How many times have you sat at your desk as a training officer, instructor, company officer, or firefighter wanting to train your firefighters while trying to figure out where to begin, where you left off, or what to do next? If you’re like many of us, this might be a daily or hourly occurrence. So what do you do next? What are the nuts and bolts of a training program?
For purposes of this discussion, a training officer is anyone who has a role in training, which covers the full range of those involved in getting the training message out. It is not a title; it is a responsibility to provide good training for firefighters. Some training officers may simply follow the training plans laid out by their predecessors to get the job done; others may start over again, reinvent their program, and attempt to take all of the challenges in stride as part of the job. In either case, the result may be a static, repetitive, irrelevant, and ineffective program that does not meet the needs of the department and, therefore, the community it protects.
Have you considered new technology and how to integrate it into your program? What about the needs of newer department members? They require different training and evaluation methods, and certainly their performance problems should be confronted differently, compared with those of more seasoned members. You must consider all of these factors when designing and developing your training program.
 (2) A firefighter learns to work in obscured conditions designed to simulate an actual fireground. (Photo by author.) |
The phrase “your training program” is an important consideration; anyone delivering training must take ownership of whatever training he originates. This is a core element of your job description: Your firefighters, their families, and the community you protect expect you to train your firefighters to be safe and effective. Your members depend on you to prepare them and keep them trained at the highest level. They’ll probably never tell you that or thank you for what you’re doing, but we all know that good training is the last line of defense between injury or death and poor service delivery.
 (3) Instructors assist a firefighter in an SCBA-doffing demonstration. (Photo by Michael Grazian.) |
In many departments, an overly regimented training program may handcuff the department’s growth, inhibit its professional development, and limit the effectiveness of its service. However, a dartboard training program in which decisions are made by randomly throwing a dart at the board to select the next training topic has the same effect. So where do you begin or start over?
 (4) A training officer discusses various rescue drags and carries with firefighters. (Photo by Dan Jurka.) |
Among the most important factors to consider is the job description of the individuals you need to train. What is their job and what must they know and be able to do to accomplish it effectively? How many job descriptions are there in your organization? Consider these basic job levels: firefighter, apparatus operator, company officer, shift commander (battalion chief), and chief officer. Does your current program’s content cover each of these areas? If not, you are not fulfilling your job description as training officer.
An important principle within National Fire Protection Association and Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards is that training should be commensurate with duties, an important safety and survival key. NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, Chapter 5-1, states that a member’s training must be commensurate with that person’s duties prior to that individual engaging in hazardous activities. So what training is commensurate (equivalent) with the duty of a firefighter? This could be determined simply by reviewing the essential firefighter skills outlined in training manuals, through surveys, or from your own knowledge of what’s required to do a job, then identifying the training topics necessary to keep your members safe on the fireground, which will also make them effective at their jobs.
MAKING TRAINING MANAGEABLE
Several training areas that are essential elements of a firefighter’s job description are also essential to their safety and survival. For example, all our firefighters train on a set of modules we call Firefighter Survival Training. For simplicity, we break the year into quarters to make training delivery more manageable. Here is an overview of our Firefighter Survival Modules.
Module A: Self-survival skills. SCBA skills, rescue knots, wall breaching, Mayday actions, and escape techniques.
Module B: Rescue skills. Partner rescue, downed firefighter approach, rescue drags/lifts/carries, and air management.
Module C: Rapid intervention team (RIT) skills. RIT size-up, tool assignment, entry/egress profiles, entry point determination, search operations, and rescue operations.
Module D: Survival scenarios. Combinations of self-rescue emergencies that progress into RIT operations.
We use training towers, acquired structures, and other props to make these sessions as realistic as possible. A department drillmaster oversees this training to ensure quality and consistency. Our academy also delivers these modules as part of our regular schedule and within our entry-level academy.
This same principle should be applied in the other job levels also. Apparatus operators, company officers, and other members need training that is commensurate with their jobs, too. In developing these modules or training units, always make sure you keep in mind the job elements that are essential to your members’ training and safety. Perform a simple task analysis, or review each training level’s job description. Each department will have a different list of training levels and requirements.
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A sample breakdown of possible quarterly modules identifies the main components of firefighter job requirements. Development of specific tasks and knowledge in these areas is based on the level of proficiency you want your members to acquire. You may set time standards-e.g., SCBA donning in 60 seconds or less. Or you can set up a training scenario that incorporates specific operations members must complete within it. You can expand or contract the process to fit your time needs. You can identify specific training tasks that need to be emphasized through a post-incident analysis, member surveys, and other assessment methods (Figure 1).
If you continue to struggle with where to begin in organizing and developing your training program, always begin with firefighter safety and survival. Identify the skills and topics essential to your members’ safety and survival, and make sure all members master them. Integrate these skills first, and then work in the supporting topics and skills that complement them. Your job as a training officer is key to the mission of making sure “Everyone Goes Home.” ■
■ FOREST F. REEDER JR. began his fire service career in 1979 and has been involved in training since 1982. He is director of training for Southwest United Fire Districts, a training consolidation of the Darien-Woodridge, Pleasantview, and Tri-State Fire Protection Districts in Illinois. He is vice president of the Illinois Society of Fire Service Instructors and a field instructor for the Illinois Fire Service Institute and the Illinois Fire Chief’s Foundation. He is a certified fire officer III and has a master’s degree in public safety administration from Lewis University.
(3) Instructors assist a firefighter in an SCBA-doffing demonstration. (Photo by Michael Grazian.) (4) A training officer discusses various rescue drags and carries with firefighters. (Photo by Dan Jurka.)
