Sitting with me in the firehouse is Paul Wilders. Paul Wilders is a 40 +-year veteran of the fire service and currently the Chief Instructor of the Nassau County, NY, Fire Service Academy. He is the former Chief of the North Merrick, NY, Fire Department and a senior member of that department's training committee. Wilders is an instructor of national curriculum for the Incident Safety Officers and an advocate for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's Courage to Be Safe program. Chief Wilders has been employed by the Nassau County Fire Service Academy Public education division and division of fire training since 1999.