Fighting Fire with Fire
UMUC rushes into the fray to help firefighters battle time challenges to earn a college degree

Thomas Winship, who works for the District of Columbia Fire Department, jump started his career at UMUC.

Most of us like to run from fires. Can you imagine running into one?

You can if saving lives is what you do.

Increasing numbers of firefighters are finding what they do not want to do is run to and from colleges and universities to complete their college degrees. For that reason, the fire science (FSCN) program at UMUC is particularly suited for busy fire, rescue, and EMS personnel. Begun in 1978 through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the distance program boasts over 300 graduates. Now that the University is putting the program online, it will be even more accessible for thousands more students.

The bachelor's degree program has both seasoned veterans and relative newcomers among its students and alumni. Prince George's County, Md. Fire Chief Ronald J. Siarnicki received his BS, with a specialization in fire science, from UMUC in 1994. He's been teaching in the program since 1995. Siarnicki went on to earn a master's in technology management from UMUC and actually helped to fight a fire that broke out at the University. That was one more opportunity, he said, to give something back to the institution that has played such a big part in his life.

"I have a deep affinity for UMUC," says Siarnicki, "because I'm a graduate of the program, and I'm very cognizant of what it's like to be a distance learner."

Siarnicki said he appreciates that the University offers a variety of venues for students to get their degrees, while offering a program that is rigid enough to ensure that high-caliber students participate. That is especially important when one considers the competition for full-time jobs in fire service. In Prince George's County, for example, Siarnicki said, there were over 2,400 applicants for just 100 available positions last year. Someone with a degree in fire science is likely to have the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to pass both written tests and an oral board examination his department requires.

JoAnne Hildebrand

FSCN program administrator JoAnne Hildebrand agrees: "Fire science is not just about putting out fires anymore," says Hildebrand. "The field of fire service is very complicated now and requires a lot of critical thinking, good judgment, and a vast base of knowledge and talents, including preparing public presentations and public speaking. That's why it's especially important that we reach as many individuals as possible. Online education enables us to do that."

Some, like George Griffin, a battalion chief in the Philadelphia Fire Department, have used the experience to go beyond their organizations. Since obtaining his bachelor's degree at UMUC, Griffin has worked as a consultant on counter-terrorism training for both the Department of State in the Middle East and for the Defense Department and Justice Department in the United States.
"My degree greatly enhanced both my acumen on the job and in dealing with other aspects of emergency management," said Griffin. "I used the UMUC degree as a steppingstone to earn a master's degree in public safety, too. Both make me much marketable in my professional pursuits."

Experiences like Griffin's are not uncommon. In a survey of FSCN graduates conducted last summer, 60% of respondents earned a promotion at work or advanced in rank, and an overwhelming 80% got an increase in pay after earning the degree.

Pamela Homeyer, of Kezar Falls, Me., works as an insurance underwriter for Excess Insurance Underwriters in Portland. She chose the program in 1994 because it was offered at a distance and because she believed it was the best option for either furthering her current career or enabling her to get into something else. Homeyer says she has ample opportunity to find other work, for example, for the city or state risk manager, or the fire marshal.

"I had a company not long ago as a client," says Homeyer, "and I had to determine its insurance needs and what would happen in case of a fire with potentially volatile chemicals. Because I do so many inspections, it's very important that I understand the issues.

"It's amazing that there's so much knowledge you get from those classes," Homeyer continued. "That degree has a much wider scope than you'd think."

Like other UMUC programs, the fire science degree accommodates students by accepting credits earned at other accredited colleges and universities as well as credit for life experiences. Dianne Borsuk was majoring in accounting at her local community college in New Jersey when she decided to pursue the FCSN program at UMUC after taking electives in fire science for her associate's degree. Because she was already a member of her local volunteer fire department, it seemed like a good choice.

"It was ideal," Borsuk says, "because I was able to work and do my learning at a distance part time. I even transferred my credits at the community college to UMUC. And, since one of my main goals in life was to have a bachelor's degree by the time I was 30, being able to participate in class when it was convenient enabled me to do that."

Borsuk went on to say that her work in fire science also led to meeting her husband, Glenn, who is a volunteer firefighter, as well. "Glenn and I were in different fire departments and met through a mutual friend who's in yet another fire department!"

Now a stay-at-home mom who cares for their two-year-old daughter, Ashley, Borsuk still volunteers at her local fire department. But, she expects she won't run as many fire calls in coming months. The couple's second child is due in August.

UMUC recently began offering a new certificate program, modeled after a popular one that is offered in cooperation with the National Fire Academy. Like that program, the new National Volunteer Fire Council program offers credits that may be applied toward a bachelor's degree in fire science. The online certificate program consists of four courses that may be taken at any time and does not involve students moving through the program as a cohort.

According to Hildebrand, certificate programs are especially helpful to fire, rescue, and EMS personnel who need a start in their plans to become chief officers to manage their organizations.

Thomas Winship has such aspirations.

"I lived in a fire station for two years while working on my BS in fire science at UMUC," says Winship, a firefighter assigned to Engine 17 for the District of Columbia Fire Department. Now enrolled in a master's program in public administration at George Mason University, he can serve as assistant chief with the Chillum-Adelphi Volunteer Fire Department in Langley Park, Md., in his spare time.

Winship, 30, would never be this far, he says, without the start at UMUC. "I knew I wanted to be a leader in the fire service," says Winship. "The program at UMUC provided the specific training in fire service management I needed. The public administration degree I'm near completing should qualify me for a top-level manager position in local government, the fire chief in a municipality, for example. Of course, I need 20 years of experience, too."

When asked why he chose fire science, Winship says laughing, "I grew up next to a fire station in Topsfield, Mass., and suppose I never really outgrew the shiny red fire trucks and loud noises!"