A partnership between Missouri Southern, the city of Joplin, and the Joplin fire department is creating a new fire academy. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

The program will begin this summer and will fall under MSSU’s College of Health Sciences. The first course offered will be Fire I, an introductory course focused on fire ground operations, personal protective equipment, essential fire characteristics, safely entering and exiting a burning building, and how to respond to different fire events. The corresponding course, Fire II, will be offered this fall.

Classes will be kept small, between 15 and 18 students, and lead by Joplin Fire Departments Training Chiefs. Courses will be taught at the city’s public safety training tower and facility built in 2015. Before this announcement, the closest fire training center was four hours away from Joplin. For more information, contact Ted Lee at 417-625-3020 or search Missouri Southern’s Emergency Medical Services program.