The Certificate in General Fire Service Administration (CGFSA) consists of four (4) fully online courses. Courses are a combination of self-study as well as live online sessions. All courses can be taken individually. Successful completion of four (4) courses is required to be awarded the certificate.
By the time fire service officers are promoted to administrative positions in their departments, they have years of fireground training and experience. At this point in their careers, they need a new kind of training to prepare them for the new challenges they face. This certificate will help fire service officers develop their administrative and managerial skills.
Who Should Take This Certificate?
- Graduates of the Certificate in Fire Service Leadership
- Firefighters who are new to or aspire to management roles within their departments
How Will You Benefit?
The Certificate in General Fire Service Administration can help:
- provide participants with skills that enable them to be better managers and leaders within their fire departments.
- instill a breadth and depth of knowledge that will enable participants to better manage their fire departments.
Certificate Requirements
The certificate consists of four (4) courses over 108 hours. The three required courses are:
- OLCD-FIRE0012 Fire Department Human Resource Management I
- OLCD-FIRE0016 Fire Service Strategic Planning
- OLCD-LGOV0037 Municipal Finance (formerly OLCD-FIRE0019 Municipal Finance)
Students can then choose one elective from the following:
- OLCD-FIRE0033 Wildfire and Climate Change Adaptation Management
- OLCD-PALS0033 Introduction to Occupational Stress and Resilience for First Responder Leaders
Please note: The prerequisite for the Certificate in General Fire Service Administration is the Certificate in Fire Service Leadership.
Fees and Schedule
See each course for the applicable tuition fee. Courses start in September, January and April. Each course is offered once a year. Courses can be taken in any order.
For assistance or more information, please contact openlearning@dal.ca.
Recognition of Prior Learning
It may be possible to receive advanced standing in this certificate based on your prior learning from work or life experience. We provide two types of recognition of prior learning:
- Prior Certified Learning: Assessment of prior coursework or training through a provider, that is neither a university or college, for the purpose of advanced standing. Examples of certified learning may include military courses, accredited certificates, workplace training programs, etc.
- Prior Experiential Learning: Assessment of previous work and life learning that may be equivalent to learning outcomes of university courses / programs, for the purpose of advanced standing. Relevant prior learning may come from work or volunteer experience, participation on committees or boards, independent study, etc.
To discuss how to use your prior learning to apply for advanced standing, please contact rpl@dal.ca.