Fire Chief Graduates from Management Training Program

Seekonk Fire Chief Shaun Whalen was one of the 37 graduates of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy’s Chief Fire Officer Management Training Program on January 22.

“This isn’t a job, it’s a calling,” Whalen said at the ceremony. “It’s the reason we’re all here today. It’s the reason we’ve all endured the last 14 weeks of class.”

The four-month program for new chief officers and chief officer candidates is delivered jointly by the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy and the University of Massachusetts Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management. Through classroom instruction, out-of-class assignments, and student presentations, the course delivers intensive training in the managerial aspects of leading a municipal fire department.

The Chief Fire Officer Management Training Program covers a spectrum of topics considered essential for effective public sector management. It includes human resource management, ethics, executive leadership, governmental and organization structures, information management, customer-focused strategic planning, legal issues, budgets and public finance, community awareness, and labor relations. The curriculum helps fire officers improve their ability to lead and manage personnel, understand employees’ needs and problems, communicate effectively to a variety of audiences, and leverage inter-agency cooperation.  The Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, a division of the Department of Fire Services, offers this program tuition-free.