The State Fire Marshal and Ohio Fire Academy began offering Internet-based training courses late last year to help fire and emergency personnel meet newly-mandated state requirements.
Most of the 20 fire departments in Butler County, plus Carlisle, Franklin and Lebanon in Warren County, have already been using online programs such as Kaplan Fire and EMS Training.
They say it represents a cost savings in the long run.
"This is an ideal situation for all of us to have another resource for training," Fairfield Fire Chief Donald Bennett said.
His department is in its third year of using the Kaplan program.
He said his continuing education budget four years ago was $37,000. Now it is barely $10,000.
"Kaplan costs less than $60 per person to enroll for a year," Bennett said. "That represents what it would cost us to send someone to one class."
The Ohio Fire Academy's online fire training program is divided into three program components: firefighter, fire inspector and officer development.
Online fire or EMS training is $20 for a one-year subscription, or $35 for both.
"What we've been doing has proven very successful," Bennett said. "But we will certainly look at the state program to see what they have."
Ohio changed its law in 2010 to require firefighters to earn 54 hours of continuing education courses every three years.
Middletown fire Capt. David Adams, the department's senior training officer, said he took the state's demonstration course.
"It was a quality course," Adams said, adding however that Middletown does its fire training in-house. "You view a video and take a test. It's a little more involved than just reading a paragraph and answering questions, but I think it's good to have online training available.
"We're looking at answering 11,000 alarms here this year, so it allows a lot of flexibility to employees, as well as a cost savings for some applications," he added.
Ross Twp. Fire Chief Steve Miller said his department has been using the new state program.
"It's a pretty good deal," Miller said. "But we certainly don't want to go away from the hands-on training because you are going to learn much more in the field than on a computer screen."
There are several area departments that do not take any online training.
"We see value in real life skills and that is where our focus is right now," said Franklin Fire Chief Jonathan Westendorf. "But eventually it is a tool we can have our people use to expand their skills."
The Reily Twp. fire department has its own training facility.
"We are very aware of the online training courses and it is a good tool," said Chief John Quillen. "But we offer 60 hours a year and are very proud of our training facility. There aren't many that have that."
Copyright 2012 - Dayton Daily News, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
