MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Fire District Board of Directors presented Assistant Fire Marshal David VanBeek with his graduation certificate Sept. 15 for successfully completing the Executive Fire Officer Program.

“The intensive EFOP is designed to provide senior fire officers with a broad perspective on various facets of fire administration,” acting U.S. Fire Administrator Glenn Gaines said. “This program provides fire service officers with the expertise they need to succeed in today’s challenging environment.”

Each of the EFOP’s four courses required a written Applied Research Project to demonstrate application of course theory and concepts to real life situations within the student’s own organization.

• Executive Development emphasizes team development and consensus decision making to enhance organizational effectiveness.

• Strategies for Community Risk Reduction and Executive Analysis of Community Risk Reduction involves developing partnerships with the community to implement programs, initiatives, and services that prevent and mitigate the risk of human made or natural disasters.

• Executive Analysis of Fire Service Operations in Emergency Management covers the administration of incident response in light of the Federal Response Plan, the Integrated Emergency Management System, and emergency operations center functions, planning and documentation.

• Executive Leadership ties together the educational experiences of the three previous years.

Each of these projects was evaluated through a formal process, and progression through the program was contingent on achieving each of these milestones.

“We are very proud of David, who not only graduated but achieved two perfect scores for his research projects,” Marysville Fire Chief Greg Corn said of VanBeek’s 4.0 grades.

“It is important that these senior fire executives apply what they have learned in the classroom to existing situations in their own communities,” Gaines said. “This makes completion of the EFOP and the Applied Research Projects particularly valuable to these fire service leaders.”

The Marysville Fire District released a statement expressing its pride in VanBeek, who joins Marysville Assistant Fire Chief Martin McFalls, Human Resources Manager Joyce Savage, Fire Marshal Tom Maloney, and retired Fire Marshal Jerry Jacobsen in the ranks of EFOP graduates. Battalion Chief Scott Goodale is also currently enrolled in the program.