International Fire Service Training Association - The History of IFSTA

The History of IFSTA

In 1933, newly hired Oklahoma A&M Fire Training Coordinator W. Fred Heisler and Stillwater Fire Chief J. Ray Pence invited various fire service representatives from around the state of Oklahoma to Stillwater to discuss coordinated fire training efforts throughout the state. Five two-day courses covering 10 basic fire fighting topics were developed.

In 1933, Pence invited representatives from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to Stillwater. The Western Actuarial Bureau, a group of insurance companies, supported this meeting. As a result of this meeting, the participants saw a need to compile instructional manuals on the basics of fire fighting.

In the fall of 1934, the Western Actuarial Bureau brought together a group of fire training representatives from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to a meeting in Kansas City. The participants determined that there was a great need to compile instructional manuals on the basics of fire fighting so that training would become more consistent. The discussions and decisions that resulted from this group formed the basis for procedures that are followed today and represented what was then called “The Fire Service Training Association (FSTA).” (“International” was added when Canada became a participant in 1955.)

Oklahoma A&M College (OAMC; now Oklahoma State University) was chosen to publish the works. The first professionally developed manuals that were written as a result of this meeting were released in 1937. They maintained the red covers used by previous OAMC fire publications. W. Fred Heisler, a teacher, trainer, and Director of Fire Service Training at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) from 1934-1951, was the author, coordinator, and editor of the “Redbooks” for the next 20 years. Heisler retired in 1955.

After Heisler’s retirement, Everett Hudiburg became editor of the publication of the “Redbooks” — this operation was housed in the Number Two Fire Station on the campus of OSU. By 1965, the staff of FPP outgrew the fire station, and the people involved in the writing and publishing of the manuals were moved into Quonset Hut #2 — a World War II temporary building on the OSU campus.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, firefighters across the nation used the training manuals that were published at OSU. The publication and distribution of these fire training manuals continued until it evolved into a separate entity known as Fire Protection Publications (FPP) in 1969. It was led by its first full-time director, Harold Mace. In the early 1970s, FPP (the publisher of the “Redbooks”) and OSU Fire Service Training separated from the School of Fire Protection and became two cooperating entities.

Today, FPP serves as headquarters for the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), the validating entity. FPP continues to write, produce, edit, and market IFSTA-validated manuals (many with study guides), FPP manuals, curricula, training videos and CD-ROMs, and other materials for the fire and emergency services.