Effective May 19, 2020
The Mississippi Fire Academy is currently making adjustments for upcoming courses and deliveries. Last week, we spoke to the Mississippi Fire Service Minimum Standards and Certification Board along with the Mississippi Fire Academy Advisory Board, to inform them of our current situation. This is a very challenging time for many Mississippians and the Fire Academy.
When this pandemic started, we had several classes in progress. This included the Firefighter 1001 Basic Class 186 and several field classes. Since these 1001 students were sent home in March, they have been working diligently on course material through our online learning management system(LMS). This has included online lectures, activities and chapter testing for the 1001 course.
This week, we are traveling across the state to help finish these programs. Since the Fire Academy is not allowing students on campus during the statewide shutdown, we are utilizing a few local hotels to test our students. We are conducting written testing in Southaven, Gulfport and Pearl Mississippi. We have rented conference rooms at these hotels with Wi-Fi access to ensure proper spacing and sterile conditions. Students are given mask and sanitizer for the testing environment. Temperatures are taken for each student as they arrive at the site.
We will also be testing the written portions of the Field 1001 modules at these off site locations. Distant Learner and Online 1041/1021 Courses will be tested during this time as well. Upon completion of these test dates, we hope to have reached all of the students that were involved in a class at the time of the shutdown.
The Fire Academy has several models and schedules prepared for the remainder of the year that will be implemented once our facility re-opens. These are tentative models since we do not have an exact restart time for on campus deliveries. Obviously, the current calendar for the Fire Academy will have to be altered. We will do our best to conduct as many of these previously scheduled courses as possible, but we will prioritize the deliveries based upon the critical need for each course. For example, NFPA 1001 will take precedence.
Beginning in June, we will be releasing field delivery programs to fire departments that are requesting these courses. This includes all specialty programs (Rope,HazMat,ConSpace,etc) and the 12 – hour fire schools. We ask each student or department hosting these events to maintain the proper CDC guidelines for safety during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please contract Instructor Chief Shannon Sandridge or Instructor Chief Nick Ragan for details regarding these deliveries.
As statewide offices begin to reopen, we will continue to provide updates on our website and social media platforms. Please do not hesitate to call or email our staff with questions or concerns you might have with upcoming courses and deliveries.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of our responders and their families during this time.
