Mission Statement
Southwest Fire Academy was established in 2015, as a response to the recognized need for quality, safe, and affordable fire and rescue training in Ontario. This is not your average fire college. SFA has high standards for our students, as it is our mission to teach and produce qualified ambitious firefighters, who are prepared to work hard to serve their communities. This is not a diploma mill. This is where you learn strategic, aggressive firefighting from passionate, intelligent instructors, who never forget why they were made to do this job.
SFA is an accredited Career College that is regulated by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the Fire Marshal. This means that SFA is an approved training provider with the OFM and our programs are recognized in Ontario.
Firefighter Pre-Service Program
The most notable course we offer is the Firefighter Pre-Service Program, which is a blended program involving online self-study, followed by a sixteen-day immersive bootcamp, during which you live on campus and rigorously train as a team in a firehouse setting. At the end of this program, you qualify and write your OFMEM exams for NFPA 1001 and 1072 certification. This program is very challenging and demanding for a reason, as it is intended to represent the real-life job as a firefighter. At SFA, we train you to become the firefighter that current firefighters want on their crew: the firefighter that the future of the fire service needs. SFA is proud to put our name behind the students who graduate from this program; similarly, Chiefs like to see SFA on your resume. We focus on sets and reps, and waste no time on campus. We are committed to providing you with excellent training, administered by the best instructors in the industry. We expect you to apply yourself and work hard, so you are best prepared for the career ahead of you.
Expanding Course Offerings
The academy offers a wide variety of firefighting, technical rescue, medical first response, and officer development courses. We train prospective firefighters, current firefighters looking to advance their skills, and those seeking specialized rescue training. SFA has served over one hundred organizations, including fire departments, military personnel, mines, nuclear power plants, oil and gas companies, airports, factories, and international clients. Though we have had the opportunity to work with organizations in many different areas, the SFA campus is located in the small town of Waubaushene, Ontario, which has influenced our strong value on a community-minded approach to firefighting. Our training communicates the utmost importance of working hard to best protect the people we serve. We are well respected within the community, and are proud to have strong partnerships with neighbouring fire departments.
Southwest Fire Academy is rapidly expanding. We are continuously adding more bootcamps, courses, services, and partnered fire departments to our repertoire. We are excited to be introducing more “Beyond the Academy” courses, which consist of specialized, cutting edge training, delivered by experts in the respective disciplines. Some of these courses include Advanced Forcible Entry, Firefighter Survival/RIT, and Modern Fire Behaviour. These courses are unique to SFA, and allow active firefighters the invaluable opportunity to gain knowledge and experience from the best of the best, so they can become as effective as possible. This is training done the RIGHT way.
We are ambitiously anticipating the future and are excited for you to become a part of it.
Welcome to Southwest Fire Academy.
