FHExpo17: Developing and Maintaining Firefighter Training

Firehouse Expo 2017 instructors covered a wide variety of topics related to fire service training, from training techniques to emergency vehicle operations.

Officer as an instructors

Lt. Brad French presented “The Company Officer as an Instructor."

There is arguably no more critical position in the fire service than the company officer. While the chief dictates policy, the training staff guides the direction of the forward progression of the organization, and the many firefighters on the street move the hose, deploy the ladders, and perform patient care, it’s the company officer who serves as the critical piece to hold all of these various important elements together. The first-line supervisor riding the front seat of the  apparatus is in the position to function in many roles: tactician/worker, coach, mentor, historian, quality assurance officer, decision-maker and, most importantly, instructor.

Fire service company officers are always teaching, whether they realize it or not. In a more formal sense, the officer has the responsibility to plan and execute regular company drills, coordinate company-level pre-planning, and ensure skill competence of all the members of the company.

However, company officers must also realize that their every action is being noticed by the members of that firehouse. How does the officer treat the members personally? Is there a healthy mutual respect, or does the officer choose to carry himself or herself with a subtle attitude of superiority and arrogance? Does the officer participate in routine tasks around the firehouse and function as a hands-on leader, or is the leader of the company just simply an office rat who only emerges for meals and emergency runs? Does the officer follow the department policy on uniforms? Are they kind and courteous to citizens on the street? Formal teaching is important for the company officer, but those same officers must also realize that the informal lessons that their actions and general demeanor may be teaching the company members under the surface.         

Passion and enthusiasm are contagious in the fire industry, and the company officer is in the perfect position not only to lead the company, but also to inspire the members to constantly seek their own continuous improvement. If the company officer takes a genuine interest in studying firefighter line-of-duty death (LODD) case studies, for example, other members of the company are more likely to follow suit. If the company officer comes back from a fire industry trade show or training conference and talks about all that they learned and the connections that they made with fellow brother and sister firefighters, those company members might just want to go along next time.

Company officers setting a high bar for their own personal conduct, attitude and professional development will spread over time into the rest of the company members, and eventually blossom into a hard-hitting, passionate, top-notch fire company that sets the standard for the entire organization.

Training at all levels

Paul Hasenmeier presented “It’s Not a Costume: Training/Education/Experience Required.”

Turnout gear is not a costume, no matter what rank in the fire department organization you currently hold. Simply putting on the gear doesn’t make you the all-hazards superhero some think we become. It takes training, education and experience at each rank—whether volunteer, part-time or full-time—to be a true asset for public welfare. Have you immersed yourself in a combination of training, education and experience at each level of your career? If not, you don’t have the edge you think you have.

Reflect on those things that others do on the job that make your skin boil, Hasenmeier said. Is it a rookie firefighter who doesn’t think pulling and racking hoseline again is important? Is it a seasoned firefighter who doesn’t want to participate in physical fitness training? Is it a crew boss who spends more time in the office than on the bay floor? Is it a chief officer who is disconnected from the mission of taking care of people? 

We have to work harder to get rid of laziness, complacency and a lack of accountability to be better today then we were yesterday. If you set high expectations for yourself, others will follow. A great attitude and high level of performance can start with you and spread to many throughout your organization. Give your boss a reason to believe in you before and after crossing the doorplate.  

Mandatory driver training 

Ryan Pietzsch presented “The Impact of Mandatory Driver Training."

We all learn in different ways, and what we learn often is influenced by the choices we make. In some cases, the topics are chosen for us based on best practices or negative experiences. Many times, training is a tool used to get behavior change or to establish a desired behavior given certain circumstances. When training is deemed to be so important (regardless of the effectiveness of that training), it is made mandatory.

A driver’s license is mandatory to legally operate a motor vehicle. You can certainly operate any vehicle without one, but you risk the consequences set by the law if you get caught. A commercial driver’s license (CDL) is required if you are going to operate a motor vehicle that weighs over 26,000 pounds, but this has not necessarily been accepted in all jurisdictions. In fact, most states exempt some or all firefighters from CDL requirements. If specialized training is deemed so important for these vehicles, and is mandatory for certain drivers, then this begs the question: Why isn’t it mandatory for all drivers of those vehicles?

Pietzsch asked, are CDL drivers safer drivers than those without CDL training and licensing? Has mandating CDL training for commercial vehicle operation improved driver performance and reduced the number and/or the severity of crashes involving commercial designated vehicles? The truth of the matter is that no one knows for sure.

How do we tie this to emergency vehicle operations? No state CDL curriculum covers the operation of a vehicle using lights and siren and the effects that such action has on the driver’s perceptions and decision-making. They do not teach the driver to properly traverse a negative right of way or if/when it is acceptable to exceed the speed limit.

While they don’t cover these topics, they do provide training on topics such as vehicle dynamics, air brakes, and defensive driving over and above that of a typical driver’s license. Is that enough to make CDL mandatory? Not according to most state laws. If you take an emergency vehicle driver training course, it covers much of the same material and, plus operating with lights and sirens and emergency services privileges, such as exceeding the speed limit, running red lights or stop signs, and, most importantly, the concepts of due regard.

