By JAMES McDERMOTT
In these tough economic times, training budgets are being slashed, and we need to explore alternatives to provide quality training for firefighters and fire officers. How many times have you sat in a conference class, hoping to deliver that message to your members? How many of them want advanced training but can’t take a week off from their job or family to attend a conference or want to attend but the governing body can’t afford it? Do you want a gauge to determine your members’ commitment to training prior to sending them to a national conference?
In 2008, six volunteer departments from Suffolk County, New York, joined to form a training consortium to answer these questions. Each department contributes $600 annually, which entitles them to send as many members as they want to four seminars. The seminars are held primarily on Sunday mornings during the fall and winter at the various firehouses. Fortunately, some of the departments involved have meeting halls that can hold more than 200 firefighters comfortably. The host department normally provides breakfast.
 |
| (1) Firefighters participating in the rapid intervention team (RIT) evolutions package a down firefighter. (Photos by Matthew Gehm.) |
All guest speakers are nationally recognized fire service leaders and experts in the subjects they present. The lectures normally run for 2½ to three hours with a break, followed by a question-and-answer session. The half-day forum allows firefighters to attend quality training sessions and still gives time for family responsibilities. The annual series concludes in early March with a half-day of live training. Firefighters choose from one of several three-hour evolutions offered. Some of the subjects we cover include Advanced Extrication, Live Fire Attack, Advanced Rapid Intervention Scenarios, along with a Pump Operator’s workshop.
In 2011, in addition to field exercises, we added an interactive strategy and tactics workshop in a classroom setting; this proved very successful. Once again, we are fortunate that several departments have access to great training facilities. Also, with a little ingenuity, some scavenging skills, and a little determination, we found how much we could do with just an empty parking lot. We acquired cars from the local impound yard for the advanced extrication class, and donated furniture enhanced the mask confidence course. The cost of the hands-on training day was included in the original $600 fee per department.
 |
| (2) Firefighters practice a 2-to-1 removal procedure during the RIT evolutions. |
Since its inception, the consortium has now grown to 23 departments, with an average attendance of approximately 200 firefighters at each event. The following are some lessons learned and recommendations to consider if you’re interested in using this concept in your organization.
Start small and form a committee. As you can imagine, there is substantial work involved to make this endeavor a success. Tap the resources of some “can-do” firefighters, and delegate tasks to make it manageable. This could result in a good incident command system drill or incident management team exercise.
Get buy-in from members. It was easy to get the governing bodies to buy in, considering the relatively low cost, but when they presented it down the chain of command, they met resistance. If we had started with the line officers and chiefs, we would have eliminated some early headaches.
 |
| (3) Firefighters removing the down firefighter from a second-story window using a ladder as a high point. |
Consult your department’s or district’s legal and financial representative. Determine the best course to follow in establishing the group to comply with local regulations. After consultation, it was recommended that each department pay the instructors directly.
Look in your backyard for instructors. Although travel costs are associated with getting some of the “big names” for the lectures, we were able to tap some impressive local talent for the hands-on courses. An unexpected benefit of the program was that it gave some up-and-coming instructors and officers the opportunity to fine-tune their instructional abilities.
Keep an instructor in your back pocket. Although we have not experienced it yet, inevitably, you will be faced with a last-minute cancellation by an instructor because of an illness, a family emergency, or a travel delay. To avoid cancelling training sessions, keep some local talent “on the bench” who can fill in if necessary.
JAMES McDERMOTT is a 24-year veteran of and battalion chief with the Fire Department of New York, assigned to Battalion 39 in the East New York section of Brooklyn. He is also a deputy chief instructor at the Suffolk County (NY) Fire Academy and a firefighter with the Centereach (NY) Volunteer Fire Department.
