Registration for open enrollment experiences will be available this January.
WHY LIGHTHOUSE & CAMPFIRE EXISTS
Every day, leaders make decisions that affect the safety, success, and well-being of others.
Leadership in high-risk environments requires more than information. It requires judgment, awareness, confidence, and the ability to lead through uncertainty.
Traditional classrooms can provide knowledge, but lasting leadership is developed through meaningful experiences.
People depend on your decisions every day.
How are you preparing for the leadership challenges you haven't encountered yet?
Lighthouse & Campfire was created to bring leaders together through shared challenges, honest conversations, and purposeful reflection—helping them develop the judgment, relationships, and confidence needed when leadership matters most.
Every experience has a purpose.
Every conversation has meaning.
Inspired by the way people have learned in the fire service and other high-risk professions for generations, this experience combines real-world leadership lessons with modern principles of experiential learning, human performance, communication, and reflection.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Leadership isn't developed by watching someone else do it.
It's developed by stepping into unfamiliar situations, working alongside others, reflecting on the experience, and discovering what you're capable of.
Lighthouse & Campfire combines practical leadership challenges, meaningful conversations, personal reflection, and time away from the distractions of everyday life to create an experience that stays with you long after you return home.
During four days and three nights, you'll be challenged to communicate, adapt, support others, make decisions, and think differently—all within a small group of leaders who are committed to learning together.
Every activity has a purpose.
Every conversation has meaning.
You'll Experience
✓ Practical leadership challenges ✓ Meaningful campfire conversations ✓ Small-group collaboration ✓ Guided reflection ✓ Opportunities to lead and support others ✓ Time to disconnect, recharge, and think clearly
“Some of the most important lessons I learned in safety and the fire service did not come from classrooms. They came from shared experiences, changing conditions, honest conversations, and learning to work together when it mattered most.”
— Chuck Dornisch
Professionally Developed Curriculum
Lighthouse & Campfire is built upon a structured leadership development curriculum consisting of 17 sequential learning modules and 24 documented instructional contact hours. BCSP credential holders may claim these hours toward recertification under Category 7 – Continuing Education, in accordance with BCSP requirements.
Responsibility Changes Everything
Where Experience Meets Purpose
Chuck Dornisch brings more than 25 years of construction safety leadership experience and over 30 years in the fire service, including leadership and Training Officer roles in high consequence environments where communication, adaptability, leadership, and decision making directly affected people and outcomes.
Leadership Looks Different Here
Most leadership development happens in classrooms, conference rooms, and lecture halls.
There is value in those environments. They can teach information, introduce ideas, and share knowledge.
But some lessons require something more.
Trust is built by working together.
Communication improves through shared challenges.
Judgment develops through experience.
Reflection happens when people have time to think.
At Lighthouse & Campfire, participants step away from many of the distractions of everyday work and gather in a relaxed outdoor environment where leadership is experienced rather than simply discussed.
Participants do not simply hear lessons.
They experience them.
Ready to Learn Differently?
Lighthouse & Campfire was created for people who understand that leadership is built through experience, trust, communication, reflection, and shared challenge.
If that resonates with you, we would love to hear from you.
What Makes This Different?
High-responsibility environments demand more than technical knowledge alone. They require communication, adaptability, trust, sound judgment, and the ability to lead when conditions change.
Most people already know this.
The challenge is that many of these skills are difficult to develop through presentations, policies, or classroom instruction alone.
Throughout my years in the fire service, construction, and safety leadership, some of the most valuable lessons were learned alongside other people. Working through challenges together. Sharing meals. Solving problems. Reflecting on successes, mistakes, and experiences.
Lighthouse & Campfire was created around that idea.
This experience brings together people from high-responsibility professions to learn through shared experiences, meaningful conversation, reflection, and practical challenges in a relaxed outdoor environment.
It may resonate especially with:
• Safety leaders
• Fire service professionals
• Field leadership
• Operational teams
• Emerging leaders
• Organizations seeking stronger workplace culture
• People looking for something more meaningful than traditional leadership training
Participants do not simply hear lessons. They discover them through experience.
What Does Leadership Look Like Around a Campfire?
There are no rows of tables.
There is no projector.
There are no name tents or conference rooms.
Instead, participants:
• Build camp together.
• Solve challenges as a team.
• Share meals.
• Walk the trails.
• Gather around the fire.
• Reflect on their experiences.
• Learn from one another.
Some of the most important conversations happen after the activity is over.
The campfire becomes a place to discuss leadership, share experiences, ask questions, and explore the challenges that people carry in high-responsibility roles.
The goal is not simply to teach leadership.
The goal is to experience it.
Contact us
Middletown, Delaware, United States
Operating hours
By appointment
Get in touch
Lighthouse & Campfire LLC
(267) 640-9092