Fifty Years of Fire Protection Training at Oklahoma State University

Abstract

Few people besides those in the fire service or in related fields are aware that Oklahoma State University is the home of one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of fire protection in the United States. In the 1930's Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (as it was then known) began to offer firemanship training through extension program for both paid and unpaid firefighters while its Department of Firemanship Training offered a two-year program leading to an associate degree. Equally important was the publication of fire service training manuals, the now legendary "Oklahoma Redbook" series, begun at the same time. Through leadership in these three areas, the fire protection training program at Oklahoma State University has earned the nickname, "the West Point of the Fire Service." Historically, Oklahoma State University has been a pioneer in the education of firefighters. It was the first college to offer academic credit for fire protection courses and still is one of the few publishers of training materials in the United States. Graduates of the program have established similar schools at other universities and provide leadership in related fields. With the changing times and increasing demands, the program widened its scope to provide fire protection and safety engineering experts first to insurance firms and industry and most recently to the energy field. That so much has been achieved at Oklahoma State University may be laid to several factors: a growing demand for training in fire protection, a favorable academic environment, and a unique cooperation between the city of Stillwater and the university. But the most important factor as this thesis will demonstrate, was the leadership of the program's founders. When that leadership was removed abruptly in the 1960's the program faltered and nearly died. But with some rearrangement a.nd redirection, the program endured and overcame its difficulties so that now, fifty years after its beginning, the fire protection training program at Oklahoma State University deserves and enjoys an international reputation.