Training “Bucket List”

BY TOM KIURSKI

Many of us are familiar with the term “the bucket list.” Whether it is from general conversations, writings, or the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie, the concept is not new. As I look back on my 30 years in the fire service, I would like to share some of my “bucket list” items with the newer firefighters so they can create their own list. This is a list of training classes you should take in the near future. Don’t wait for it to happen; make it happen!

This is a list of training classes I found to be very fulfilling and potentially lifesaving. Keep in mind that I have trained firefighters in the techniques below. If I had it to do over again or were to pass on advice, these are items I would include. This “bucket list” gives you a road map to follow on your fire service career.

Flashover container training. Although a flashover container does not exactly expose firefighters to a flashover, students learn firsthand the difference in fire conditions from the beginning phase up to the very involved fire of the near-flashover phase. What I would have given to have this early in my fire service career! I look back on my first apartment building fire, making entry and crawling down the hall to the fire apartment. I checked with my partner, hose in hand, and we made entry into the fire apartment. As conditions reached moderate heat levels, I asked my senior partner if these were flashover conditions. After a brief chuckle, he advised me to continue on.

I had never experienced those “moderate heat” levels before that night. It was the hottest I had ever been, so I expressed my inexperience to my senior partner. Time in the burn chamber will certainly teach firefighters the differences among low, moderate, and high heat. It will allow that member to see and feel the fire growth. If you haven’t been in a flashover trainer yet, add that to your bucket list (photo 1).

(1) A look inside the burn chamber shows you that you will see a lot of fire activity while inside. Learn from it. [Photos courtesy of Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue.]

Rappelling. In my recruit class, some of us looked forward to this, while others with shaky knees were a bit more hesitant. Several probies in my class declared that as a result of this training they joined the technical rescue team. Others took it up as a hobby. Either way, it is important to know the need for those with specialized training in this area and how others can support them.

Advanced vehicle extrication. Although you have probably popped a vehicle door, I’m talking about the advanced techniques involving school buses, machine entrapments, trunk tunneling, and many other situations that become challenges for firefighters. Exposure to this training can spark the initial interest in this area of those members who will become your department’s leaders. I tell academy students that every little chapter we cover in the academy has numerous books devoted specifically to that particular subject; they are just getting the tip of the iceberg. I want them to find the chapters that interest them most, seek additional training, and become that area’s “go-to” personnel.

Search. This one topic brings out a few more of my bucket list items. Standard searches are the norm and are conducted every day somewhere in the country. But every now and then, a search will turn up a situation that requires additional training to come up with a way to overcome the obstacles presented. Although an advanced rescue class will teach you many of these techniques, each single technique can be taught in training one at a time over several sessions.

The following make up some bucket list rescue items:

• The headfirst ladder slide. Although used many times as an emergency bailout procedure, many today do not train on it, saying it is too dangerous. During a 1999 training exercise, a firefighter died after a 20-foot fall while attempting this maneuver. This still needs to be trained on, but safety considerations must be taken into account prior to leaving the window (photo 2).
• The John Nance drill. This drill was developed after a firefighter died after becoming trapped in a commercial basement after a floor collapse. With the lightweight construction all over the country, we will continue to fall through burned-out floors. We need to have a few techniques up our sleeves to get our firefighters up and out from the basement if they fall through.
• The Denver drill. Although this will get us hot and sweaty, it cannot be ignored. This drill was developed after we lost a fellow firefighter who was three feet below a window and yet could not be removed. Conditions were bad; we must train for them. If your next rescue isn’t quite this bad, great. But you are ready for it if the conditions are that bad.

(2) You may need the headfirst ladder slide to quickly exit a room that is about to flash over.

I will end my list with the opportunities that we have to review very detailed scenarios in which firefighters were killed in the line of duty, injured, or involved in a close call. If we study them, we can relive that situation and add that to our memory banks. If confronted with the same situation, we can hopefully go back to this training, which gives us a frame of reference so that we can act based on the actions of others in that same situation. There are many creative ways to go over these lessons in training, so put some effort into presenting them to your firefighters.

Firefighters are an action-oriented group, and they constantly consider those “what-if” situations. Although some techniques listed above originally had only one method, now, thanks to firefighter ingenuity, there are multiple ways to get the job done.

In the fire service, training opportunities abound. Although my bucket list will not match yours completely, I want those experienced firefighters to share this information with younger firefighters. What’s on your bucket list? Go over it the next time you are all together.

TOM KIURSKI is training coordinator, a paramedic, and the director of fire safety education for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue. His book, Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators (Fire Engineering, 1999), is a guide for bringing the safety message to all segments of the community efficiently and economically.