Acting as an Instructor Is Duty of Every Officer
departments
The Volunteers Corner
Whether they realize it or not, every officer in the fire service is an instructor to some degree. Even a chief of department becomes an instructor when he outlines a new policy to be implemented by his chief officers or when he assigns one or more officers to develop an administrative project.
Company officers are responsible for the effectiveness of their companies—both on the fireground and in such non-fire activities as building inspections and equipment maintenance. Therefore, they must instruct the fire fighters in their companies in every activity in which the company may sometime be engaged.
Even when a fire department has a training officer—or a large training staff—the company officer has a responsibility to reinforce the training received from department training officers during company drills. In paid departments, where company drills may be required on every duty day, the company officer must consider not only the drill subjects mandated by a formal training program for all companies, but he also must include training in areas where his company lacks the desired level of proficiency.
In small volunteer departments in which all companies drill together under a training officer, the drills should include opportunities for the company officers to act as assistant training officers. If some of the responsibilities for instruction are placed on these company officers, they will become more competent both as instructors and—most importantly—as company leaders.
Developing lesson plans: If the company officer has to develop his own lesson plans, the first rule is to follow the department procedures. Obviously, every company in a department must be able to do the same evolution in the same manner. Whether hose is carried up a ladder on the right or left shoulder really doesn’t make much difference. What is important is that every company in the department carry hose up a ladder on the shoulder selected by that department.
The company officer should limit the content of a lesson plan to the time available for the drill. Sometimes a highly knowledgeable officer has difficulty in limiting the information he wishes to impart during a drill. What he has to remember is that it is impossible for him to teach in an hour or two all that he has learned about the drill subject in many years of fire service.
Therefore, the company officer has to establish priorities and teach the most important information during the first drill. It may take several training sessions to cover some subjects, such as pump operation, hazardous materials response and building inspection. As the company uses the information in the field, the officer should be alert to any weaknesses displayed. These weaknesses.then become the subjects for review training sessions that will raise the competence of the company.
Use brief outlines: Whether the officer has to write his own lesson plans or uses lesson plans written by the training division, these lesson plans will inevitably be too bulky for use in hands-on training. The way to solve this problem is to become thoroughly familiar with the lesson plan for a particular evolution and then put just enough key points on 3X5 index cards so that all the material in the lesson plan will be covered. I always liked this system because the cards are small enough to stuff in a shirt pocket and I could take a quick look at them to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything while the fire fighters were busily engaged in some part of the evolution.
For example, if you are conducting a session in pump operation, you might write on index cards such key words as engaging pump, primer operation, booster tank use, static and residual pressures, obtaining pressure, etc. You should be familiar enough with the details so that you don’t need to put them on the cards. The notes on the cards keep the bits of information in the proper order and make sure all the points of the lesson plan are covered.
Maintaining interest: One of the problems that instructors frequently face is how to maintain everyone’s interest in a basic training session when the group includes some fire fighters with many years of experience. The competent instructor should have a great depth of knowledge of the subject and should be able to include one or two bits of information that may not be of prime importance to the lesson, but they will be new to the veterans. In a drill on the handling of hose lines, you can show two or three ways a single fire fire fighter can couple hose instead of the one way usually used. In a ladder drill, show how two men can raise a 35-foot extension ladder if they have to in an emergency.
Whether a company officer is conducting hands-on training or a classroom session, he must stress safety during his instruction. It is inexcusable for an instructor to fail to emphasize safety in the profession that has the nation’s worst safety record.
Company officers should strive to constantly improve the safety records of their companies. Injuries are not just unfortunate—and painful to the victim—they also ruin the efficiency of the company. If one fire fighter is seriously injured, it usually takes all the other men in the company to remove him from the building. That means the company is out of action on the fireground.
So if humane reasons are not enough, let cold, practical reasons convince you that safety must be a vital part of every training session. Remember, how well you emphasize safety in training sessions can prevent injuries and death on the fireground.
