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Permalink Reply by Danny Thomas on January 21, 2013 at 1:25am

***You can do alot of variations...I like throwing curve balls to the guys...keeps them thinking...a great one for crappy weather, is to pick crews and go to the day room etc...then you dispatch a call over the intercom or whatever you have. The crew has to don the correct ppe, and bring whatever tools/equip to a designated area. Each member has to state why they brought what tool, no tool can be the same, and what will they do with it...i.e, chimney fire, vehicle fire, or what the scenario is with that tool.

***put a spin on it. Scenario like this: Eng pulls up to a residential, or commercial building. nothing showing exterior. As the crew starts to get out, have the training officer come on and give a chiefs report of a working fire, rooms on the A,B,C,D side of the structure and contents are on fire, something like that. 2nd due engine is still not there. Have the crew hand drag the supply line, deploy the attack lines to the fire, hit a target...keeps the rig in place, and easy to reset..plus a real world feel. All can be done at your firehouse.

Regular Fire Drills
Fire departments can improve their emergency response times by instituting regular fire drills as part of ongoing training procedures. All firefighters should react as though there is a real emergency, and must gather equipment, put on their firefighting uniforms and get into the fire truck as quickly as possible. Depending on the scale of the fire department, this may also mean that firefighters are alerted from the meeting room. Change up the type of emergency each time so that different equipment is needed, and the trainees won't be able to memorize the training routine. Perhaps the best way to accurately measure the response time is to stage impromptu drills so that the firefighters are surprised by the drills. Put a twist to the drill, make them go and don the PPE's, as well as DONNING there SCBA'S, and put a scenario at the church, there's a fire at the church, smoke showing on the south side of the building, fire is seen on the east side of the roof line, and to use the supply line and pull some attack line to the areas that are needed. Then have the teams shoot a target, once after they have identified the area of fire.


A young firefighter once told me, “If training is not fun or interesting, people do not learn as much or remember it as well.” To spice things up, more hands-on training on varied subjects is essential. People learn better by doing rather than just being told how to do it. An example of practical, basic hands-on training came to me from that young firefighter. This department had done quick-access planning on local marinas but never went to the scene to practice. They had a boat fire on a dock that was more than 800 feet away from the engine pumping the fire. Their apartment line (200 feet of 2½-inch hose to a gated wye and 200 feet of 1¾-inch) was pulled. Sixteen minutes after dispatch and numerous additions of 2½-inch hose sections, the crew finally had enough line to reach and put out the fire. They used their new engine with the Williams foam system and applied foam to suppress the fire.
***Their training after that was to drive an engine to the scene and practice stretching hose for extended lengths (over 400 feet). Various ways were tried, with the fastest time being less than six minutes. Everyone enjoyed the training and learned the value of hands-on and on-scene training.








***Hose Lead-Out Drill
Lead-Out Initial Attack Line
Objective: Develop skills necessary to place an initial attack line into
operation in a smooth and effective manner.
Overview: It is well known that the success of many initial attack operations
ranging from car fires to structure fires relates to how effectively the engine
company is able to lead-out the attack line. This drill will emphasize these skills in order to improve our efficiency.

***Drill Instructions
1. Instructor will determine the initial attack line(s) that will be used for this session.
2. Give members instructions on department procedure for pulling line and leading out.
3. Identify an objective such as a doorway or other area to simulate fire area.
4. Identify personal protective equipment required for this operation and instruct members on proper use, Use wax paper in there scba masks to give the feel of being in an actual fire
5. At instructors order, deploy attack hand line(s) to objective area, i.e. bay doorways, front door to the firehouse, etc.. opened just 12-15” use the fire drill with a scenario. Using the number of members who would normally be assigned to that operation.
6. Using stopwatch, time the length of each trial of this drill until a satisfactory time is reached by the crew.
7. Re bed hose as instructed.
8.Review crew performance.

***Go to a play ground that has the multifunction play set. One with slides, monkey bars, many different things to climb on and through. Run a rope through the play set like a maze and have firefighters in full gear, nomex hood turned backwards to darken the mask. Have each one follow the rope and go through the maze. We did it at night and it added to the effect. It was good practice and it was fun. At one point we had to go up a slide. It was so tight we had to remove our air packs and push them up the slide in front of us. Great practice.

***We took (not all showed up) 2 teams of three F.F.'s or however many show for training, gave each team a list of items from our apparatus (the list were in different order so we did not try for the same equipment) to go to the office for a list of items. Clear a bay for the items on the list, how we did this, didn't matter how, but we had to get it done safely, effectively and with the least time.
Very quickly it no longer mattered which team was going to get done first. We moved ladders, saws, hand tools, hose, lights, electrical power(not energized), you name it it came off our apparatus. Drill took about 45 minutes. Then they have to get the things that were on the floor from off of the list back on the fire truck where it came from. First team that got all of the items on the list done won a 2 liter bottle of soda a piece, for team work.
We all had a great learning and fun experience from the drill, of where all of the things came off of the truck. So when in need we all know where everything is on the apparatus at any time..

***Here's a warm weather drill that's fun and gets the crews working together!
* Have a 4 man f/f Engine Co. lay out 200 to 300' of supply hose or what you have available from a hydrant. (Mark the street with a cone.)
*Have f/f pull 200' of 1 3/4" or whats available, preconnect hose(or your dept. attack line).
*Hit target with hose stream 50' away.
*** NOTE *** Driver CANNOT put truck into mid ship. BUT they MUST use water from hydrant!!
 
 
They ran this evolution last summer with four crews for three weeks. First week best time was 3 min. 15 sec. The last week best time was 1 min. 12 sec.!!
The time started when the truck stopped at the hydrant and ended when the target was hit.
In under 2 min. we accomplished driver training, hydrant hook ups, water supply, pump operations, attack lines, team work AND had fun. Set a standard time for your Departments SOP's

****Here's an idea for firefighter survival. In a training facility or even your stations bay area stretch 3 or 4 attack lines in every direction possible. Add some furniture and other obstacles. Now have one firefighter in turnout gear with scba on and blackout mask be placed in the middle of it all. He has 7 minutes to get out of the entangles hoses. Have a fast team or RIT with black out masks go in after 5 minutes to find him.

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on January 21, 2013 at 9:00am

Here are just a couple of links to get you started:

 

http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/training-safety.php

http://feti.lsu.edu/municipal/NFA/TRADE/

 

I'll send you a direct message about more.

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Permalink Reply by Elmer Sorallo Acolentaba Jr. on January 21, 2013 at 5:36pm

i've tried those site already and trying to modify a training program based on the topics provided to suit our own needs and capabilities. Thanks for the efforts. you may contact me through chief_elmer_acolentaba@yahoo.com

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