KS Firefighters Still Training Even in Age of Social Distancing

Editor's note: Find Firehouse.com's complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.

Repetition is important when it comes to firefighter training.

Fire crews may run through one scenario in which a building is on fire, then run through the same scenario but this time it is a house fire. The third round may be a high-rise fire.

Making sure firefighters are prepared for any sort of situation is critical, and the repetitive nature of the work can be found in how many hours crews spending training each year.

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"It takes at least two hours of training every day they work to make their minimum total," said Alan Stahl, public education officer for the Topeka Fire Department.

Six men ran a variety of scenarios this past Wednesday afternoon at the department's headquarters, 324 S.E. Jefferson St., as part of their training.

They spent about two hours training as they are in the process of working their way to a total of 200 hours of required training.

According to Stahl, the firefighters are currently at about 80 hours for the year.

Training is required for all team members, not just those who are new, said Capt. Dean Akers.

"We have one newer person here that's only been around a couple months," Akers said. "The rest of us have been here for a while, but this is something that we typically do. We all train every day. There's something that we could be doing every day that we need to keep up on."

With six men running a training scenario at the same time, it may bring to mind a question of how they are implementing social distancing — a measure that has been mandated by local and state officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If you're wondering why they aren't social distancing, it's just like your family," Stahl said. "They are spreading each other's germs around. Believe me, I do the Facebook page and people are like, 'Why aren't they social distancing?' Take a deep breath. They work 24-hour shifts; they are together all the time."

But the coronavirus has changed some aspects of the firefighters' training techniques.

Before the pandemic, fire companies at stations across Topeka could have come together for training.

For example, crews at Fire Station No. 9, located at 2447 S.E. 29th St., could have joined those at Fire Station No. 3, located at 324 S.E. Jefferson St.

"We can't have them come in and train with us," Akers said.

The number of people who are training at a time has also decreased.

"Today we have six — three on the engine, three on the truck," Akers said. "There would be times we could have had nine or 12 or even more down here. Sometimes we try to train how we would respond to a commercial structure fire so we would have several companies. We can't do that anymore."

Every day when firefighters come to work, they sanitize items in the engine company and the station.

"We always took extra precautions anyways, but you just can't second guess (the coronavirus)," Akers said. "You've got to be OCD about it."

Despite a global pandemic hitting communities in every aspect of daily lives, firefighters will continue to train themselves on the skills they need to complete their job.

"We are going to figure out a way to do some type of training no matter what," Akers said. "When we come to work, we are going to have to be at least six people at our station so that's six people that figure out a way to train, whether it's inside that station or out on the backyard of that station."

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