Firearms Instruction Research and Education

About Us

The Firearms Instruction, Research & Education Institute a.k.a. F.I.R.E., is a non-profit, tax exempt, corporation, organized under the laws of Pennsylvania in 2003. As the name suggests, the Institute is devoted to firearms training and instruction, including sponsorship of firearms training courses and research and development of methods, practices and equipment used in the firearms training industry.

The immediate mission of the FIRE Institute is to assume the firearms instruction program developed by the Pennsylvania Firearms Development Corporation (PFDC). The PFDC program was started in 1996 by a small group of Gunsite alumni, who realized that working people of average means would likely never have the money or vacation days to travel to an established school for a week-long course. Even people who could afford it were not likely to make professional training a priority, because one does not generally realize the value of such training until they have experienced it.

The answer was to bring full-time, professional instructors to the Pittsburgh area, to present three day programs covering the basics of a couple of shooting disciplines. It is, after all, the instructors who are heart and soul of any successful training program. By eliminating travel costs, and shortening the courses so as to require only one day off work, we made it easy for people to attend. Because the range and administrative staff were all unpaid volunteers, the cost was kept very low.

With the support and cooperation of some of the finest trainers in the industry, the program succeeded. Over a period of eight years, hundreds of individuals experienced the benefits of professional firearms training, run by experienced instructors, according to an organized curriculum. Many of those individuals enrolled in three and four additional courses, and the scope and level of trainings were greatly expanded. A number of those who attended our local courses went on to enroll in courses provided elsewhere by commercial providers, including a number of trips to the Gunsite Academy.

We also saw a kind of "cooperative training group" emerge. Course graduates began to volunteer their time to assist with other courses, and several have sought out formal instructor training. The increased number of skilled and qualified individuals available to assist reduced the burden on instructors, and made possible some of the more labor-intensive courses (such as "Tactics I" and "Tactics II").

By 2003, the PFDC program was so successful it outgrew its role as a "side line." It was decided to create an independent, non-profit educational organization, dedicated entirely to the goal of making quality, professional firearms training available to average people. The FIRE Institute was organized to fill that role. The mission of the FIRE Institute is to continue the work started by the PFDC, and expand into areas of research and education specific to the firearms training field. The present charge of the FIRE Institute is now three-fold:

  1. To continue to introduce people to the benefits of formal firearms instruction by sponsoring professionally run firearms training courses, at reasonable cost, locally.

  2. To evaluate existing training methods and equipment used in law enforcement and private training courses, and strive to improve upon them.

  3. To act as a clearing house, collecting and disseminating pertinent research and information.

This work is important to us, and a labor of love. I believe if you attend one of these courses, you will see why.

Peter Georgiades,
Executive Director

© 2003 F.I.R.E. Institute