Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joey "BigShow" De Piano on July 2, 2008 at 11:31pm

Hey jason, our house drills 3 - 4 times a month weekly and we do com ination basics with more tech or different scenarios but we had a timed hitting and connecting hydrant drill with each pump put into work

Permalink Reply by AL on July 2, 2008 at 11:59pm

REVIEW THE FUNDAMENTALS, START WITH IFSTA, GO THROUGH THE BOOK WITH YOUR MEMBERS FIND OUT WHO KNOWS WHAT, THEN REVIEW WHAT THEY DONT KNOW, OR JUST GO THROUGH AND PICK SOMETHING FOR TRAINING. LET ME KNOW IF THIS IS BENIFICIAL FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT.

Permalink Reply by msfirefighter0 on July 7, 2008 at 11:08am

I agree. For us its filling our trucks from the closest lake, river, creek or pool. We are in a rural area with no hydrants.

Permalink Reply by Rob Young on July 14, 2008 at 11:05am

I have been a training officer in the past on a volunteer fire department, and most of our members had gone through the FFI course. However, with a small amount of calls each year, and very few structure fires, many of the skills these guys learned were not put to use very often. As training officer, I tried to make sure that we drilled on the basics as much as possible. Ladders, pumping, knots, setting up a dump tank, etc. may not seem like exciting things to drill on but they are necessary and you need to make them interesting. Teams, time trials, etc. can help. Making sure you throw in something more "interesting" for training now and then helps keeps the guys excited about training as well.

Permalink Reply by Oldman on July 18, 2008 at 9:01am

For a change of pace, take slips of paper and write numbers on them from 1 to ?. Put them into a hat, bowl bucket or what ever. Make a list of appliances and equipment on your apparatus. Assign a number to these items.

At the start of the drill, inform the class THEY are going to teach. Have them draw a number. They then retrieve the item which corresponds with that number and they teach the class about that particular item. Depending upon the number of personnel, there may need to be a time limit on their presentation.

Set up a criteria to follow, ie what the item is, any "local" term or name, what it is used for, etc. It helps them know their apparatus and equipment, and it's something different.

Permalink Reply by Tony on August 9, 2008 at 10:29pm

Hey guys,
I agree the fundamentals are essential. Pulling the lines, operating the nozzles, hitting the hydrants, ladder raises, operating the hand tools, these are all skills that should be second nature and practiced regularly. Sometimes guys get fixed in on wanting to be a technical gu-ru, they forget or over-look the fundamentals. You'd be amazed once you start revisitng the basics how complacent folks have gotten. Try this one; yeah everyone know how to start and cut a whole with the chainsaw, but how many know how to change the blade out in the field if needed.
Be safe and stay low

Permalink Reply by Joey "BigShow" De Piano on August 24, 2008 at 10:54pm

last 2 tuesdays we did ecaxtly that plus a extracation drill for stabilization only

Permalink Reply by AssChief7 on August 31, 2008 at 9:09pm

I have been the training officer in my station for a few years now. I often do a back to basics drill month once every 6 months. We do everything from laying out and pulling lines to throwing ladders and using basic tools. If you are looking for some ideas check out this link. http://www.mfri.org/cgi-bin/dom.cgi it is from Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute. I get some of my ideas from there and then use their programs to come up with my own ideas.

Permalink Reply by FIREMAKER1976 on September 1, 2008 at 3:47pm

that is a very good point. i have been in my department for over a year now and have not had the chance to experience alot of what our department goes for . but my captain does come up with training drills for our fires , but not as much due that we get alot of ems calls for our als unit and i am not a first responder but wish we could really get some more time to get our younger firefighters to be able to be able to get a view of what is to come for ff1.

Permalink Reply by Dan Jardine on September 1, 2008 at 3:57pm

Another good training is equipment placement on scene. Nothing like rolling up to a fire scene and finding the chief's vehicle blocking the water source. Or pre-planning for residential and industrial fires. Should an arial device be the first apparatus in? How narrow are your roads/streets. Overhead obstructions? Detours? Lack of water supplies or are you in drought conditions always plan for the worse case scenario. You'll find the younger and older crews really start working together with this type of training. The older crews recall thier past experiences and the newer ones find out what really can happen and be more ready to take action.

Permalink Reply by Paul on September 6, 2008 at 9:45pm

what do you train on the other 5 months. I worked for a dept that trained so much on sectors and zones that half the building was gone by the time they were ready. My Full time job now is actually sending their officers to back to basic training because some of this technical stuff is getting people lost and hurt.

Permalink Reply by AssChief7 on September 12, 2008 at 12:04pm

The other 5 months we rotate every week. One week the drill is put on by the EMS captain, then the engine captain, then the tower captain. Usually the drills are a mix of practical and mental skills. We train on everything from county SOPs to station SOPs to EMS protocols to tactics for various scenarios. But I make it a point that every 6 months everybody pulls lines and throws ladders as well as basic EMS skills.