Pennsylvania § 7383.1 - Curriculum, training and education certification management system.

§ 7383.1. Curriculum, training and education certification management system.

(a) Duty to establish guidelines.--The commissioner shall establish guidelines for the development, delivery and maintenance of fire and emergency services training and an education certification management system.

(b) Training.--

(1) Training shall be lecture-based, hands on or online.

(2) Training may be conducted at the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, a county training center, a community college or other approved educational training agency.

(3) The training records shall be incorporated into the training and education certification management system approved by the commissioner.

(4) An individual who successfully completes fire suppression training as a condition of employment may provide a letter or certificate stating the number of hours of training completed, which is signed by the individual who conducted the training, to the Office of the State Fire Commissioner for approval to count towards the required number of hours of instruction needed to obtain a Firefighter I certification.

(b.1) Entry level training and testing.--Fire and emergency services training at the Firefighter I level established under this section shall provide the following testing options to trainees:

(1) a cumulative test to be completed at the end of the fire and emergency services training program; or

(2) a test to be completed following a successive training module of the program, provided that all individual tests are completed in the same National Fire Protection Association accreditation standard period.

(c) Certificate of completion.--The commissioner shall provide a certificate of completion to an individual who successfully completes a fire or emergency services training program. The training and education certification management system shall include a method by which the trainee can download and print the certificate.

(d) Publication.--(Deleted by amendment).

(e) Accessibility.--The commissioner shall facilitate access to each available fire and emergency services training course through a publicly accessible Internet website or portal. The Internet website or portal shall record firefighter training and certification. The commissioner shall establish and maintain or participate in an existing electronic database or portal that meets all of the following criteria:

(1) Allows for user registration for an individual trainee or an accredited provider.

(2) Allows a user to register for courses offered through the database or portal and in any other format authorized under this section.

(3) Establishes a course completion transcript and certificate for a registered user.

(4) Facilitates communication and access to training materials between an accredited provider and a registered trainee using the database or portal.

(f) Fees.--The commissioner may establish a fee of no more than $1 per course on the training and education certification management system, which shall be used for administrative costs within the Office of the State Fire Commissioner.

(g) Annual reports.--

(1) The commissioner shall prepare an annual report on the training and education certification management system. The report shall include all of the following information:

(i) The total number of firefighters in the system, delineated between paid and volunteer firefighter.

(ii) The number of firefighters under subparagraph (i) who took a course on the system during the previous year.

(iii) The number of firefighters under subparagraph (i) who are certified as Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Fire Instructor I or Fire Officer I.

(iv) A summary of courses that were taken by firefighters under subparagraph (i).

(v) A summary of how the funds under this section were expended.

(2) The commissioner shall submit the annual report under paragraph (1) no later than October 1, 2023, and by October 1 of each year thereafter, to all of the following:

(i) The chair and minority chair of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Senate.

(ii) The chair and minority chair of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee of the House of Representatives.

(3) The commissioner shall post the annual report under paragraph (1) on the Office of the State Fire Commissioner's publicly accessible Internet website.

(Oct. 29, 2020, P.L.739, No.91, eff. 60 days; Nov. 3, 2022, P.L.1674, No.104, eff. imd.; June 30, 2025, P.L.80, No.25, eff. 60 days; July 7, 2025, P.L.115, No.33, eff. 6 months)

2025 Amendments. Act 25 amended subsec. (b) and Act 33 amended subsec. (g)(1) and added subsec. (b.1).