In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.
Trevor Steedman, Captain, Ocean City (MD) Fire Department
SCBA Bootcamp: A Firefighters’s Survival School
Thursday, April 21, 1:30 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
A personal near-miss, noted training deficits that contribute to such occurrences, and an obligation to share this information to educate and protect fellow firefighters have prompted me to pursue educating on this topic.
The optimum effect of these efforts is to provide a continual mechanism for regularly evaluating individual and departmental SCBA survival and proficiency levels and to provide the mechanism to assess and make the necessary changes.
I have received positive feedback from firefighters, training officers, and fire officers regarding the improved proficiency and confidence of their firefighters in performing their duties while wearing SCBA. Many people inquire about the full program and the methodologies used.
The most gratifying feedback has been receiving reports of how applying information learned in my class helped to avert a tragic outcome. Ironically, I hope that those attending my class never have to use the methods and actions they learn in the course. However, if firefighters should find themselves in such situations, they will have the tools with which to fight for survival.
