BY NORM CARROLL
Years ago, we did not need to spend much time with extra training because, after the initial training, we were out there doing the job every day. Now, we are not responding to as many fires; therefore, we need to spend more time practicing the skills so we can be proficient when asked to perform on the fireground. Over the past 24 years, I have developed some concepts that might help your firefighters acquire the training needed to maintain the proficiency level your public expects.
Understanding the younger generation of firefighters is important in determining how they learn tasks. The latest generation has been brought up with computers and video games. These individuals expect everything to be instantaneous. They also subscribe to the concept that says, “If I do it wrong, I can press the reset button and start all over.” Unfortunately, there are no reset buttons in real life. We have to help them understand that this is just not possible. Because of technology, this generation also has never used many of the hand tools to which earlier generations have become accustomed.
For instance, if you were trying to explain to a new firefighter how to start a positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) fan or a chain saw and that the action would be like starting a lawn mower, they might look at you and ask, “Where is the button to start it”? or they might even tell you, “Someone else is going to start it for me.” These are challenges you, as a trainer, will have to overcome to teach these firefighters.
You also have to make every training session exciting. It will take a lot of work, but consider the result if you do not provide the best training possible to your firefighters. You do not want to become a statistic. So, you have to dazzle your firefighters. Use the computers they grew up with. Employ simulators, Power Point®, and Webcasts to get them interested in being the best they can be.
DEVELOPING A SCHEDULE
What are we going to drill on tonight? I don’t know if you have ever heard that before. I have, and it is a very difficult question to answer half an hour before the drill is supposed to start. Our department has developed a task book, a concept other departments use as well. The drills cover firefighter skills required by the state. Our combination department has a 12-member career staff and 45 volunteers. The state requires that a career staff member meet a minimum training level equal to 229 hours of training within one year of appointment. The career staff must accomplish 100 hours of in-service training annually.
Since the career and volunteers are doing the same job, why is there a difference in the requirements? Since there was not a requirement for the volunteer firefighters, I created one for our department. I became a trainer and was certified to teach all the courses the state requires. As I started teaching the courses, the firefighters kept asking for more courses. Eventually, the firefighters met the 229 hours required by the state. Once a few achieved that level, they wrote the new standard, saying, “If I can do it, everyone can.” Now when someone comes up to ask what the drill topic is, we can counter with, “What do you need signed off in your task book?”
WHY CONTINUAL TRAINING?
When I first started in the fire service, volunteer firefighters worked in their communities, and the business owners were also firefighters. It was not uncommon to have a business close down so all could go on the alarm. This was a great service to the community. Unfortunately, times change; the firefighters do not work in the community and even though you might own a business in the community, you cannot close down for every alarm because there has been a marked increase in alarms. That is one reason training needs to be done all the time.
Many firefighters work shifts other than 9 to 5. If they are working every Tuesday night at 7 p.m., how do they get their training? Create a schedule that has all shifts in mind and makes training a priority all the time. You can create a lesson on ladders and tell all firefighters it will be offered different days and nights throughout the week. If firefighters attend more than one session, what would be the problem? You would then have proficient firefighters. This should be everyone’s goal.
I have seen trainers who are not there for the firefighters. If you are not there to train firefighters, why are you there? You need to be the one that leads the training. If the drill is to start at 10 a.m., be there and ready to go at 9:30 a.m. Firefighters’ time is precious. If we are not ready when they are, we are not taking care of their needs. Yes, there should be some accountability on their part: They showed up when you told them to be there, excited about doing some training to make them more proficient.
When you are instructing, you need to make sure you incorporate your department’s policies. What better way to make sure everyone is on the same page? Unfortunately, you may not agree with all your department’s policies, but they are the policies you have, so work with them. Do not try to undermine the authorities by telling everyone that the policy is wrong. If you want to change a policy, go to those making policy and ask if they might review the policy for revision. You will lose all credibility with the firefighters and management if you cannot follow policies.
There are many great new techniques for performing our jobs. Make sure that these techniques are safe and will work within your department and that everyone is fully trained in them before they are used at an incident. There is no automatic guarantee that a technique that works for one department will work for another.
Instructors must demonstrate proficiency. They must be able to do the task they are teaching perfectly before the students. Firefighters must feel that they have ownership in the training program. They should want to be there and to get involved. It is up to the instructor to create this atmosphere.
NORM CARROLL is a firefighter/paramedic with the Manlius (NY) Fire Department. He has served nine and a half years as a career firefighter and six years as a volunteer in the same department. He has an associate degree in public fire protection from Rancho Santiago Community College in Santa Ana, CA. He has been with the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control since 2000 as a state fire instructor, teaches outreach courses in Onondaga County, and is an adjunct instructor with the New York State Academy of Fire Sciences and the Utica (NY) Fire Department Fire Academy.
