Online Fire Science Courses

Writing for Career & Creativity (3)
U.S. in the World (3)
Global Dynamics (3)
Quantitative Reasoning (3)
Catholic Worldview (3)
Senior Seminar (3)

This course is designed to be a progressive primer for students who want more knowledge about fire and emergency services administration. The course demonstrates the importance of the following skills necessary to manage and lead a fire and emergency services department through the changes and challenges of the 21st century: persuasion and influence, accountable budgeting, anticipation of challenges and the need for change, and using specific management tools for analyzing and solving problems. A central part of the course focuses on how the leadership of a fire and emergency services department develops internal and external cooperation to create a coordinated approach to achieving the department’s mission. Three lecture hours per week.

This course examines the basic principles of ethics as related to fire service operations and management with special attention given to current issues in the fire service.

This course examines the basic principles of research and methodology for analyzing current fire-related research. The course also provides a framework for conducting and evaluating independent research in the following areas: fire dynamics, fire test standards and codes, fire safety, fire modeling, structural fire safety, life safety, firefighter health and safety, automatic detection and suppression, transportation fire hazards, risk analysis and loss control, fire service applied research and new trends in fire research. Three lecture hours per week.

This course introduces the federal, state, and local laws that regulate emergency services, the national standards influencing emergency services, issues related to standard of care, and tort liability law. relevant court cases provide examples. Three lecture hours per week.

This course examines relationships and issues in personnel administration and human resource development within the context of fire-related organizations, including personnel management, organizational development, productivity, recruitment and selection, performance management systems, discipline and collective bargaining. Three lecture hours per week.

This course examines concepts and principles of community risk assessment, planning, and response to fires and natural and man-made disasters, including civil disturbances, terrorist’s threats/incidents, hazardous materials incidents, mass casualty events, and earthquakes. Standard strategies and organizational frameworks are reviewed, including NIMS/ICS, mutual aid and automatic response, training and preparedness, communications and disaster mitigation and
recovery.

Prerequisite: FRS 321

Students learn about how humans respond to fire and how that knowledge has been integrated into life safety systems design and development. Students examine current and past research on human behavior, systems models, life safety education and building design to determine interactions among these factors in emergencies. Students develop an understanding that best practices in building life safety systems combine knowledge of psychology and sociology joined with engineering and education to produce the best possible outcomes in terms of human survivability in the event of an emergency. Three lecture hours per week.

This course examines the technical, investigative, legal, and social aspects of arson, including principles of incendiary fire analysis and detection, environmental and psychological factors of arson, legal considerations, and intervention and mitigation strategies. Prerequisite: FRS 304.
Three lecture hours per week.

This course is designed to provide an overview of the budgeting and financing process for emergency services organizations. The course will discuss the financing of emergency service organizations as well as their budgets, budget construction, and budget prioritization. The overarching goal is to give prospective emergency services managers the basic information necessary to navigate a (public or private sector) emergency services organizational budget.

This course provides a theoretical framework for the understanding of the ethical, sociological, organizational, political, and legal components of community risk reduction. Students apply the knowledge and methodologies to the development of a comprehensive community risk reduction
plan.

Prerequisite: FRS 365

You will need to take four electives to complete the fire science curriculum. Please speak with your Program Manager for the class options and course descriptions.