Training deserves more respect and resources
Richard J. Gomes
Lieutenant
President
Massachusetts Institute of Fire Department Instructors
I would like to address what seems to be a general lack of respect and resource allocation for the training aspects of our jobs. With regard to job performance and safety, the Editor`s Opinion and readers` letters have kept training on the front burner.
As president of the Massachusetts Institute of Fire Department Instructors (MIFDI), I am aware of the obstacles facing the members of the organization, as well as other training officers. They are listed in random order.
1. Lack of respect for the training division. The attitude of officers in the department toward training will no doubt set the tone for firefighters. There is almost a bad connotation associated with training. Often, new officers get “stuck” in the training division until a company position opens up.
2. Training officer is on a duty shift and not assigned to days. Here we have either lack of funds or a chief who does not understand the importance of training. Some believe adequate training is throwing a videotape at the shift officer to give out to the stations.
3. Dilution of the training officer`s duties. In many departments of modest size, the lack of staff may mean that the training officer position should really be called “The right hand of the chief–do whatever is needed today” officer. Many training officers are being bogged down with nontraining duties.
4. Lack of support from administration evidenced by underfunding. Many training officers are not reimbursed for association memberships, trade journal subscriptions, training class tuition, or fees for important seminars/trade shows such as the FDIC. Many MIDFI members are not allowed time from duty to attend training meetings.
Time is a fleeting element for any training division. With limits on shift staffing, EMS training, answering calls for service, and the like, a training officer is competing for valuable time. I find it amazing that training issues are commonly secondary in many departments. Many personnel have the attitude, “The calls are getting answered and the fires are going out, so what`s the big deal?”
We should all be concerned with regard to the most recently published statistics on firefighter injuries and deaths. Most of us are answering more alarms and going to fewer working fires, yet the same number of firefighters are being injured and killed. It has nothing to do with the “safety gods” (as Editor Bill Manning has put it). It has to do with concentrating on our core mission. I heard this from several speakers at the FDIC. Safety comes from solid hands-on relevant training in the most frequently demanded tasks of our job and the use of any necessary personal protective equipment.
It is odd that although the training officer may not be a primary position in many departments–especially when it comes to staffing and funding–to whom do department members go when something goes wrong?
