Instructor Failure
This week again we have lost two experienced dedicated firefighters to a basement fire. My
thoughts,, and prayers go out to their families and to the members of the Philadelphia Fire
Department.
I sat wondering what I was going to write. I thought back to the article I wrote called It Happened Again (click for link)right after the Lancaster Massachusetts Firefighter who died. I thought not about the hundreds of positive comments I got but I thought of the one negative comment from a very well respected seasoned firefighter in a large North Eastern City. That firefighter had some very critical things to say about my philosophy.
I mention that because it has happened so many times since that article was written. I try to pass along knowledge as do all instructors I know. Some do it to make money, some do it for the love of sharing information, but in any case the intention is to pass along information.
Further, the intention is to promote learning. I always was told that learning is an "observable behavioral change".
As we look at ourselves as a fire service can we honestly say the we have changed any of our behaviors and practices. We are so slow to change that our deaths and injuries continue to escalate.
Who knows what happened to these folks this weekend. I know myself that it is pretty easy to get "hung up" in any way in a basement. I don't view it as those two guys I view it as myself or any of my own personnel who would be doing just the very same thing.
I guess my rambling point is that I need to figure out how to pass on the right information for training to have any impact. I believe that any death or injury is somehow an instructor failure.... We may not have trained the member correctly, we may not have trained and mentored the officer to be comfortable enough to provide the necessary discipline, we have not trained hard enough or repeatedly enough for the tasks we have to perform.
As an instructor, I need to work harder to see if I can create " an observable behavior change"!
As a fire service instructor I don't want to be a failure to myself or others!
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