OFFICIAL "What we did for training today" Thread

Here are the rules.
Please follow these rules before posting, so that those who really, really NEED the material do not have to go through 10 replies for every one useful one.
#1 Hands-On is the main emphasis on these. We fight like we train! Powerpoint lectures have their place, but not in this thread. There are literally hundreds of them at the NFA site, and about 2 dozen others.
#2 What we are after here is physical training that takes a minimum of 2 hours and does not go over 3 and 1/2 hours. The reason is so it can directly be used by those of us in combo and volunteer departments who have regular weekly training nights, and can use fresh ideas for a class.
#3 Details, Details, Details! Giving us an abbreviated version is leaving out things you assume we all know. Some of us do not. Like Me. And I have been teaching for 15 years now.....
Bonus Points- Pictures of your department doing the exercise/training.
Bonus Points- Written guide(s) and/or diagram(s) on doing it the first time to help those who read this get started.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Overbey on February 10, 2009 at 11:31pm

In my dept. we combine SCBA and search and rescue drills into one... Break the firefighters/junior firefighters into groups of 2... take 4 airpacks and masks and take out the bottles and put the harnesses, bottles, and masks in a big pile in the middle of the floor and tangle them up a little bit... take 2 of the 2 man teams and put them at opposite corners of the room and with the lights off have them find the airpacks and masks and assemble them, put them on and start breathing air then have a hoseline they have to follow to get out of the room/building but make difficult and not just a straight hoseline to the door, and they cannot start following the hose until their teammate is also done... we give them a time limit of 20 min which may sound like a lot but you would be surprised at how long it takes some people. It is good training in my opinion to get more familiar with the airpacks and teamwork and you can throw an old PASS device in the pile just to make some noise and distract them a little bit...sorry i dont have any pictures but if you have any questions let me know and i will be glad to answer them

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Permalink Reply by SGT McDonald on February 11, 2009 at 12:23am

I will go first.....
We have a exercise we do called the barrel maze.
Diagram/PIX will follow.
You will need 8 empty fifty-five gallon barrels.
All partisipating members will be in full turnouts top to bottom, wearing a SCBA, wearing their gloves, and with their Nomex hood turned backward over their mask so they cannot see. Air bottle is not required to be on, as they can breath just fine through the nomex.
About the barrels; you can use tree log sections cut to a height of 30 inches standing on end to substitute for the barrels if you cannot get any-just make sure they are heavy enough to stay on end and not be knocked over easily.
The barrels (or logs) are set in a pattern roughly the same as the 1,2,3,6,9,8,7, and 4 buttons on your numeric keypad. The only difference is the barrels are each 20 feet apart. (see diagram 1)
2 firefighters (partners) are on each team.
What the team does, is they are started on the first barrel by the instructor with the scout partner having his back to and touching the first barrel. His base partner is on the opposite side of the barrel facing the same direction. This is the only point that the instructor orients the team in the correct direction.
Having seen the setup before being blinded by the nomex, they already have a rough idea of the layout and distances of the barrels. They need to get a feel for how far they move when they crawl with each knee before you start. This gives them a guage of distance traveled while blind.
To begin, the scout crawls out in the direction he believes the next barrel to be. He is carefully fanning out his arms and legs as he crawls to make contact with the next barrel. If he believes he has gone too far, and should have found the barrel already, he yells out to his base partner and reports missing the barrel. He then makes his way back to the voice of his partner.
As he reaches the barrel he origionally left, his partner, who has kept a firm grasp of the barrel, and has not moved left or right from where the instructor origionaly placed him, takes hold of his returning partner and re-orients him at 12 o'clock from his position on the other side of the barrel. Then the scout desides to go a little left this time or a little right this time until he hits the barrel. Once he hits it, he stays in place, and by voice, guides his partner to him.
Picture now, the 2nd barrel at 12 o'clock, with the scout hugging the barrel, and his base partner behind him.
The scout carefully moves to the opposite side of the barrel, and then theyre-orient, and repeat the process.
Remind them that every 2 barrels ends in a corner, so they will be orienting themselves at the 9 o'oclock instead of the 12 o'clock. Believe it or not, with some practice, they will get good at this and they will get to where they move the barrels further and further apart.

OFFICIAL "What we did for training today" Thread

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