Poway\u2019s newly installed Fire Chief, Jon Canavan, reflects on his personal history with Palomar College\u2014and the benefits of a top-notch academy to the region\u2019s fire departments.<\/p>\n
POWAY \u2014 The fire chief\u2019s office in the City of Poway looks out on Poway Creek, a greenway filled with trees, and beyond that a hillside where walking trails cut through the chaparral. A block away, traffic flows briskly along Poway Road.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good representation of Poway\u2019s unique character: business parks and suburban neighborhoods to the north and beautiful countryside to the south. Between them is Station 1, situated in what firefighting officials like to call a \u201cwildland-urban interface\u201d\u2014the type of frontier that Jon Canavan has learned by heart in the 29 years since he graduated from Palomar College\u2019s 2nd Fire Academy.<\/p>\n
Canavan was named Fire Chief in July and oversees the Poway Fire Department\u2019s 53 uniformed personnel\u2014 at least half of whom, he said, \u201chave had some experience either teaching in or graduating from a Palomar College program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department operates out of three stations spread throughout the city, and in 2018 responded to 5,000 calls for emergency service.<\/p>\n
In October, Canavan presided over a promotion ceremony that included the city\u2019s three newest firefighter paramedics: Brennan Baker, Joseph Breda and Casey Flores. All three, said Canavan, were recent graduates of the Palomar College Fire Academy.<\/p>\n
Like many fire officials in the region, Canavan has deep ties to Palomar\u2019s academy and Fire Technology program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an intimate awareness of the strength and the benefits of the Fire Technology program, the Fire Academy, and the Emergency Medical Education program at Palomar College\u2014both as a student, as an instructor, and as a regional fire service leader,\u201d Canavan said. \u201cWe consistently see students come out of Palomar College who are well-prepared for careers as firefighters and paramedics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally from San Bernardino, he was hired by the City of San Marcos in 1990 and attended the 2nd Fire Academy at Palomar, the year after the renowned academy was launched.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made a huge impression on me,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI loved the instructors, I enjoyed the format, and immediately upon graduation, I became an adjunct faculty member at Palomar in the Fire Academy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He taught part-time at Palomar until 2004, when he left the San Marcos Fire Department as a captain and went to Poway as a Division Chief.<\/p>\n
Canavan speaks highly of a joint testing and recruitment program sponsored by Palomar College that includes virtually every fire agency in North County. And he still\u2014 after all these years\u2014praises the academic programs at Palomar that have turned out hundreds of local firefighters and paramedics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany, many of our entry-level firefighter-paramedics are graduates of either the Emergency Medical Education program at Palomar College, or Palomar\u2019s Fire Academy,\u201d he said. \u201cPalomar is teaching techniques that are aligned with the way we do things\u2014that is the benefit of a regional fire academy that welcomes input from the surrounding fire departments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"