Motivation
There are days where nothing seems to go right and this was one of them. The drill had been planned weeks in advance, permission received to use the local high school and lesson plans were written. Then Sunday came and with it was rain. Not just pleasant showers but the type of rain that sends weathermen to their almanacs and preachers to their bible to look for comparisons. It was epic, and your drill was busted.
Still, you have a firehouse full of members looking to you for a drill, and they don't want excuses. The last thing you want to do is waste their time; that would be bad for your image and their morale. Bringing the firefighters out and having nothing for them to do is a good way to lose their respect and any chance of ever getting them out of bed again early on a Sunday morning. Don't even think of popping in a movie. They will know you are just wasting time. You need a drill that can be put together fast, be done indoors and have value. What do you do?
Setup
This is where having some reference material comes in handy. The IFSTA book entitled "Essentials of Firefighting", or the Delmar publication "Firefighters Handbook" are both filled with ideas that can be incorporated into a fast and worthwhile drill. The IFSTA book calls them "Skill Sheets" while the Delmar book calls them "Job Performance Requirements." Whatever they are called, they are valuable skills well worth practicing. I'm sure there are other text's out there but these are the best that I have found. (If you have no books, just look around your apparatus for some pieces of equipment that you haven't used in a while.) Pick four or five of them and set them up in the engine room in a circuit and run the firefighters through them in small groups. Make sure each group visits each station, and recruit older members, or those on limited-duty to watch over the station; they will explain what each group is expected to do at that station.
On a recent Sunday I asked the members to do the following:
Station 1: While wearing masks and gloves, and with the face piece of the mask covered by a hood, have the member remove a bottle from a SCBA and replace it with a spare bottle. Will they ever do this in a fire? Probably not, but it would be good to know how, just in case. Remember, confidence comes from having done it before. This is a drill I do a lot; it's easy to set up and an important skill to reinforce. Station 2: With their backs to the truck, I asked the member to tell me where certain pieces of equipment were stored. In particular, how many hydrant wrenches were on the truck and where they were stored (Why hydrant wrenches? Don't ask. It's just too embarrassing a story.). You can do this with as many pieces of equipment as come to mind, and make this section as easy or as grueling as you please. A quick quiz on SOG's might be in order for this station as well. Speaking of SOG's when was the last time you read yours? Station 3: While wearing a mask and gloves, have the member turn on a portable radio and switch the radio channels. This is a lot harder than it sounds and takes some practice. Next time I will ask them to change batteries, just for fun. This is a good time to remind the younger members how to use the microphone - remember, you hold the microphone about six inches from the mouth, at an angle, so you talk across it, not into it. Station 4: With one member on top of the squad holding a rope over the edge, have another member attach the rope to a length of hose that is charged for hoisting and then to an uncharged gated supply line for hoisting. You could also practice ladder, axe and fan hoisting if you have willing members. Don't let the equipment swing into the side of the truck. The Chief won't like it. The best way to practice ropes and knots is by showing their actual uses on the fireground. Otherwise the younger guys just won't see the point.Summary
The beauty of this type of drill is its ease of setting up and its adaptability. You can have four stations or 14. You can modify it to your company to focus on weak areas, or the little used equipment that gathers dust for months on end. Members with special skills or knowledge can be asked to contribute to the drill. It can be done indoors or out. It can be used as an addition to a regular drill to keep busy those members who might otherwise be standing around waiting their turn. It can turn a rainy Sunday morning into a valuable learning experience. Remember how precious drill time is. Don't waste a minute of it.
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