Wakeland graduates from National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

After two grueling years, Tribal Assistant Fire Chief Torey Wakeland has graduated from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. He is the first Tribal member fire chief to do so.

Wakeland said his parents planned to attend his graduation ceremony, in celebration of this accomplishment.

The two-year competitive program is a master level course that requires a bachelor’s degree.

“They capped applications at 1,500 people nationwide,” Wakeland said.

This meant that the application window would not be open long, with applications typically opening at midnight of the new year and closing the same day. Wakeland had been prepared, however, with his application already filled out.

“So I stayed up, watched the ball drop and the second it hit 12:01, I sent my application,” he said.

Of the 1,500 applicants, 140 students were selected to attend.

“This has been quite the grind,” he said.

He added that it’s been well worth the hours of hard work, not least because the course, which took place both on campus in Maryland and remotely, brought him into close contact with other chiefs and assistant chiefs from across the country.

“Just some amazing people,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how big or small your department is; everybody’s dealing with the same issues. So, we’ve created a big network.”

He now has some 30 or 40 colleagues he can call on for shop talk, advice or ideas.

“I get texts from a chief in Kansas at 10 o’clock at night; ‘Can you send me your work on mental health?’ Yeah, I can do that. Or I will call someone in Albuquerque; ‘Can you send me your fitness program?’ It’s a great resource to have.”

Wakeland said he’s honored to have been able to complete the program and that it speaks well to Grand Ronde, noting that Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight, who is also a Tribal member, achieved a similar accomplishment when he went through the FBI National Academy.

“It’s an honor; it’s very cool,” Wakeland said.

For the last six months, Wakeland has been working on his final applied research project, the equivalent of a master’s thesis, but intended to be a program the graduate can actually implement at their home fire station. Wakeland chose adding a service dog to help improve firefighters’ mental health. Ideally, he said he’d like to add two – one for the Willamina station and one for the Grand Ronde station. But, if need be, one dog could potentially travel back and forth.

There’s plenty of work still to do, he said, including seeking permission from Tribal Council and figuring out how to fund the program, which can be costly but very beneficial for the Tribe’s firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Wakeland has personal experience with the subject, as he has a service dog of his own, and the department’s contracted mental health counselor periodically brings a service dog to the department when she visits.

“The body of research on the effect it has on the firefighters is really, really staggering,” Wakeland said. “You can see people’s moods completely change.”