By Paul G. Landreville
Training firefighters—This can make for stimulating conversation, can be very controversial, and demands commitment. To achieve the goal of always being ready when our equipment, knowledge, and acquired skills are required, fire departments must continually train. Participating in training each week, year after year, can become tiring and outright boring. This is partly because the styles and customs of training departments can be so rich in tradition that things rarely change. Established organizations may be able to look back a few generations and know the specific days and times reserved for fire department training. Any firefighter—rookie or veteran—who suggests altering this tradition may as well turn in his gear.
Regardless of how entrenched a department is in a training tradition, there are a number of reasons firefighters attend department training sessions. They include the following:
- To learn new techniques or skills.
- To review previously acquired techniques or skills.
- Department drill quotas require a member’s attendance at training sessions.
- Training times—and afterward—are social events. The quotas, topics, or instructors are of no significance. Training sessions are another opportunity to be with fellow firefighters.
EVERYTHING CHANGES
People don’t always welcome change in their personal lives; nevertheless, change takes place. When these personal changes begin to have an impact on the fire department and the ability of members to train on traditional days and times, what happens? When experienced veterans or much-needed new recruits can’t show up for a drill, what’s the solution? Does past fire department tradition say, “Give ’em a chance to catch up; if it doesn’t work, cut ’em loose”?
That’s a tough way to talk. Can a modern-day fire department afford such a traditional attitude any longer? Are new recruits lining up at the fire station, or is the city advertising for daytime responders? Can current budgets absorb this traditional attitude? Training is costly, and it takes time to replace an experienced firefighter—provided the new recruit stays a member long enough. If the recruit leaves because of an inflexible tradition, the process just begins over again.
WE CAN BE ADAPTABLE
Volunteer and paid-on-call fire departments have shown adaptability to survive. Departments have conformed to new and updated standards. Administrators work within shrinking or frozen budgets. Fire departments may lack support from city officials or the public they serve. Being short-staffed isn’t a problem anymore—it’s a way of life.
The lack of daytime available firefighters has been an ever-growing headache for fire administrators. This shortage may be an accumulation of circumstances well beyond a fire department’s control. To head off the crisis, suburban fire administrators are forced to be more innovative than ever before. Today in a suburban fire station, a company of volunteer firefighters may be on-duty. These are well-organized crews with regularly scheduled shifts. Riding assignments have been established, equipment checks completed, and station chores assigned and accomplished. If sleep is required of an on-duty crew, it’s permitted so they may continue to work their evening or night jobs. Dropping or lowering run quotas for participants in the staffing program, in exchange for hours worked, may entice other day responders to sign on as well. For some departments, this could solve—at least temporarily—the issue of a slow or small daytime response.
An administration could use the successful day staffing program as a model for developing a night on-duty crew. The Training Division should be directly involved to ensure all aspects with regard to riding assignments, equipment checks, and station chores are consistent regardless of the shift or day of the week. Uniform checks at the beginning of each shift are vital to ensure no equipment is overlooked for a long period of time.
With on-duty crews in place, fire alarms that typically draw a single-station response could be handled by the on-duty crew. Frequent malicious false alarms, assistance calls, check-the-area dispatches, and other nonemergency calls could fall into this category.
HAS THE TRAINING CHANGED?
These solutions to nagging problems come from Fire Administration. Has the Training Division been reorganized or modified to keep up? We know departments are proud of their adaptability. Has this adaptability trickled down to the Training Division? Are the drills that are produced and taught each week keeping up with the response guidelines and timetables of the on-duty crews?
With a company on-duty and getting out of the station in a minute or less, it is likely to arrive on-scene first. This initial crew will be expected to follow department standard operating guidelines and take the appropriate action. This action could range from relaying information to calling for multiple alarms. Regardless of the action plan, the members must be trained to initiate that plan with a shift- size crew—for how long will depend on a department’s ability to get a second company on-scene to assist the initial crew.
TRAIN LIKE YOU RESPOND
Volunteer departments will change with the introduction of on-duty crews. Changing the volunteers’ training should follow closely behind. A failure to accomplish this may have swift responding companies using departmental initial company tactics with outdated response timetables. For example, the on-duty crew getting out of the fire station in a minute or less could arrive on-scene well before those members responding from home. The initial company arrives, sizes up the situation, and informs responding units of the initial tactical decision.
Depending on response distances and other considerations, this initial company could be working without support for countless minutes before additional help arrives. If your department’s first-on-scene company tactics have stayed the same, along with outdated timetable protocols, the officer of the first-in company may regret not laying and charging a supply line. In spite of the crew’s exercising good nozzle discipline, the on-board water tank may be drained before the second-in company establishes supply lines. In this situation, the officer’s initial tactics followed traditional guidelines. However, with this innovative quick response, the second company was not on the road, and the on-duty crew was already charging lines. This fast-attacking on-duty crew just closed the traditional timetable book and began a new tradition.
ADJUST TRAINING FOR THE NEW TIMETABLE
A change in the response timetable may be the ideal opportunity for a training department. It will allow good training officers to rise to the challenge and thrive on the new possibilities for training crews. The Training Department, working in conjunction with Fire Administration, should make every effort to follow approved guidelines when designing on-shift training sessions. In addition, the company officer, who has observed the crew operate at drills and fires, is uniquely qualified to help design and implement crew training sessions.
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The following guidelines may be beneficial in generating effective on-shift training sessions.
- Use the on-duty crew and real timetables. Are the departments’ on-duty crews one officer and four firefighters? If training is conducted with a larger crew, the timetable will be thrown off. One officer and a crew of four firefighters are capable of accomplishing a limited amount of physical work for a period of time under various conditions. The company officer training with the crew will be aware of these limitations. Training with a larger crew than that which normally responds on a scheduled shift will not give the officer an accurate feel for the on-duty crew’s capabilities.
