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Comment by Jack Linthwaite on April 29, 2008 at 8:28pm

After reading all this discussion about training i fel very lucky for my department of which i am a LT. My cheif is a full itme firefighter in a neighboring town and he demands we train for 3 hours each month and even gets us houses to burn down so everyone has a 2nd chance to train. all our memebers are ok with this and understand the results of missing ine training session each quarter and those that miss are required to make it up. Our SOG's clearly state the objectives for every new memeber we get a\nd they meet with the officers to understand what it means to our taxpayers and what we expect for our memebers. I am a lucky firefighter becuase of our chief's commitment to training AND THAT EVERYONE GOSE HOME.

Comment by Matthew Cosgrove on April 29, 2008 at 7:52pm

We redid our SOG's and there is a system in place for that...However our cheif won't enforce it. He feels that it is a show up when you can and do what you want. After the last few weeks of my being more and more upset he seems to be takeing a stand...Its something that only time will sort out. I will continue to train on what we need and follow the rules, I know the only place to go is up but I feel like this will be the cause of a heart atack and not the calls I run.
Thanks for the time everyone took to read this and post, it helps. -Matt

Comment by Mary Ellen Shea on April 29, 2008 at 2:37pm

I read this with a high degree of interest. We are a 48 member volunteer department, and we're a little "loosey-goosey" when it comes to some of our training nights....or at least we WERE....until two weeks ago during an outdoor live burn training and the hydrant procedure devolved into a Chinese Fire Drill.....it was mayhem and confusion.

Our Chief, normally a pretty congenial guy, was WHITE HOT....and rightfully so. I'm a new member, and have only been shown the hydrant procedure on one night, so I'm not as efficient as I could be, but I have the basics down. I can't explain what happened to the guys hitting the hydrant that night, no newbies on that gig.
As the chief said....."If this had been a real fire, we'd be raking up the debris right now".
I have a sneaking suspicion that tonight's drill is going to be all about basic procedures. And I'm ok with that.

For the record....NO ONE in our department is released until all hose is emptied and packed up and the rigs are washed down and dried off. And you can bet your last peso that the senior officers are not the ones handling the grunt work.

And I'm ok with that too.

Comment by Engineco913 on April 29, 2008 at 12:42pm

I have seen trainings on going back to the basics scoffed at myself. We all need to revisit the basics from time to time to stay fresh. Without the basics, we lose site of the end goals. If your firefighters don't want to participate in training, than talk to the board. Although you are volunteer, you have to attend and participate in training to be able to do things on the fireground. If they can't handle training, how can you expect them to perform on the fireground. Establish a plan with your board and chiefs, and those who are too busy on phones every 2 seconds, and won't participate should leave and allow those who are trying to learn do so uninterrupted.

Comment by FireCat on April 29, 2008 at 12:11pm

I haven’t started to volunteer yet however; I look forward to all the training I will be able to get. I want you to know that not every person is negative when it comes to training. I have always been a person who likes to learn as much as I can. I’m sorry that you have to address these issues with your volunteers. I hope things turned around for you.

Please be SAFE!
Cat :-)