City College outlines expanded Fire Science and Academy programs, highlights $3M training tower and placements

Retired Captain Jim Connors, Dean Edie Quaper and John Halpin presented the City College of San Francisco Fire Science and Fire Academy program to the San Francisco Fire Commission, describing course curricula, new addenda to their instructional services agreement and facility improvements.

Connors and school leaders said the program comprises three linked parts: Fire Science 110 (basic fire academy), Fire Science 108 (field experience after the 20- to 21-week academy) and a new company officer certificate addendum aligned with State Fire Training. The program offers an associate degree in fire sciences, certificates for Firefighter 1 and Company Officer, a homeland security certificate and a range of electives (EMT or emergency services responder courses) designed to meet State Fire Training core curriculum requirements.

The presenters highlighted a training tower built during the COVID-19 period. "Our new fire training tower completed last year was a $3,000,000 plus project," Connors said, and the facility now allows City College to teach about 90% of the firefighter-1 curriculum on the John Adams campus. Live-fire training remains at San Francisco Fire Department and other regional training facilities because the tower is located in a residential neighborhood.

Commissioners asked about candidate backgrounds, completion rates and hiring outcomes. City College representatives said about 60% of students are serious about pursuing firefighting careers, the program's academy success/completion rate is approximately 99% for City College cohorts, and an internal statistic showed 21% of hires into the San Francisco Fire Department since 2008 were City College academy graduates. The presenters emphasized outreach to improve gender and racial diversity, efforts to shorten class modalities (16-week and 8-week formats), and partnerships with local high schools.

Commissioners expressed support for the program's training outcomes and diversity efforts. The college pledged to continue collaborating with the department, including proposed steps to implement the company officer certificate through a Division of Training partnership later this year.