Industry Insights: The Secret to Training a Firefighter

Editor's note: Industry Insights are sponsored blogs submitted by manufacturers and suppliers serving the fire service industry.

Safety Components, one of the world leaders in the design and manufacturing of flame resistant textiles, understands the importance of effective training and education.  No matter the persons position - there are times to lead and teach and there are times to follow and learn. The same can be said for the fire service as it relates to training.  Whether you are a chief, a firefighter, or a probie, the article below by Jim McCormack of The Fire Department Training Network offers a blueprint to effective training.

Create Training Topics Based on Real-life Responses

Coming up with training topics is an ongoing task. The easiest way to develop topics for training material is to review the actual responses.

Consider the automatic alarm, one of the most common types of actual fire responses that departments handle. When was the last time your department had a training session on how to respond to an automatic alarm? Rule number one when it comes to developing training topics is to make it relevant!

Beyond that, a simple approach to developing training topics is to break training material down into four basic categories: apparatus-based, equipment-based, skill-based, and response- based. To develop a basic set of training material simply take a few minutes and create a list of topics related to each category.

A great way to involve the entire department is to put out a request or survey asking members to list five to 10 things that come to mind when they think of each category (use the sample survey below).

The Four-step Approach

Apparatus-based

Apparatus-based training topics involve those things that are functions of, or require the use of, the individual apparatus the department uses. This is usually the lost subject when it comes to fire department training. In reality, fire apparatus plays a vital role in the success or failure of most fireground operations – yet we tend to rely on the efforts of one person, the engineer or chauffeur, when it comes to being proficient at using the apparatus.

Every member who rides on a piece of apparatus should have a basic understanding of how it works, even be able to operate the basic components. There are plenty of training sessions to be developed for fire department apparatus.

Equipment-based

Any piece of equipment that the department carries is fair game when it comes to equipment-based training sessions. It’s discouraging, at best, when a firefighter has to learn how to operate a piece of equipment during the middle of an actual response.

Take a few minutes to review and list all of the equipment carried on a piece of apparatus. Once the list is in front of you then develop a short review session for each piece of equipment. Here’s a sad fact, more than a few of the current firefighters on most fire departments have never actually operated a fire extinguisher! Learning PASS isn’t the same as doing it!

Skill-based

Operating equipment and performing skills are not the same thing, period! Consider this simple, yet vital, skill – advancing the initial attack line into a two-story residence with fire visible on the second floor. What usually happens is this – a pre-connect is advanced over dry pavement, or some other convenient location, until it is all removed from the bed and then the line is charged and water flowed through the nozzle. That’s really no more than operating equipment. A more effective way to perform skill training to advance attack lines would be to secure a realistic location (one involving a door and interior rooms and stairs) and have firefighters practice advancing the line through the conditions likely to be encountered on the streets.

Response-based

On actual emergency responses, firefighters are required to properly use the apparatus and equipment to perform sets of skills that affect the outcome of the situation. The outcome, good or bad, is directly dependent on the quality of the fire department training aimed at dealing with the types of responses likely to be encountered on the streets.

Incorporating the above example of advancing an attack line, consider situation-based training for a single-family residence fire. The outcome of the fire will be affected by multiple companies performing multiple skills, simultaneously! When was the last time your department actually trained to handle realistic responses?

Training Session Content – Basic And Advanced

You can never please all of the people all of the time – remember that when developing the training session.

What is important is that each session contain both basic and advanced material. It is inevitable that the firefighters in the group will all have different levels of experience so it’s critical that the material addresses that. Have you ever attended a training session that was geared completely below your level of competence? Did the trainer do anything to try and include you in the session? How about the other extreme, have you ever sat through a session that was completely over your head?

Include both basic and advanced material in every training session. This will help address the training needs of everyone in the group. It will also help you, as the trainer, by reviewing all the material related to the subject – not just the basics. One thing is certain in training – if you go in unprepared then somebody will figure it out and your credibility will be immediately suspect!

Fire Department Training Survey

• Apparatus-based training - for each piece of department apparatus, please list a minimum of five functions that may have to be performed during an actual response. For example: all apparatus responding to an incident will need to be properly positioned, an engine may need to pump one or multiple lines, an aerial may need to be raised to the roof, etc.
• Equipment-based - for each piece of department apparatus, list a minimum of five pieces of equipment that might be used during an actual incident. (For example: fire extinguisher, SCBA, AED, oxygen equipment, etc.) In addition, list those pieces of equipment that you feel are carried but are not necessary.
• Skill-based - list a minimum of five firefighting skills that may need to be performed on an actual incident. (For example: advancing attack lines, raising ground ladders, placing salvage covers, performing vertical ventilation, etc.)
• Response-based - list a minimum of five different types of responses that you have been on in the last six months. In addition to those responses, list any additional types of responses that you are likely to encounter but haven’t, in the past six months.

Every department needs an effective training program to properly train firefighters.  With that, how do the tips above stack up with the training program ongoing at your department?