The Certificate in Fire Service Leadership (CFSL) is offered fully online. It provides fire service officers with opportunities to expand their knowledge of the fire service and add management education to their technical training. The CFSL has been offered across Canada since 1996. It is a prerequisite for the Certificate in Fire Service Administration (CFSA).
Who Should Take This Certificate?
Any of the following individuals who have a minimum of 3 years of experience working or volunteering in the fire service:
- Junior officers in career fire departments
- Any officer in volunteer fire department
- Any officer in a composite fire department
- Any firefighter who wants to become an officer
How Will You Benefit?
- For junior officers in career fire departments, it provides essential knowledge for the supervision and leadership of firefighters in fire stations.
- For officers in volunteer departments, it provides essential knowledge for the supervision of volunteers and knowledge to plan new activities within the department; also included is fundraising.
- For officers in composite fire departments, it provides essential knowledge for the supervision of both volunteer and career firefighters.
Certificate Requirements
The certificate consists of three courses over 108 hours. The three required courses are:
- OLCD-FIRE0024 Station Officer: Dealing with People
- OLCD-FIRE0023 Station Officer: Dealing with New Operations
- OLCD-FIRE0025 The Environment of the Fire Station
Once your application and/or registration is received, you will be contacted by the Program Manager to verify your experience. If you do not meet the requirements, your tuition will be refunded. Once this prerequisite is met, your first course must be either OLCD-FIRE0024 Station Officer: Dealing with People or OLCD-FIRE0023 Station Officer: Dealing with New Operations.
Fees and Schedule
See each course for the applicable tuition fee. Courses start in September, January and April. Each course is offered at least once a year. All courses are 12 weeks long and require a minimum of 36 hours of learning engagement each.
Note: Enrolling in OLCD-FIRE0024 or OLCD-FIRE0023 will automatically enrol you in the Certificate in Fire Service Leadership. There is no obligation to complete the certificate.
Note: The CFSL textbooks are used for the full CFSL program (all three courses). They are also used for many of the CFSA courses. Be sure to keep all of your books in a safe place until you have completely finished your studies with us. It is your responsibility to ensure you have the correct books and edition(s) by reviewing the textbook list on the website prior to the start of each course.
For assistance or more information, please contact openlearning@dal.ca.
Do you have prior learning or experience relevant to this certificate?
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.