But as the Illinois Fire Service Institute, the state's fire academy, prepares to host the 75th annual Illinois Fire College June 3-6 at Champaign's Clarion Hotel and Convention Center, the role of the nation's volunteer and career fire service has changed dramatically, according to Richard Jaehne, the institute's director. Like its modern counterpart, it also featured lectures and hands-on demonstrations, and served as the foundation for what emerged as the nation's oldest, continuing fire school. According to proceedings from the event, challenges facing firefighters of that era included residential fires that spread rapidly because of the common use of wood shingles, and sewer fires, which frequently occurred when people poured gasoline down the lines. Today, this partnership continues as the Illinois Firefighters Association provides annual Fire College scholarships for nearly 100 Illinois firefighters, and the State Fire Marshal underwrites the cost of basic firefighting classes through the state reimbursement fund. Its most important aspects have always been demonstrating current techniques and new methods, having the cream of the crop in instructional staff and maintaining a balance between the theoretical and the practical.
Enrollment is open to any Illinois firefighter.
The keynote speaker will be Denis Onieal, superintendent of the National Fire Academy. A Jersey City, N.J., native, Onieal has been a career firefighter since 1971, and in 1995 became the first non-political appointee to the National Fire Academy post. He has a doctoral degree in education from New York University, where he taught prior to his appointment at the academy. IFSI was designated as the state's fire academy by the Fire Service Institute Act in 1981. Prior to that, the firefighter training program was part of the university's extension program.