I was
listening to a few firefighters talk the other day and they were fussing about
the training their department was providing or not providing. One guy asked the
other if he had seen the catalog of courses for the fire academy this quarter.
Firefighter "A" said "it's not my responsibility to train off
duty, if I need it they have to provide it." This set me back a little
bit; I couldn't understand why someone would feel that way. The more I listened
to them; Firefighter B told A that he was going to start some advanced courses
and maybe even some officer level and instructor courses. Firefighter B laughed
and said "we don't need that we are "just firefighters."
As soon I as heard this I was taken back to an exchange that
occurred between one of my fire service hero's and I. I was an 18-year-old
volunteer firefighter attending a fire school sponsored by one of the local
counties and was taking a truck company operations course. I was just out of
basic fire training and felt bigger than life. I felt like I knew it all. The
instructor entered the room with a big smile on his face and said "good
morning folks. I hope everyone is ready to have fun and learn a lot." Next
he introduced himself. "I am Capt. Matt Jackson with the Charleston, WV,
Fire Department and I am here because this is the greatest job ever."
Then he instructed us to go around the room and introduce
ourselves and identify our department, our position and why we where there. I
was sitting in a seat that made me fourth from the last so I got to hear most
of the class introduce themselves. For whatever reason when it was my turn I
stood up and said, "my name is Chris and I am just a firefighter." I
didn't even state my department like I was supposed to and I just sat down.
Capt. Jackson said, "excuse me son come up here and stand with me."
I was scared to death at this point, standing there listening to
the last few introductions. When the last person was finished he turned to me
and said let's try this again, re-introduce yourself. Did I take this opportunity
to shine and do it right? No, I did the exact same thing again my name is Chris
and I am "just a firefighter." I remember Matt looked dead in my eyes
and said there is no such thing as just a fireman. He went on to say that every
job on the fireground was as important as the next and without each firefighter
from chief to rookie we couldn't blow out a match. He then told me the reason I
was there was there was to learn and take responsibility for my own training.
He shook my hand and told me and the rest of the class that next to safety
there is nothing more important a firefighter can do than take responsibility
for their training. That statement has stuck with me all these years.
Do you take responsibility for your training? Can you think of
ways you can be more responsible for your training? Face it, in today's fire
service you cannot get everything you need with stock department training.
Training officers are so busy trying to meet the needs dictated by various
federal, state and local government agencies they run out of time for much
needed individual training. Even those training officers that prepare packets
that are given to company officers to complete with staff can't get it all done
sometimes. This is not to say your training department isn't doing its job or
is inadequate, it simply means that with our call loads and other work there
isn't enough time.
There are
several things you can do to take responsibility for your training. While some
will require a little extra work on your part, most are very common sense items
that are easy to incorporate in your day-to-day schedule.
Be
prepared: look at
what your training division has scheduled for your company ahead of time. If
you look at the subject matter you can take time on your own to read the
department related SOGs and be prepared. You can look back and review the basic
skills involved in what you will be doing so that you can be ready to perform.
A little preparedness can go a long way and make training easier on you and the
rest of the company. Training officers, this means that you have to schedule in
advance. Don't make the officers and firefighters track you down to ask what is
planned on that day. Put out your schedule in advance so they can prepare.
Actively participate: When it is time to train there is nothing
worse than personnel standing around waiting to be told everything that needs
to happen. When the instructor, training officer, company officer or whoever is
leading the session gives instruction, dive in and do work.
Read: each time you complete big training courses such as Fire I, Hazardous Materials
Operations, or any similar course you leave with the student manuals. We have
many of these books lying around that we wonder should I keep these. The answer
is easy. Read these books often to review skills or procedures to ensure we are
current. Concentrate on those that you do not do often or topics that have been
of recent interest to your department in some fashion. Go to the chapter
objectives and review questions and see if you can still answer the questions
as well or better than you did when you went to the class. If you can't, you
have created a reading list. You do not have to read every day or even every
week. Set a goal for yourself: one hour, two hours whatever you can afford in
your schedule and stick to it. Other great sources for reading include trade
magazines. Fire and EMS both have a wealth of these publications available to
the service.
Use the
Internet: the
Internet provides many opportunities for firefighters to train. An example
includes the FEMA EMI web site. Some of these
courses can even be used for continuing education credits and in college courses.
Subscribe to various blog sites and fire service-based web pages. These sites
can provide videos to watch related to equipment, skills and critiques from
calls around the country that we can learn a great deal from. They can also
provide articles based of research done nationally or locally that can be
beneficial.
Go to the NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program web site and read the reports from incidents
that have had a bad outcome. When you read these, ask yourself "how can I
prevent these things from happening to me or my crew." Use all of this
information to be proactive to a situation and not reactive after something has
already happened.
Attend
offered courses: This is an area that can cause contention with
some firefighters because they often do not get paid to go to courses away from
the department. Some firefighters feel that if they do not get paid, they
should not go. You have to ask yourself if this is taking responsibility for
your training only you can answer this question. All fire departments have
access to this type of training at some level. Go to your training officer or
your chief and find out how to get to these programs. Most states have a fire
academy or state agency that manages this training. Look at the listed courses
and see what is out there. Choose the courses that will help you advance
through the fire service in the way that you want to. You can choose advanced
firefighter courses if you are new to the service or take instructor level
courses if you want to move into training other fire and EMS providers. Attend
the officer level courses if you want to be a fire officer at some point or if
you just want to understand more about the responsibility officers have.
All of these seem to be very common sense
things to do and they are. However you choose to take responsibility for your
training is fine, just do something. Try to challenge yourself to always find
new ways to train and better yourself. Train often and never be "just a
firefighter".
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