Firefighter Training as a 2013 New Year's Resolution

I'm going to go on a little rant here because of the way things seem to be in the fire service concerning training.

I travel extensively, across the country and up into Canada and Alaska. I cannot believe the number of career fire departments that do not have an official designated training period sometime during each shift. I can't believe the number of volunteer departments that don't train every week. Some train bi-weekly and others once a month.

Let me be straight with you here. If you are training just once a month you should hang up the helmet and get a job at Walmart before you kill yourself or someone else.

If you work for a career department and you are not spending some time every time you are on duty training, you are not doing your job. Firefighters, officers, chiefs all need more training.

How do I know that? Because I can read and every month another NIOSH report is released describing how a firefighter was killed in a flashover, a collapse, an apparatus accident, a fall, and a hundred other ways. If you think you're a firefighter I challenge you to train!

If your officer isn't holding drills or conducting training, ask for it! They call us the "bravest," right? Well be brave and ask your officer to train you. If you're an officer and you're not training your people you're an accomplice!

January 1 just passed, but there is still time to make a commitment to your people, your department and yourself and start training. Here are just a few simple one session training topics;