Salka: A New Year's Resolution - Training!
I'm going to go on a little rant here because of the way things seem to be in the fire service concerning training.
I travel extensively, across the country and up into Canada and Alaska. I cannot believe the number of career fire departments that do not have an official designated training period sometime during each shift. I can't believe the number of volunteer departments that don't train every week. Some train bi-weekly and others once a month.
Let me be straight with you here. If you are training just once a month you should hang up the helmet and get a job at Walmart before you kill yourself or someone else.
If you work for a career department and you are not spending some time every time you are on duty training, you are not doing your job. Firefighters, officers, chiefs all need more training.
How do I know that? Because I can read and every month another NIOSH report is released describing how a firefighter was killed in a flashover, a collapse, an apparatus accident, a fall, and a hundred other ways. If you think you're a firefighter I challenge you to train!
If your officer isn't holding drills or conducting training, ask for it! They call us the "bravest," right? Well be brave and ask your officer to train you. If you're an officer and you're not training your people you're an accomplice!
January 1 just passed, but there is still time to make a commitment to your people, your department and yourself and start training. Here are just a few simple one session training topics;
- hoseline stretching & repacking
- forcible entry using axe & halligan
- thru-the-lock forcible entry
- foam handline operations
- roof cutting with a power saw
- portable ladder operations
- aerial/tower ladder operations
- search & rescue
- vctim removal drags and carries
- rapid intervention skills
- radio operations
- extrication operations
- master stream operations
- standpipe skills
- emergency vehicle operations
- ladder pipe operations
- ILDH evolutions
Now get going!!
For more training ideas, check out:
John J. Salka Jr. | Battalion Chief
JOHN J. SALKA JR., who is a Firehouse contributing editor, retired as a battalion chief with FDNY, serving as commander of the 18th battalion in the Bronx. Salka has instructed at several FDNY training programs, including the department’s Probationary Firefighters School, Captains Management Program and Battalion Chiefs Command Course. He conducts training programs at national and local conferences and has been recognized for his firefighter survival course, “Get Out Alive.” Salka co-authored the FDNY Engine Company Operations manual and wrote the book "First In, Last Out–Leadership Lessons From the New York Fire Department." He also operates Fire Command Training, which is a New York-based fire service training and consulting firm.
