Nova Scotia Firefighers School

Nova Scotia Firefighters School teams up with SMU School of Business

The Nova Scotia Firefighters School (NSFS), located in Waverley, is a registered Not-for-Profit organization whose primary mandate is to provide firefighters and other first responders with needful professional instruction and training at a minimum cost. The school was founded in the mid-1960s by four Halifax County Fire Chiefs who recognized the concern over the quality of training available to their firefighters.

NSFS has grown to be the preeminent leader in the Atlantic Provinces for fire training, with an enrollment of approximately 6,000 students annually. NSFS has nine full-time staff and 73 part-time, province-wide instructors and assistants. Recently, the school invested in a state-of-the-art Mobile Burn Unit (MBU), which is the first of its type in Canada and will provide live fire training to community firefighters throughout the Maritimes. 

With the MBU’s arrival and a recent increase in course offerings, demand for training from the NSFS has never been higher. As the school moves forward and looks to the future, it became critical that a strategic plan was developed.

At a Greater Burnside Business Association meeting, a brief conversation between Nancy Sweeney of NSFS and SmartBusiness Account Manager Sandra Wood led to a more in-depth follow-up conversation. Sandra, through SmartBusiness, was able to determine that what NSFS needed was a 5-year strategic plan. She was able to connect NSFS with Saint Mary’s School of Business and was also able to identify several funding agencies throughout Greater Halifax who could be considered. The following 3 or 4 days provided a flurry of activity for NSFS with prompt phone calls from each of the funders, plus a face-to-face meeting with Saint Mary’s Business Development Centre.

Timing is everything! Less than three weeks after that initial meeting with Sandra, NSFS had arranged for their strategic plan to be created through Saint Mary’s Business Development Centre. Three months later, NSFS had the strategic plan and recommendations in hand. 

Now, to set the stage for future growth and development, NSFS is working through the recommendations and plann

ing for the future. They are currently overhauling their database and preparing to introduce, within a year, systems which will assist their desired e-commerce and marketing programs. As well, they are reorganizing internally to create a tighter and more efficiently-run organization.

Within a little over a year, NSFS will have seen tremendous strides in growth from an older administrative model to a very bright future. All of which would not have come to fruition without SmartBusiness.