Tension and hostility between police officers and society seem to be on the rise, and officers and firefighters alike face violence and other threats on a daily basis. While these agencies strive to protect and serve, they often overlook each other, failing to recognize what a cooperative front might do to improve public relations. Based on her CHDS Master’s thesis, “It Takes a Village: Integrating Firehouse Hubs to Encourage Cooperation Among Police, Fire, and the Public,” Greta Hurt explores the idea of using firehouses as central hubs of collaboration to improve the trust, cooperation, and safety of police officers, firefighters, and the public.
About the Presenter
Chief Greta Hurt is the Director of the Tulsa Community College and Tulsa Fire Department’s Fire Safety Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Recently shifting gears and positions, she was previously a district chief responsible for emergency incident response/mitigation, and the management of six fire stations and approximately forty firefighters in Tulsa’s downtown high-rise district. In her new role, she oversees the partnership between the Tulsa Community College and the Tulsa Fire Department and assists both entities in creating and expanding fire and safety training opportunities for students, businesses, and fire fighters within the city of Tulsa and across the state of Oklahoma. Hurt is a 2018 graduate of CHDS and a member of cohort 1701/1702. Prior to this, she graduated from Pittsburg (KS) State University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education. In 1998, she joined the Tulsa Fire Department and has since served in all three major operational areas of the department; Field Operations, Training, and Fire Investigations/Code Enforcement. She has been with the department for twenty-one years.
