Learning in the Firehouse

Rochester NY firefighters respond to a three-alarm fire at 300 block Jefferson Ave in December 2021

By Edward A. Tracey

How do firefighters learn at work? Or, better yet, how do firefighter learn in the firehouse? The initial reaction to these questions may seem like an easy answer; conventional thinking would say, “Through training.” This article highlights the relationship between two aspects of training in the fire service: formal and informal firefighter learning practices. Specifically, it reports on how firefighters learn in the firehouse and identifies activities that firefighters use to learn informally before providing both practical and policy implications for fire officers and fire training program managers. The considerations in this article are applicable to the on-duty, career firefighter as well as the volunteer firefighter hanging out in the firehouse.

There has been much research and writing about learning in formal and informal learning environments. The formal learning environment is the structured manner in which collected knowledge has been passed down from one generation to the next, typically through a teacher-student relationship.¹ The formal setting is typified in educational settings by the classroom learning environment and in the workplace through rigid initial education and in-service training programs.² In the fire service, this looks like the officer running the training drill or an instructor teaching in a classroom setting.

The fire services puts a lot of focus on training in the formal environment, as firefighters are almost exclusively trained to do their jobs in this learning environment. Formal learning has been identified as a method for learners to acquire information about their jobs, typically through classroom instruction and in-service training programs.² Emphasis on the formal learning environment includes training conducted during probationary firefighting academies, continuing education and in-service training programs, and attendance in college level and external training course opportunities.

Although there is no debate as to the efficacy of a well-run formal training program, this article focuses on uncovering and fostering the other learning opportunities in the firehouse—those that don’t fit in the formal curriculum and those that occur in the informal environment.

Informal Workplace Learning

Different studies on workplace learning practices have shown a greater percentage of people learning “how” to do their jobs through informal learning practices. The ratio of formal to informal workplace learning has been reported as anywhere from 70 to 90% being informal, with the remaining 10 to 30% of learning being obtained through formal training.^{3, 4, 5}

Informal learning can be defined in multiple ways. Informal learning is learning that can take place anytime and anywhere, and it can be done by an individual or within a group of people.⁶ It has succinctly been defined as “everyday learning.”⁷ Informal learning can involve the use of media, acquaintances, experiences, or other sources, and it is complementary to the learning that occurs in the formal environment.⁶ A workplace learning researcher used the physical learning environment as the delineating factor between learning that is formal and informal—meaning, all learning that does not occur in a classroom is informal by nature.⁸ For the purposes of a discussion on firehouse learning, informal learning is all learning that does not fall under the previously identified formal learning programs.

A few of the key characteristics of informal learning as compared to formal learning follow:

The learner is in control, not an instructor.
There is no formal curriculum or established outcomes.
It is often unplanned.
It may remain hidden from training managers; the learner is not often asked to explain what has been learned and may not be aware of what he has learned.
It is often unintentional.
It is often collaborative.
It may be more concerned with practical knowledge rather than theory and concepts.^{8, 9}

While working in the firehouse, there are three main ways that firefighters and fire officers participate in informal learning: (1) through the practice and experiences of being a firefighter, (2) from each other, and (3) on their own through self-directed learning activities.

Learning Through Practice

Learning through practice encompasses learning through “doing things” while at work. Firefighters participate in workplace learning through apparatus and equipment checks and also through the course of gaining experience from responses to emergencies and participation in fire department events. By checking equipment, working at emergency incidents, and performing services to the community, firefighters learn and becomes better at their trade.

Effective Teaching Strategies

A closely related concept to learning through the practice of being a firefighter is learning to be a firefighter through the process of making mistakes. Often, firefighters are willing to share their mistakes to help prevent others from making the same mistakes. This reinforces the learning concept of granting leeway for people to make minor mistakes in the name of professional development without fear of punishment.

