A member of the Oak Harbor Fire Department was honored during a council meeting last week after his quest to learn took him to the national level.

Fire Chief Ray Merrill announced that Capt. Paul Schroer successfully completed the National Fire Academy’s Managing Officer program. This program is administered at the National Fire Academy in Emmittsberg, Md.

The majority of the course is funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a division of Homeland Security.

“The Managing Officer program is designed to provide company level fire/emergency medical service officers with a broad prospective of today’s fire/EMS management, leadership and administration,” according to U.S. Fire Administrator Ernest Mitchell Jr.

“This program provides fire service officers with the expertise they need to develop professionally and to make significant contributions to both their departments and communities.”

The overall program goal is to promote and increase the professional growth of the leadership of the fire service through a combination of education and networking, according to a press release from the fire department.

Participants in the program receive instruction on leadership, shaping the future, community risk reduction, safety leadership, contemporary training issues and analytical tools for decision making.

They also gain critical insight in national response planning and incident management.

The two-year program, comprised of four unique courses, required Schroer to develop and complete a technical project that directly benefited his department and community.

The project permitted Schroer the opportunity to demonstrate application of course theory and concepts to real-life situations within the Oak Harbor Fire Department. It was evaluated through a formal process and verified by the fire chief, the press release states.

To gain admission into this competitive program, Schroer had to successfully attend several prerequisite courses of instruction, complete pre-course assignments and attend several off-campus National Fire Academy courses available through Washington State Fire Marshal’s office and classes sponsored by Oak Harbor Fire Department.

During his 24-year career, Schroer has become nationally certified as a Firefighter 1 and 2, Fire Officer 1 and 2, Fire Instructor 1, 2 and 3, Certified Fire Investigator, International Code Council Fire Inspector 1 and 2 and obtained his AA degree. But he is not stopping there, as he asks, “What more can I do and how do I get there?”