By REID A. WODICKA
Throughout the United States, fire service members are finding new and innovative ways to accomplish goals while reducing costs. Many localities are facing serious revenue reductions, and states and localities have laid off tens of thousands of employees in the past few years. Finding ways to stretch taxpayer dollars is one of the most important jobs of public managers. As such, a common theme in fire service trade journal articles is ensuring that the department is using its resources to the fullest. Even in the traditional sense, "resources" is a broad term that can mean anything from the personnel who staff the firehouses to the actual fire engines, trucks, and heavy rescue vehicles that allow us to do our job. However, it is important to think beyond the traditional concept of fire department resources; fire service leaders must use original thinking to solve complex issues facing our departments.
In light of recent financial stress, fire service leaders must look for additional resources in unconventional places. Although the fire service has been traditionally self-sufficient, an emerging trend in the public sector has been the use of expertise found at local colleges and universities. Although fire service learning has occurred on college campuses for years, this was done by an individual or a small group of college students and faculty rather than as a concerted effort by the academic programs to engage public agencies. However, a new model of community-based service learning built around class consulting projects is emerging in the United States—that is, a professor will converse and work with agency leaders to identify a problem within a public organization (in this case a fire department). Then, the professor builds a course around addressing the problem, researching and providing ideas for solutions and, in some cases, beginning the initial steps of implementation. This is a very inexpensive option for public organizations to receive outside input (many times at no cost) and provides students and faculty members with the opportunity to work outside the traditional framework of university courses and to work in the "real world."
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