PCC's Fire Science Academy is part of Career Advance Colorado. This means you can receive free or low-cost training for jobs in rewarding fields that move Colorado forward.
Learn more on our Career Advance Colorado page.
PCC is offering new students who register for classes 3 free credits with our 3 on Me offer. To qualify, you simply need to be a Colorado resident and be eligible for the College Opportunity Fund program. Simply apply to PCC. We’ll take care of the rest!
Each of our instructional staff have at least 10 years of experience in the fire service and have specialized real-world expertise in the topics they teach.
In addition to the Associate of Applied Science degree, PCC offers two certificate programs – one in structural firefighting and one in Wildland firefighting:
Certificate options – Structural Firefighting:
Basic Fire Science
Basic Firefighter – Structural (fire academy)
Firefighter I
Fire Officer I
Fire Prevention and Public Education
Fire Investigator I
Vehicle Extrication
Certificate options – Wildland Firefighting:
Wildland Firefighter
Basic Wildland Firefighter (Red Card)
The Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Fire Science Technology is designed to meet the needs of fire protection and safety personnel. The program will prepare you for a career in fire science or a related field. Courses are offered through traditional classroom instruction, independent study and hands-on training in conjunction with local fire departments.
Duston Russell enrolled in Pueblo Community College’s Fire Science program in the fall of 2020 and, only a year later, has accepted a conditional offer of employment with the Farmington Fire Department.
He epitomizes hard work and reinvention in a time when re-skilling is the buzzword.
Consider our online courses to an AAS degree. Your experience counts!
If you have completed the following training — certified by a State or Federal agency, or by an accredited institution of higher education — the following certificates and or credits can be applied toward an AAS Fire Science Technology at no cost to you.
It is very common for career firefighters to have all 3 of these certifications. If this is true for you, you may earn 24 credits of a 60 credit degree upon applying to PCC. These classes are automatic transfers and are no cost to the student.
There are other life experiences that could qualify for credit; however, there may be a fee for doing a prior learning assessment (PLA) to determine whether or not they apply. There is also an additional fee per credit if the PLA is accepted. If you have taken required core classes (English, math, etc.) at other colleges/universities, those could also transfer to PCC (transcripts will be needed). You must complete 15 credits through PCC to get the AAS degree here; if you qualify, the the rest could be PLA credits.
PCC will be offering the Firefighter I and HazMat Awareness/Operations courses in hybrid format (classroom portion online then a two week hands-on course at the Pueblo campus). All the other courses will be offered online.
