Studying

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Permalink Reply by B Celius on June 4, 2008 at 10:11am

Todd,
I think many of us have struggled with this. It's easy for more experienced guys to become comfortable and delude themselves into thinking they have learned it all. This sentiment is only reinforced by our industry’s own text books that still have pictures of firefighters (who have probably long since retired or died) wearing obsolete SCBAs and PPE, and not dealing with anything more modern than slab type garage doors.
To fight this sentiment I found it critical to show my firefighters they really don’t know it all by finding a new detail to an old topic. For example, I recently instructed a building construction class to experienced firefighters. As you can imagine they were more than bored as we reviewed the typing because they all knew it. But, when I came to the wood frame topic I threw them a curve and introduced the concept of SIPs panels. None of them knew what SIPs was and none of them knew we had them in district. Surprise!
Don’t be afraid to throw a new curve into something old and prove to the guys things really do change outside of the fire service.

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Permalink Reply by Todd McKee on June 5, 2008 at 3:31pm

Great reply Brother! Keep up your great work! Remember be safe & train as training will save lives- Todd

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