CHIEF ATTENDS NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMY SEMINAR ON MANAGING INFORMATION

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Robert L. Ridgeway recently joined 20 other fire chiefs and fire administrators at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., for a seminar on fire service information management.

"It was a wonderful education experience," Ridgeway said after returning from the two-week seminar. "It's the best deal in the country for the price."

Once firefighters or administrative personnel are admitted into the academy, the only thing they are left to pay for is meals, Ridgeway said. Everything else is paid for by the federal government.

The course Ridgeway took focuses on the development of effective information management systems for fire and allied service agencies. The course is designed to assist managers by providing the background necessary to assess information needs and to plan for information management systems.

The timing for the course was almost perfect, considering the Cape Girardeau Fire Department recently adopted the national Incident Management System, to use for calls of all sizes.

"The concept behind the course is to provide the person in an organization who has major planning responsibility with some of the tools necessary and the type of information necessary to plan for his department," said Ridgeway. "The course is designed for upper level people -- of the 21 people in the class, 19 of them were fire chiefs."

The emphasis of the course was placed on the quality of service delivered to the public by the fire department as a whole. It was broken down into modules of leadership, strategic planning and project management.

Ridgeway said that he and the other fire chiefs had homework every night -- either reading assignments, written assignments or a combination of both.

"It was a wonderful education experience," said Ridgeway. "But one of the greatest benefits of classes at the Fire Academy is the networking you can do while you're there.

"I came back with a big stack of business cards and got to know a lot of people who do things a lot different than we do," he continued. "Having people outside this area to call upon for information is a very valuable resource."

Currently two other members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department are attending classes at the National Fire Academy.

Assistant Fire Chief Max Jauch is taking an arson investigation course; Lt. Brad Golden -- the chief medical officer at the fire department -- is taking an emergency medical services course.

Both are due back next week.

"We have several other applications pending from men within the department who would like to take a course or courses at the academy," said Ridgeway.

The chief said the National Fire Academy has two enrollment periods per year, when departments across the country can apply. The fire department selects which members it would like to send to specific programs, and then submits the names to the academy.

"It's all part of our ongoing training program," Ridgeway said. "We're going to get as many of our people in to courses at the academy as we can."