Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff on December 12, 2009 at 7:52pm

what is the web site address

Permalink Reply by Lars Ågerstrand on December 15, 2009 at 10:43am

Hi Jeffrey, sorry for the late reply.

The website is www.firegear.co.uk, though it is right now closed for reconstruction.
It is being redesigned with a multiple language management system so that it will be easier to translate material to other languages than English.

It is open and of course free to use by anyone working for a fire department in the world.

Permalink Reply by Matthew J Strausbaugh on December 20, 2009 at 9:16am

Cool Lars, thank you for taking on what I'm sure is quite a big task... I tried putting together a small web site for my dept. Notice I said "tried", thank God I can fight fire better than I can work a computer!!! I'll be checking out your site... Thanks again and take care brother...

Permalink Reply by Norman E. Flanders on January 20, 2010 at 10:41am

Sorry for the late reply....I found your discussion while surfing. I have a few ideas that should help you in your quest for training ideas.

* I get training ideas from FIREHOUSE.COM, FIREENGINEERING.COM, FIREFIGHTERCLOSECALLS.COM and other web sites. Great places for information and drill downloads.

* Do inter-department drills with your surrounding mutual aid departments. These have been very successful especially when it comes to RIT. My department hosted a RIT training class and exercise. We used a mobile home for training. Great place to train with confined space. We have also done SCBA training. It's unlimited as to what you can do.

* Visit your local EMS/Mutual Aid Dept's. for training on their equipment. Covering vehicle layout, compartment contents, and vehicle operation. Great way for PR and interaction. Some day you may be asked to get a widget and you'll know where to find it.

* Each year we tour our local businesses and manufacturing facilities. Great for PR. We have also done simulated fires at some of these businesses. Have put FF in the buildings for search and rescue.
We do prearrange these with the business, go over our goals and plans. We give each business a guide sheet that covers the important stuff, { see below}.You'll be amazed at the positive responses and how happy they are that we take the time to tour and train at their facility.

* I even have had our surrounding mutual aid departments tour the key facilities in our town. This has been done for two reasons. One is for mutual aid response and the other is for mutual aid coverage. If they are covering my town I want them to be aware of where their going and what they may have to respond to.

* Table Top exercises. I have downloaded many photo's of fires, MVA's, etc. for training purposes. These photos are then assigned an incident type, given a location, what is available for equipment and manpower.....then you are the IC.
To make it more interesting another incident may be added while en route or while trying to control this one.
{ I have these for use if you want some.....see below}.

* Area Familiarization. Nothing is more important than "KNOWING" your own community. This should include street/road names, key points of interest, water sources; winter/summer supplies, local businesses, do you have handicapped residence that need special attention, do they have O2, ask your members to really look at your community and list what they see on the ride to work/home, share what they have listed, etc.

* Ask your local fire investigator to give a class on 'METH LAB AWARENESS or SCENE PRESERVATION" Very important items for the fire service. If you set up the class ask your surrounding departments if they have anyone who'd like to attend. Great for inter-dept. PR.

If you want any of the photos I've downloaded with drills e-mail me at nrs5f@comcast.net and I'll send you out a few along with the check sheet.

Best of luck in your quest to better train.
Stay safe, train often and share knowledge.

Permalink Reply by Lars Ågerstrand on January 24, 2010 at 4:56pm

Hi again!

Matthew:
Putting this website together has been a nightmare so I understand your efforts:-)
And since it's not done I am still in it (as you may be also?), but one day it will be done and it will be my small contribution to sharing experience between FF.
It will also be possible to discuss individual equipment and it will hold a video library with interviews and reports from stations around Europe.

Norman:
A solid answer, thank you for that reply!

As for the websites you mention I already know them.
There are also numerous Powerpoints etc circulation websites and the net but it is hard to track their origin. And if I do not know the origin I cannot ask for permission or even better, add contact details for them on the website.
One of the mayor benefits by having the origin or even better, a contact representing that material is that questions could be answered from interested users.
The point for me with sharing materials is not that I can send them via e-mail to someone, that is good no doubt about it, but what if that material could generate a discussion in public on the web.
That discussion could be read by many interested and it spreads ideas and thoughts that would never happened if the same discussion would have taken place over the phone or e-mail.

By having multiple materials from different countries and stations in one place, I hope that this will lead to some discussions about sop, techniques, methods etc.
We fight similar fires, I would not say the same, but our methods can vary greatly, not just from country to country, but many times from station to station.
"This method has worked for 20 years, why should we change or try something else?" That phrase is said as many times in my department as I believe it is said in many others.
And the truth probably is that there are many ways to deal with the same situation and there are hardly no True answers, but it also yields that there must be room for improvements and the way to reach the goal could be better or worse.

Conducting drills with other departments are great, but also expensive.
Sharing digital media, using video to send to each other etc is another way to cut costs.
Incident commander training could be conducted via video conference between stations with a new station as responsible every time. Responsible personnel for for instance RIT could conduct regular meetings with other RIT personnel from other stations via video etc.
The technology is there and has been for a while.

In Sweden fire fighters in general do not respond to EMS calls, but the ems staff often share station with fire which is great for conducting drills.
We also conduct drills out in the area we serve, with companies, schools etc. Though we have a demand from our politics to Sell education to companies and we are told not to give away to much education. It is madness but that's politics...

I have never heard of a methlab, ever, or anything near something like that in Sweden.
But it may be more common where you serve?

Regarding photos I had a though that I would collect photos and add them to a photo library on the website.
Now it is always a problem to find a relevant picture for your presentation that is legal and free.
A library with photos of wrecked cars, burning buildings that could easily be browsed and used for whatever reason free would be a huge time saver.


Now I am trying to start with one area, tactical ventilation and some power points.
But in my dream world... some time from now representatives from different departments around the world have regular meetings via video regarding for instance tactical ventilation.
Discussing new ideas, methods, experiences and the video is saved for others to watch that could not join. The technology is there but I am starting to wonder where all the dreamers are...

Best regards, stay safe!

/ Lars