Education

Education Sessions

The VCOS offers a variety of online and in-person conferences and training opportunities in support of the volunteer and combination fire and emergency service.

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Beyond Hoses & Helmets

Strategy and tactics of leading a volunteer or combination fire/rescue organization, designed by practicing chief officers that delivers real world expertise through interactive education.

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FROG: Organizational Guidance for Volunteer Leaders

This course is an intensive 2.5 day, hands-on workshop designed as graduate-level leadership training for leaders of volunteer and combination fire departments that picks up where VCOS's Beyond Hoses & Helmets course leaves off.

VCOS logo - IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section 

Leading the Transition in Volunteer & Combination Departments

This course is to assist departments that are changing status, whether going from an all-volunteer to a combination department, from a combination to a volunteer department, or changing from a career department to a combination department. This course can be administered as a three-hour course with one instructor or a six-hour course with two instructors.

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Member and Leadership Collaboration (MLC)

Two-day, facilitated workshop leverages behavioral analysis to address organizational conflict and create effective department communication between firefighters, officers and chiefs.

VCOS logo - IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section 

You and ISO

This course is presented around the country several times a year. This class teaches what every fire chief should know and understand about ISO in your community.

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Technology Summit International 2024

Technology Summit International aims to bring the tech of the future to today’s fire and emergency service professionals
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Public Consulting Group

Maximizing Incentives in EMS: Treatment in Place, Alternative Destinations, and Navigating Balance Billing Challenges

This webinar will explore how EMS agencies can leverage emerging opportunities in Treatment in Place (TIP) and Alternative Destination of Care programs.
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Wildland Urban Interface Conference

Wildland-Urban Interface Conference 2025

Three essential tracks - Fire Adapted Communities, operations & suppression, and policy & tools - ensure you and your team get everything you need to minimize and manage threats in the WUI.
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Fire-Rescue Med 2025

Education for fire-based EMS leaders, including new and aspiring chiefs, on hiring and retaining, public/private integration, technology, billing for services, illness prevention & more.
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Community Risk Reduction Leadership Conference

Community Risk Reduction Leadership Conference 2025

The CRR Leadership Conference is all new. Sponsored by the IAFC's Fire and Life Safety Section, the CRR Leadership Conference tackles CRR from the leadership perspective, highlighting best practices from concept to implementation to outcomes. Presentations will highlight the latest and greatest in CRR research.
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International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference

International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference 2025

The training offered at the Hazmat Conference provides immediate, practical and valuable information designed to ensure you successfully meet the demands of hazmat response in today's challenging environment.
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Fire-Rescue International 2025

FRI, the IAFC's annual conference and expo, provides senior-level leadership training for chiefs and officer development education for chief and company officers, new ways to connect with vendors and colleagues, and the latest solutions to today's toughest challenges.
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Symposium in the Sun

Symposium in the Sun 2025

The Symposium in the Sun addresses the unique needs of volunteer and combination departments including transitioning from a volunteer to a combination department, recruitment and retention, leadership and management, staffing and more.
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