Pietzsch studied the effectiveness of mandatory training on emergency vehicle operation and his hypothesis was that mandatory training would be effective at reducing the number of reported crashes involving fire apparatus.

Following a scientific approach and collecting data, it was in fact determined that mandating specific training on emergency vehicle driver did have a positive impact on the number of incidents. However, it was also determined that that impact fluctuated over a five-year span much more than the control group, indicating that the most impactful years were the year of implementation and the year following implementation. The third year consistently saw large increase in the number of crashes, in some cases higher than the year before the mandatory training was implemented. This illustrates the importance of refresher training. The study also showed that the control group that had voluntary training saw a much steadier trend downward in the number of crashes over the same period. Overall, while mandatory training reduced the total number of crashes over the study period, the voluntary training was more effective at long-term behavior change.

The take away is that each of us learns in different ways. We all come with different backgrounds and with different skills and abilities. In order for any training or education to establish behavior change, instructors must relate to the material and apply what we have learned. Once that is established, we must continuously train and avoid bad habits that cause our behavior or actions to become undesirable. Regardless of the topic, training officers, officers and mentors should challenge themselves to find ways to get their message across to the many diverse personalities that we have in fire and EMS. Allow your audience the opportunity to want to learn what it is you are trying to teach them. Otherwise, they won’t hear what you are saying, and learning can’t happen if the student doesn’t hear the message. 

Improving instructors 

Phil Jose presented “Creating a Better Outcome: Improved Teaching for the Fire Service."

Firefighting is a craft. Teaching is a craft. Some firefighters become teachers in order to spread their knowledge, skills and abilities to other firefighters in their company, their department or even departments in other regions or parts of the country.

Of all the tips, tricks and techniques that have demonstrated success for teachers across instructional domains, Jose said the following are two of the most important takeaways:

1. Ask questions: A great teacher is able to ask questions about the lesson being presented to achieve the strategic and tactical objectives of learning. Questions that check basic facts of learning and engagement, such as yes/no questions or single-answer fact questions, are a good tool for basic tradecraft, such as building construction. Questions that challenge understanding or require the application of theory, such as the strengths and weaknesses of a ventilation method or asking an incident commander to identify how they will recognize a plan that is not working, should be open-ended questions.
2. Use wait time: When asking questions, give the students adequate time to process the question and prepare a response. The student must hear the question, understand it, check their understanding against the information in the class and prior learning or experience, develop an answer, self-check the answer, and then they are ready to indicate their willingness to answer by raising their hand. Asking questions is not enough to be a great teacher. When you ask a question … wait … for the students to answer.

These are two techniques for improving your performance as a fire service instructor to improve learning outcomes for your students. You can contact Deputy Chief Jose at ignitionpointtraining.com or by email at phil@ignitionpointtraining.com.

Realistic RIT training 

Paul Strong presented “RIC for Real: Lessons Learned in Realistic Rapid Intervention Training."

Rapid intervention, rescuing firefighters and saving your brothers’ or sisters’ lives all sound great, but how great are we at doing just that? The slap in the face answer is we’re not great at it. What we are great at is strategic, tactical and task-level work. We’re great at improvising, adapting and overcoming obstacles. We’re great at a collective effort as a team as we work toward accomplishing difficult challenges. Measuring our level of “greatness” for rapid intervention crews (RIC) is difficult to do since over 99 percent of us have never done it. We have certainly trained for these scenarios, but without being involved with an actual rescue, how do we measure our effectiveness?

The name of the session, "RIC for Real” was born from a 180-degree change in approach to fire department RIC training and preparedness. Instead of training based on the mindset of the rescuers, why not look at incidents from the perspective of the victims (downed firefighters)? By placing yourself in the victim situation inside the burning building—lost, trapped or perhaps separated from your crew while your air is getting low—is a great start to identifying how your rescue should unfold.

There are three basic needs from the victim:

1. Get here now
2. Keep me alive
3. Get me out

They need nothing less than that and want nothing more than to go home to their family when it’s all over.

The concept of “RIC for Real” started as realistic hands-on training that challenged everything firefighters thought they knew about their RIC training. Over 400 firefighters and fire officers were subjected to RIC scenarios involving a single-victim firefighter. The evolutions and design and use of a training prop put entire rescue crews in challenging and dynamic situations that could be found on any emergency scene where a firefighter called a mayday. The stress level was elevated by design and created realism in the physiological challenges that rescuers faced in completing their tasks. Complex and fine motor skills under these elevated stress conditions were increasingly difficult as well as critical decision-making during the evolutions. Ultimately, the identification of inefficiencies as a result of this elevated stress was a major discovery.

It is vital to adjust the training approach to firefighter rescues to assist with maintaining a proper mindset as to what it will really take to be prepared for the next mayday.