Terry Flanagan is NIFAST’s Director of Education, with over 32 years in the fire protection business. Terry is a graduate of the Air Force Technical Training Instructor Course. While serving as a United States Air Force firefighter for over 22 years, Terry performed a myriad of duties including hose man, pump operator, fire inspector, Assistant Chief of Operations, and Fire Instructor. Throughout his career, he conducted numerous fire safety training sessions and organized classes and demonstrations during fire prevention week.
Terry consistently leads the creation of new fire protection programs for NIFAST. In 1986, he was selected to develop and implement the first wartime firefighter training course. This week-long course for active duty National Guard and Reserve Firefighters was recognized as instrumental in a firefighter’s successful completion of their mission in Desert Storm.
This is Terry’s first blog with NIFAST.
Proactive. This word is used frequently. As I was tasked to come up with online residential and off campus housing fire safety courses that word stuck in my head. As I poured over the statistics from 1999-2007 and saw the number of deaths, injuries, and damage in the residential arena (2,920 deaths in 1999, 2,895 in 2007), I realized we were missing something. Why are we always looking backwards and assessing horrible fire statistics after the tragedy occurs, instead of trying to be more proactive to prevent these terrible tragedies in the first place?
There are many sites that talk about what to do in the event of a fire, about having a plan, and practicing it. But very few that talk about HOW TO PREVENT FIRES.
NIFAST’s motto is “Fighting Fire with Awareness”. The key is prevention! Educating residents, teaching college students what hazards to look for and believe it or not, how to safely host a party! Education and knowledge are the keys to safer lives!
The NIFAST online courses are comprised of three sources that are comprehensive, easy to read, and yes, proactive. At NIFAST we strongly believe that the best way to drive down the number of people who lose their lives in residential and off campus fires annually is to prevent the fires in the first place. The key to this is to be proactive in educating the occupants. Our online courses do exactly that! Please continue to follow us as we help residents, home inspectors and college students arm themselves with the right fire safety education. The time is now to be proactive about updating your fire safety profile. Please join in our efforts to help provide for safer lives!
Terry Flanagan NIFAST – Director of Education and Certification
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Very impressive, great work Terry!