By John “Skip” Coleman
As with many things in the fire service, training has evolved over the past 50 years. My dad was chief of training, as was I. Before I came on, Dad talked about major training programs that he was working on. He developed the first bomb squad and water rescue unit and coordinated the first paramedic class for the Toledo (OH) Fire Department. These were the beginnings of technical rescue for the department.
When I came on, company officers generally created and conducted their individual companies’ fire training. The training bureau developed a list of topics that were to be covered in a specific year. There were fewer topics than there were months in the year. This allowed the officer to work on the evolutions that he deemed necessary after observing his crew at fires.
Occasionally, the chiefs would require that specific topics and evolutions be addressed after fires. There wasn’t much of a formal schedule back then. For the most part, if you did your job well, you were not required to drill much unless you had a recruit assigned to your company.
By the time I retired, that chapter of training was rewritten out of necessity, mandates (almost all unfunded), and the courts.
The addition of EMS work, along with its unfunded state required training, changed the face of training for us and most other departments. After September 11, mandated homeland security and other requirements were added to the mix. If your department wanted to survive, technical rescue entered the picture as well, along with its own specific training requirements.
With all the mandated requirements looming, there is little if any time for individual company officers to conduct training on their own. The good-to-great officers always find the time to train their crews. The best of the best even develop plans and include adjoining companies when it’s needed. Other officers only do what’s required.
This month’s Roundtable question is, “Does your department require company officers to develop and deliver their company-level training?” To answer, go to the home-page at http://emberly.fireengineering.com.
FIRE LIFE
Tired of the question “What’s for dinner?” both at work and in the station? Try out the new recipe “Marietta Station 55 Bow Tie Lasagna” that firefighters in Marietta, Georgia, sent in to Craig Nelson for his “Fire Station Cooking” column on firelife.com. Fire Life viewers go to this column first to see what’s new to cook at home and at work.
Read Derek Rosenfeld’s four-part series on the Baseball Hall of Fame selection process in “The Hall of … Very Good?” See if you agree with those he says should and should not be in the Hall and why.
Anne Gagliano discusses the importance of accountability in a marriage in her column “What Every Firefighter’s Spouse Should Know”: “If we only surround ourselves with people who take from us or who are needy, they will eventually wear us down. We have thus made a concerted effort to seek out those who are as strong as if not stronger than we are in marriage and in life so that we can remain ‘sharp.’ ”
In “Off Duty with Kevin Shea,” Retired FDNY Lieutenant Shea takes the viewers on a coyote hunt and tests out his new “coyote caller.”
FEATURED ARTICLES
In “Don’t Forget the Losers in 2010,” Michael P. Dallessandro, chairman of the Grand Island (NY) Fire Company Board of Directors, discusses the effects of volunteer department elections on those who lost and how their attitudes and the department’s attitude can have a positive effect.
Tom Kiurski, training coordinator for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue, provides a seldom-considered safety evolution: “Firefighters need to know what to do if they fall into a body of water wearing full turnout gear. Firefighters have drowned while wearing turnout gear in the water. Turnout gear does have some buoyancy, but it must be trained on.”
Lance Peeples, a firefighter in St. Louis County, Missouri, discusses “The 3 Cs of Leadership”—competence, courage, and compassion. It is not enough to have one of these traits to be an effective leader. You must possess all three.
In “Stretching In—Initial Line Placement,” a new On the Line column in the Survival Zone, David DeStefano, a lieutenant in the North Providence (RI) Fire Department, writes: “In any scenario, the initial line must be the correct length and diameter, stretched along the correct path to the point of best advantage, but perhaps most importantly it must be operated aggressively on the fire. A stationary line is not an attack line. If you are not gaining on the fire, the fire is gaining on you!”
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Rutherford (NJ) firefighters were met with heavy fire showing out all A-side windows and the front door of this 21⁄2-story wood-frame dwelling. The fire spread quickly because of the wind and the building’s construction. (Photo by Ron Jeffers.) Send your submissions for Photo of the Day to peterp@pennwell.com. |
COMMUNITY MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Name: Greg Smith.
Residence: Benicia, California.
Department:Sacramento City.
Title/rank: Firefighter/paramedic.
Years of public service: 10.
Agency structure:Paid fire department.
Topics you provide training for: Hazmat.
Areas of expertise: Hazmat.
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