Davis Volunteer Fire Chief Shane Archuleta Completes Historic Oklahoma Fire Leadership Program
The City of Davis is proud to recognize Davis Volunteer Fire Chief Shane Archuleta for completing a historic leadership program designed to strengthen Oklahoma’s volunteer fire service.
Chief Archuleta was among 18 firefighters who graduated on August 23, 2026, from the first Oklahoma Executive Fire Officer (OKEFO) cohort made up entirely of volunteer firefighters. The program was conducted through Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training using the IPSLEI curriculum.
The graduating class, which selected the name “Pioneer Cohort,” represented 17 fire departments across 14 Oklahoma counties to learn leadership development skills that can be applied within their departments and the communities they serve.
Five Weekends of Leadership Development
Participants completed in-person instruction along with homework, journals and ongoing discussion between class sessions.
The training focused not only on the responsibilities of leadership within a volunteer fire department, but also on collaboration, communication, organizational development and the challenges unique to volunteer emergency services.
Throughout the program, group facilitators were impressed by the cohort’s teamwork, community-minded approach and ability to work together quickly and effectively.
Rodney Foster, Program Director for the OKEFO said the cohort “hit the ground running,” and credited much of that success to the unique dynamics of volunteer fire departments and mutual aid exhibiting teamwork, community-minded approach and ability to work together quickly and effectively.
Bringing Leadership Back to Davis
While the OKEFO program was developed for volunteer fire leadership roles, the benefits of Chief Archuleta’s participation extend well beyond the Davis Volunteer Fire Department.
Leadership development strengthens a department’s ability to train and support its firefighters, work with neighboring departments, coordinate during emergencies and build strong relationships throughout the community.
The City of Davis is already seeing the value of Chief Archuleta bringing these experiences and leadership skills back to Davis. His participation will benefit the Davis Volunteer Fire Department, the City of Davis and the many organizations and community partners that work together to serve our residents.
We congratulate Chief Shane Archuleta and the entire Pioneer Cohort on this accomplishment and thank them for their continued commitment to serving Oklahoma communities.