- Observe the shift size and experience level. Make every effort to set attainable goals. To aid in the selection of shift drills, examine the top 10 types of calls the department responds to during a crew’s shift. What geographical area has the largest response? What are the specific hazards to that area? Are vehicle fires a large majority of shift calls? Practice pulling a hoseline on a vehicle in the station parking lot. Are false alarms the majority of fire calls? If possible, use the fire marshal and tour various facilities. View new computerized alarm panels and old outdated systems. Locate alarm panels; see what types of alarm systems are installed and how they’re silenced and reset.
- Encourage the crew to suggest drills. Ask each member of the crew to pick out the top 10 drills on which they would like to train. Place these drills in order of most requested to least requested. This will give the company officer and the Training Department an idea of what that specific crew needs. With a crew of one officer and four firefighters, there should be a large variety from which to choose.
- Advise the crew what the drill is, then reinforce the practical application. For example, a crew must carry a ground ladder to the far side of an apartment complex for a rescue. Give the name and address of the complex. Drive by the building for emphasis, showing the crew how far the ground ladder carry may be. Point out specific problems the crew may encounter, such as trees, shrubs, fences, locked security gates, clotheslines, pools, hills or retaining walls, and parked vehicles that become obstacles. Evaluate what the ladder carry would be like in extreme heat, in deep snow, or at night. Setting up the ladder may be the easy part. Getting it to the rescue area may be the most difficult part of the drill.
- Ask for the shift officer’s personal evaluation. Continuous weekly training won’t help if the crew doesn’t understand the whole point of the drill. At the conclusion of a drill, ask the crew, Did I communicate what I wanted clearly? Did you understand it? Do we need to train on this again? If the whole crew went “left” and the officer went “right,” what happened? Even the simplest mistakes can be lessons learned. When concluding the training session, remind everyone this could be the final time the crew does this event just as a drill.
The shift officer can learn a great deal about the crew and their capabilities during this time. While conducting these on-shift training sessions, the company officer should be asking himself these questions: Is this crew ready to perform this drill at a fire call? Does this crew have enough experience to think on its feet during changing conditions? Does the crew require constant supervision?
SHORT AND SWEET
On-shift drills don’t have to last long (see Table 1). Pull a line on a vehicle in the fire station parking lot. Charging a handline and spraying a few gallons of water shouldn’t take long. As soon as the crew demonstrates it knows the fundamentals, call it quits. When the crew reaches the goals set for a drill, everyone has confidence. Now, if the next on-shift vehicle fire doesn’t run smoothly, ask the crew what happened and why. Learn from any mistakes, and move on.
With the engine in the station parking lot, announce a quick ground ladder rescue drill. How long does it take to pull a ladder off the engine and reach the fire station roof or window for a rescue? Did the drill take more time than what department standard operating guidelines consider acceptable? If so, put ladder drills near the top of on-shift training.
Laying and charging a supply line or large-diameter hose (LDH) may not be in the standard operating guidelines for the first-in engine company. For this scenario, the on-duty crew just pulled up to a structure with fire showing, a smoke condition, and a possible rescue situation. This alarm was close to the station, so the company arrived quickly and is pulling a line to the front door. The next engine—your water supply—isn’t even out of the station yet! Past experience says onboard water will not be enough for this fire.
For an on-shift drill, lay a supply line and charge a single handline (see Table 2). It’s not necessary to pull the longest handline off the engine or lay out 600 feet of LDH. Pull the shortest line and run out 200 feet of LDH. The real challenges for the crew are flushing the hydrant, connecting the LDH to the hydrant and to the supply inlet of the engine, and then charging the LDH before the onboard water supply is exhausted.
The shift officer may decide to keep a drill or two prepared if weather conditions aren’t cooperating. These drills can be a review of riding assignments or equipment taken in on specific types of alarms. Review the patient assessment acronyms. Pick a crew member as the victim and apply a collar and backboard. Using real-time guidelines, these in-station drills go quickly.
RULE OF F.I.V.E.
The company officer could use the Rule of F.I.V.E. in creating a shift training program for the crew.
- Find out what the crew needs and/or wants in training.
- Invent your own training session customized for the crew. Resourceful officers may formulate many creative and clever on-shift drills.
- Validate the training. When a crew trains on-shift, keep accurate records. Document the goals and objectives, who participated, what was accomplished, and the time and duration of the training session. (Make sure the Training Division receives a copy of these records.) Compensate on-shift training participants in some form, whether it’s drill pay, drill credit, or releasing them from other department drills covering the same topics.
- Evaluate the training after a specific period of time. Depending on the frequency of on-shift drills, this time frame could be one month to six months. Regardless of how the program seems to be going, evaluate all aspects to get a complete and honest overview.
Some members will stay tied to the traditional days and times for training. This may make them the most comfortable. On the other hand, others may have no choice but to change because of diverse work schedules or family obligations. However, with some members training on-shift, class sizes may be smaller. This could eliminate crowded drills and ease the burden on class instructors.
For members training on-shift, this change in tradition could prompt them to remain active members of the department. Once the scheduled shifts involving training are plugged into their busy schedules, they will know when 100 percent of their time, energy, and attention will be focused on the fire department. Firefighters working together could rediscover the excitement of a training session. Ultimately, individual companies may find gratification in their ability to operate safely, quickly, and independently for a period of time once thought beyond their capability.
Paul G. Landreville is a 16-year veteran of the fire service and former on-shift company officer. As a past training captain, he spent three years as officer-in-charge of probationary firefighter training. In addition, he spent time in probationary firefighter program development and mentoring new firefighters.