Learning from Each Other

Firefighters learn from each other while spending time in the firehouse. Think about your experiences during a work shift or while around the coffee table in a volunteer firehouse: Firefighters ask questions, they talk with each other, they learn from each other, and they learn from their officers. In the learning research, the term used to describe a group committed to learning about a mutual topic is a community of practice. Community of practice research explains that learning takes place as individuals go through their daily routines and practices—that is, when people work together, they learn together.¹⁰ Firefighters reliably participate in a community of practice as they work together to seek the unknown answers to firematic questions.

When a firefighter has a question, he asks the person he believes to have the correct answer. The person he turns to could be the fire officer, the senior firefighter, or the coworker he supposes would have the appropriate response.

When firefighters are sitting at the coffee table and discussing a recent incident, they are participating in learning. They learn what went right and went wrong. They are participating in training when they formulate what their company or shift would do if faced with similar circumstances. When a senior firefighter is telling a serious or even humorous story and highlighting lessons learned, the firefighters listening are processing the information and learning from the story.

Self-Directed Learning

At the firehouse, firefighters engage in informal workplace learning practices on their own. Self-directed learning activities are identified as activities adults participate in to “deliberately learn on their own.”¹¹ Firefighters may choose to participate in self-directed learning activities to acquire appropriate workplace knowledge. Activities that the firefighters initiate on their own include reading fire service literature and using computer and online resources including access to external fire services Web sites and internal fire department intranet resources.

A consideration for self-directed informal workplace learning is that firefighters often seek to set up a personal spot, a unique space in the firehouse, where they can engage in learning with laptops, personal electronics, and reading material.

Firehouse Learning Complexity

It may be hard to identify a learning activity as “just” formal” or “just” informal, but that is the point: Learning in the workplace is complex and may lead to informal learning practices seeding formal learning and vice versa.

To illustrate this relationship, consider the scenario of a firefighter in the truck bay informally asking the officer a question on firefighting hydraulics that arose out of an issue with a morning pump check. The officer attempted an explanation but realized the firefighter did not fully understand the verbal response to the query. The fire officer then designed and scheduled a formal in-service training session to assist the firefighter with his workplace knowledge.

Another issue to consider is that there may be a continuum of learning—that is, the experience level may play a role in which firehouse workplace learning practices are more effective. Newer firefighters initially learn more about the job through formal training but, as they gain experience, they transition to learning more about the job through informal activities. A study of firefighter learning practices reported that new firefighters initially learn workplace information through the formal environment but, over time, transition to learning informally though gaining experiences and social interaction.¹²

Implications for Fire Officers and Training Personnel

Fire officers who are trained to recognize informal learning can guide and foster these previously hidden learning opportunities. It may be necessary to develop training for recognizing the informal learning opportunities that occur. Training fire officers to recognize and guide workplace discussions can improve the amount and quality of informal learning in the workplace. To use the colloquialisms from research on enhancing student learning, we can continue to train fire officers to serve as “a sage on the stage”¹³ when formal training is necessary and appropriate, but we should also train them to be a “guide on the side”¹³ when promoting discussion or other informal learning activities is appropriate. Along with training fire officers to identify informal learning, they should be guided on how to capture training credit for time the firefighters spend maintaining and checking equipment, discussing workplace issues, or engaging in self-directed learning efforts.

Fire department officers should recognize the activities that take place that support firefighter workplace learning including reading fire service publications and using online resources. Fire department officers should provide the members with the tools and the time necessary to engage in informal learning activities. This includes maintaining subscriptions to fire service periodicals/training Web sites and taking stock of the fire service reference material provided to the firehouses. Firehouses equipped with Internet access and document printers allow avenues for firefighter participation in informal learning activities.

Firefighters should be allowed access to technology guided by common sense usage policies. A few years ago, a large fire department instituted a ban on employee use of personal cell phones while on duty.¹⁴ Fire department bans on personal cell phones may inhibit informal firefighter learning as firefighters are often observed, and sometimes encouraged, to use their personal smartphones to search for work-related information.

In addition to providing tools to support informal learning, senior fire department officers should recognize that allowing downtime cultivates workplace learning. Permitting firefighters time to discuss germane workplace issues among themselves and granting consent to engage in self-directed learning activities that support the mission of the fire service increase firefighter informal workplace learning. Fire department officers should explore the feasibility of providing firefighters access to private spaces to encourage self-directed learning and independent study.

