Three Marion firefighters attain professional ranking

MARION — Three Marion firefighters have achieved a professional fire officer credential that indicates excellence in firefighting.

Lt. Jeff Madland, Lt. Zach Bruce and firefighter Zach Brunscheen were designated “official fire officers” in December by the Commission on Professional Credentialing, run by the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Only 18 firefighters in Iowa — and 706 in the world — hold the credentials. The credential is only valid for three years, and firefighters have to show continued improvement in order to have their credentials renewed.

“I applaud our teammates for pursuing this designation,” Marion Fire Chief Tom Fagan said in a news release. “It signifies their career commitment to excellence in emergency services for the residents and businesses of Marion.”

In order to receive the credential, firefighters have to get reference letters from multiple community members, compile records of all the education they’ve received related to firefighting and prove they are proficient in 13 technical competencies.

After the paperwork and competencies are submitted, the firefighter interviewed in a phone call with a Center for Public Safety Excellence representative.

“It's about a six-month process. You could do it a lot faster if you wanted, but I think to get everything in line and go through all your schooling and putting a lot of thought process into the competencies, it takes a little while to do all that,” Bruce said.

“I think that probably is why there's not that many credentialed fire officers. … It's a time-consuming process and it takes a lot of time on your days off to get this done.”

Setting goals

“I think many of the people that are evaluating you want to see what you have done so far in your career, and more importantly what’s your goal for the next three years and how are you going to make yourself better in the areas that you’ve maybe shown a little bit of deficiency?” Madland said.

“I would say that that’s what they’re looking for, not only someone who has put the time and effort into making a complete application and done the best they can with the application process, but also, where are you going in the next three years? What steps are you going to take to better yourself and the fire service in the next three years?”

The Marion firefighters were introduced to the idea of fire officer credentialing when Bruce went to the National Fire Academy to complete a managing officer program. One of his classmates was a credentialed fire officer and told him about the program, and Bruce brought the idea back to the department.

Fagan became fire chief in September 2022, shortly after Bruce returned from the fire academy, and the fire officer certification aligned well with his vision for the department to pursue increased credentialing and accreditation, according to the three firefighters.

What’s next?

The Marion Fire Department is currently working to pursue official department accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence, something that only 311 fire departments worldwide — including the Cedar Rapids Fire Department — have.

Several other firefighters with the Marion department are working on their fire officer applications, and the firefighters said they’ve heard about firefighters in other nearby departments who are starting to pursue the credential because of what they’ve seen from the Marion department.

“Chief Fagan was a huge driver for me when he came in. He has goals that he wants to accomplish,” Brunscheen said. “It just made sense to keep going with what needed to be done.”

The Center for Public Safety Excellence helped the department with its strategic plan, he said.

“They’re working with us and we’re getting our credentials, and hopefully in the next two or three years we’ll be looking at a whole agency being accredited.”

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