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What happened to the desire to train?
When I first got into this business it seems like evryone around wanted to train. Now days I can only get a handful of people interested in getting more proficient at their chosen profession. It is high time that we go back to focusing on being professionals at the craft of firefighting whether we are paid or volunteer, our lives depend on it. Tell me how you see it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ron Maddox on
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Unfortunatly its like that almost everywhere. Even the big cities have the problem of wanting to train. People come in thinking that all they need to do is show up and they are firefighters. Then they find out they must train and now it becomes work... The rest is down hill
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Permalink Reply by Marc Hansen on
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Some things that we have tried to get people interested in training is first we adopted a standard that we will all but bankrupt our department on training. If someone finds a class anywhere in about 400 miles that we can use then we will send them. The only condition is that when they come back they have to teach a 2-3 hour class on what they learnned to rest of the department. The second thing was the internet...there are alot of classes they can do online that creates a desire for hands on training. So now we have a computer with internet access in TV room for general use and it now see's more use than the TV. We are now trying to send small groups to preplan all commercial bui;ldings in our first due area with no officer with them. They develop the pre plan and have to defend it when the line officers question it so far it is working out. What we are finding out is give them a chance to learn(and not always from the same old people) and show what they know and they will trip over themselves trying to prove how good they are.
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Permalink Reply by WhiteLightning on
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Our department trains,trains and trains. We have 24 volunteers and have logged over 4000 hours training this year. Seventeen of us are certified, while the others are working on it. Last year we logged 2600 hours and the year before that it was about 2400. We have a training coordinator that helps find the classes that everyone needs. That helps big time, because everyone is motivated to achieve a "goal".
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A-men brother, I guess I'm known as "one of the live-ins" because I'm there volunteering most of the time , just doing what needs to be done. I hate the ones that can't even make sure the trucks are ready to go back out when they park it back in the barn.
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Permalink Reply by Tiger Schmittendorf on
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I was working with a consultant recently who listed "training requirements" as one of the deterrents to why people join or stay in the volunteer fire service. I told her that those words jumped right off the page at me and for the first time, I was offended by them.
We have to change our complete attitude towards training. It requires a 180 degree cultural shift from the way we approach training. They're not training requirements - they're training NEEDS!
Training is what we NEED to become proficient at what we do. More training is what we NEED to counter-act the inherent reduction in experience that comes with fire safety. Training is what we NEED to be called firefighters. Training is what we NEED to stay alive doing what we do.
Actually, training should not only be something we NEED to do, but something we WANT to do. Who doesn't want to get better at the job we do? Who doesn't want to be the best trained firefighter or have the best trained firefighter coming to save your a**? If that's not what you're looking for in the fire service, get the hell out because you're giving the rest of us a bad name. If training isn't your focus, you're going to cause the loss of life, the least of which is your own.
Local, state and federal government can impose all the perceived training "requirements" on us that they can think of, but all of that effort won't save another firefighter's life. That's our job. That's what we do. We save lives. And nobody else is going to do it for us.
Training saves lives. Therefore, that's our job. That's what we do. We save lives through training, civilian lives and firefighters' lives. And nobody else is going to do that for us, either.
Until we can change attitudes towards training, one firefighter at a time, no one is safe in our business. Because without timely and effective training, we're not firefighters, we're casualties waiting to happen.
Let no man say his training let him down. -
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Permalink Reply by Joe Campbell aka Cutty on
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Yep,
I have found seasoned firefighters in my department willing to train but do not want to train with the probies... were we not ones ourselves at one time... Their mindset is GO SOMEWHERE else then come back here as soon as you know as much as me... I don't care how long you have been in the fire service you damn sure don't know it all... The day you stop learning will be the day we lay you in the ground
Cutty -
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Permalink Reply by Farley on
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I Know Exactly How Ya Feel I've Been Chief For 7 Months And Its Seems Harder And Harder To Get People In Vol Dept To Train My Guys Most Of Them Are On Multiple Dept Which I Guess In A Way Seems They Get Burnt Out On Training But One Can Never Have Enough Knowledge In The Fire Serivce.And I Hate To Suspend Or Even Demote Officers But Training Happens At Every Dept Wether Its You Priority Dept or Not Don't Come Play If Ya Can't Come Learn How To Play Is My Theory. Maybe Some Of You Guys Can Give Me Tips On This?Even The Chief Before Me Had A Hard Time With This
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Betz on
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Boy, beats the hell out of me :) I see it also in my area, it seems a lot of folks think they learn it once and they are done with it...until they have to do it for real. Only then do you hear all the "special circumstances" that goofed it up. (Insert lame excuse here).
I can say that we have a good number of guys who are willing to stay on top of things, but there are others who are more of a struggle.
My plan usually revolves around staying on top of current local and national issues to prove my point and keep trying to improve. I am by no means "super firefighter", but at least I know that I need work and I am willing to keep plugging along. -
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Permalink Reply by Bryan on
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The issue that I am having is the older guys think that they have put in enough time, so now that they are considered the senior firefighter there is no need to train. I preach to them all the time that times have changed and so has the fire service. The worst slackers in the department are my Captin's who were promoted by the monkey move up system. But still to this day, I am approached by them with concerns about code enforcement questions. The only thing that I have in my corner now, is that the State has now mandated that you must obtain CEU's in order to keep your fire card.Maybe this will get them out of the office out with the guys and learn some of the new chnages that have occured since the early 70's.
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Permalink Reply by Turtle on
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I think we all have the same problems with training. With my volunteer department i would step back at some of our trainngs as much as possible to watch my guys to see who was actually training and who was playing around and not being serious, and when i am the IC on scene the people that put forth the effort to train could get in there and use the jaws, fight fire, etc and the ones who didnt rolled hose, and played goffer as much as possible i would try to keep them away as a form of motivation to step up there training, because i'm a believer you fight like to train!!!! Because i'm sure everyone will agree with me i want to go home at the end of the day.
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