Firefighters often turn to the fire officer for necessary workplace information. Fire department leadership should ensure that the right people are promoted into fire officer positions. Promoting approachable people with referential knowledge and a vision of the workplace as a place to learn and ask questions may contribute to improving the overall knowledge and practice of the organization.

Critics of the American fire service’s operational model often complain of inefficient use of firefighters’ time; they have proclaimed that the firefighters are “not doing much of anything.”¹⁵ A common claim presented in media reports critical of the modern fire service is that the firefighters are only engaged in fighting fires 5% of the time.^{15, 16} This assertion may leave an impression that firefighters sit around waiting for fires the remaining 95% of the time. By continuing to document the time spent engaged in formal training activities and encouraging the practice of, and quantifying the time spent on, informal learning activities, a better portrait of a firefighter’s workday can be put forth—one that accounts for time spent engaged in all learning activities as well as one spent responding to emergencies and calls for service.

Although the focus of most fire service training is on formal training and education, firefighters do learn their profession informally through the practice and experience of work itself. Fire department officers and fire service educators need to incorporate and report informal learning activities as ways in which firefighters learn their trade. There is a need to develop mechanisms to capture the time spent by fire department personnel on informal learning activities and an emphasis on officer training on identifying and fostering these opportunities.

Endnotes

1. Colley, H.; Hodkinson, P.; & Malcolm, J. (2002). Non-formal learning: Mapping the conceptual terrain (A consultation report). Leeds, England: University of Leeds Lifelong Learning Institute.

2. Marsick, V., & Watkins, K. (1990). Informal and incidental learning in the workplace. New York, NY; Routledge.

3. Kim, K.; Hagedorn, M.; Williamson, J.; & Chapman, C. (2004). Participation in adult education and lifelong learning; 2000-01 (NCES 2004-050). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

4. Cross, J. (2007). Informal learning: Rediscovering the natural pathways that inspire innovation and performance. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

5. Raybould, B. (2000). Performance support engineering: An emergent development methodology for enabling organizational learning. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 8(1), 7-22.

6. Schugurensky, D. (2000). The forms of informal learning: Towards a conceptualization of the field (WALL Working Paper No. 19). Toronto, CA: Centre for the Study of Education and Work, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.

7. Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond. London, England: Routledge.

8. Hager, P. (1998). Recognition of informal learning; Challenges and issues. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 50(4), 521-535.

9. Barber, J. (2004). Skill upgrading within informal training: Lessons from the Indian auto mechanic. International Journal of Training and Development, 8(2), 128-139.

10. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, U.K.; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.

11. Merriam, S. B.; Caffarella, R. S.; & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

12. Somerville, M. & Lloyd, A. (2006). Codified knowledge and embodied learning: The problem of safety training. Studies in Continuing Education, 28(3), 279-289.

13. King, A. (1993). From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College Teaching, 4(1), 30-35.

14. Cellphones off limits for firefighters, paramedics. (2012, October 31). Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cellphones-off-limits-for-firefighters-paramedics-1.1203648.

15. Barry, D. (2002, December 15). The nation: Time and motion; What firefighters do the rest of the time. New York Times. Retrieved on November 20, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/weekinreview/the-nation-time-and-motion-what-firefighters-do-the-rest-of-the-time.html?src=pm.

16. Neyfakh, L. (2013, September 8). Plenty of firefighters, but where are the fires? The Boston Globe. Retrieved on November 20, 2013, from http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/09/07/plenty-firefighters-but-where-are-fires/isCPrIPauX078UKHdixu0K/story.html.

EDWARD A. TRACEY, Ed.D, is a 29-year veteran of the fire service, serving the past 19 years with the Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He is a rescue company captain, a fire service and technical rescue instructor, a member of several curriculum committees, and the lead instructor for the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs H.O.T. Truck Company Operations program. He has a doctoral degree in education from the University of Rochester, a master’s degree in public administration from SUNY-Brockport, and a bachelor’s degree in fire service administration from the University of New Haven.