Are You a Student of Fire?

This “Student of Fire” piece is from Learning in the Wildland Fire Service.

The wildland fire service has not always used the term “student of fire.” This notion was coined by the late Paul Gleason, who also developed our LCES program.

When asked: “What do you want your legacy to be?”, Paul responded: “I suppose I would want my legacy to be that firefighters begin to realize the importance of being a student of fire, and that I was able to help make that happen.”

Being a student of fire means different things to different people. To many it’s that person who signs up for every training opportunity, is always reading incident and accident reports, never stops thinking about fire, and eagerly listens to war stories from old salts and newbies alike.

Ultimately, a student of fire is first and foremost a student. A student is always learning. A student never assumes they have it all figured out. A student looks for the lesson. A student is willing to question their own beliefs.

This is humility.

Are you a student of fire?