Public Administration Instructor Receives 2015 Firefighter Hero Award Tuesday, September 29, 2015
L-R: Darryl Jones, public administration instructor and Pittsburgh fire chief; Thomas Cook, public administration instructor and Pittsburgh assistant fire chief; and Timothy Brown, Mt. Lebanon Fire Department deputy chief.
Thomas Cook, M.B.A., adjunct instructor for the public administration program at Point Park University and assistant chief of Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, received the 2015 Firefighter Hero Award at the American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania's Heroes Breakfast Sept. 24.
The Heroes Breakfast was established to raise public awareness of local heroes and volunteers who carry out the mission of the Red Cross every day by making a personal commitment to creating safer and stronger communities and providing help when disaster strikes.
Cook was honored for his role in rescuing three people from a house fire on Rockland Avenue in Pittsburgh that occurred this past spring.
"I am deeply honored to be recognized for my efforts as part of the team that made the rescue of three civilians on the evening of April 20. Without the efforts of the team, at least one of the civilians would have definitely succumbed to the fire. I have brave firefighters who do this every day and under much worse conditions," remarked Cook.
As Pittsburgh's assistant fire chief, Cook manages more than 650 employees while overseeing the administrative, support, operations and prevention functions of the department. Cook brings his real-world experience into the classes he teaches at Point Park which include Personnel Management in Fire and Emergency Services and Political and Legal Foundations in Emergency Services.
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Point Park University's public administration program offers a variety of degrees, certificates and minors in the areas of EMS administration, fire service administration and general public administration with fully online learning options.