 2011, NPS Structural Fire had used its own policies and procedures to certify firefighters and the training was only recognized within the NPS. In 2011, the Structural Fire Program received its first accreditation from the Pro Board and was able to issue internationally recognized certifications with the Pro Board seal of approval. This increased the professionalism of NPS structural firefighters and established a set of standards that must be demonstrated to the Pro Board every five years or when a review is requested.

The 2023 Pro Board reaccreditation process required the NPS Structural Fire Program to review all course curriculum, validate testing materials and all training aides, and all course delivery systems. Gathering this information over several months required 120 staff hours. The information was then input into a web-based system and the NPS’ application was reviewed by the Committee on Accreditation to ensure it met the minimum requirements for the bureau to be an accredited agency. After the committee’s review, the NPS Structural Fire Program hosted an onsite visit with two members from the committee. During the visit, the program demonstrated how they used a twelve-week online course for academics and how they have entered into a cooperative agreement with the City of Boise Fire Department to use their fire department training grounds for the three week in-person fire academy. The capstone of the committee members’ visit was a line-by-line review of all NPS testing material to ensure that it was fair, valid, and reliable.

The Pro Board held their annual conference in Plano, Texas from January 11 to 14, 2023. During the conference, the committee on Accreditation voted to recognize the NPS as a Pro Board accredited agency for another five years and the certificate was presented during the recognition part of the conference. The recertification allows the NPS to continue to deliver certifications with the Pro Board seal of approval that allows other agencies around the world to recognize the certification of NPS firefighters.