Where firefighters come to talk training
Need for some training advice.
Hello to all, I have been recentley asked to start handling my department training. Of course it is like every department you have some that feel the need to train and some that don't. I am looking to make training something that everyone is fired up and wanting to do. I have recieved a fair amount of training from a department out of my county and from the Ga. Fire Academy and I feel like I try to be a sponge and absorb eveything that I can. I am looking at putting together a 3 or 4 man training committee to come up with us a quarterly schedule and I was wandering what everyone thought and if I could get some ideas on different types of training that your departments do. We are a combination department made up of 4 paid firefighters and 15 volunteers. We run on average about 600 calls a year. Any help to try and make a difference would be greatly appreciated. Our biggest issues are of course training, getting people to wear their turnout gear all the time, and the ICS System.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brent Sanger on -
Robbie, a good starting point would be the Core Competencies as put out by Standards and Training. The paid guys have to have them, and it won't hurt the volunteers as well to go through them. There is a book out, not sure of the title off the top of my head, that gives a complete drill with lesson plan and additional information, for each week of the year. That's another good starting point. What you should do is observe a couple training evolutions, talk to the senior officers about what they have observed on different scenes, then make a training plan from there. ISO requires 240 hours per year individual training per firefighter, as well as 8 Single Company, 4 Multi Company, and 2 Night time drills. Plus they also have driver's, hazmat, and officer training requirements. Plan your training with those requirements in mind. Training is where most departments lose the most points when it comes to ISO. And it's the easiest place to earn points. Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to contact me.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Rice on -
Robbie,
My department has also had the same problems you do when it comes to motivation and the good old “ I’ve been fighting fire sense before you were born mentality” that some members feel gives them the right not to train. We had a big issue with getting out guys to wear turnouts on MVC’s. We had to amend our sog’s (that hadn’t been updated for years) so we would have grounds to enforce the PPE on emergency incidents. When a firefighter has to sit in the engine throughout the incident because he didn’t have is PPE on that tends to change the tune of things some. Anyhow, back to training. We randomly pick out key structures in our area and will have a tabletop rundown with our members to get a grasp on how they feel it should be handled and what decisions they would make. As simple as it sounds it can make a big difference. AS much rambling that has gone on I hope I could help. Good luck, keep us posted on how things are going!
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Permalink Reply by Shawn Tibbitts on -
I have found when im in a pinch trying to come up with some drill ideas I check out the drill section at firefighterclosecalls.com this has been a big help.
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Permalink Reply by Todd "Walt" Walton on -
Robbie,
Have you tried asking the guys what topics they think they need to train on? In the past our department has done a survey asking what the members think of the training. We also have blanks for them to write done what topics they think we should train on. You may get some good ideas.
Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Todd McKee on -
Here are a few things that I have guys train on.,some of these things are basic ideas! However, some firefighters see that they can not remember how to do it then that some times it opens their eyes and gets them to train.
1) Water Chutes
2) Catch alls
3) Firefighter Drags and Carries
4) Light scan search, oriented search
5) Having them find their way out by using a coupling
6) Knots
7) Tool Hoisting
8) HazMat (ERG)
9) Scavenger Hunt of items in your District
10) Single Family Dwelling SOG's
Let me know how it goes! Todd McKee
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Permalink Reply by Ted Richmond on -
Robbie,
Congrats on the additional responsiblitiy. To start try not to focus on what you and your guys to wrong, but what you do RIGHT! A Possitive approach will help promote your mission. When selling training to your guys its easier to say we do this well but by trying this we might get even better!
When looking for topics start with lessons that will reflect on your departments response type.
Please check :
NFPA 1500 Chapter 5 Training, education, and professional developement
NFPA 1410 Training for initial Emergency Scene Operations.
NFPA 1451 Fire Service Vehicle Operations Training program
NFPA 1403 Standard on Live Fire Training evolutions.
And if all esle fails break open your IFSTA Essentials of Firefighting and pick a chapter.
oh and Googling Fire department lesson plans brings up lots of good material as well!
Good luck Brother!
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