Training....

There is no doubt in my mind that each and every day the fire service loses valuable resources to retirement. Firefighters and Fire Officers with years of real time experience in burning buildings and a myriad of other emergencies are hanging there helmets up for the last time. The reigns of the New American Fire Service are being handed to a new generation with less fire experience, more medically oriented and better equipped than the previous generation.

In a recent editorial to Fire Engineering Magazine, Battalion Chief Tim Cronin pointed out the fact of the fire services loss of experienced Firefighters and the numerous reasons why and how we today are better equipped. B.C. Cronin also points out some troubling fire ground practices.

Problems of members standing, going to deep and getting burned, lack of door control and security, issues with fire development and building construction all come down to one factor. Training!

Firefighters who came on in the 60's, 70's and early 80's had the best training tool they could get; experience. They knew that standing up in a burning building was hazardous to them because it hurt. They knew that the door had to be controlled and secured with a door chock to provide them an identifiable exit because they didn't have a thermal imager available to them. They knew that their firefighting gear provided minimal fire and heat protection. Firefighters from this era are our greatest generation and our greatest resource for training.

Fortunately I am one of the lucky ones when it came to learning from this generation. Fifteen years ago I entered the fire service with an attitude where I wanted to learn. Little tricks of the trade prepared me for the job at hand. Ten years ago I graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy where my instructors were all seasoned veterans with hundreds of years of combined firefighting experience.

From them I learned how to secure a door with a wedge(carried in a strip of rubber on our helmets) and why we secure it in a particular way. From them I learned why we don't stand in a burning building. From them I learned why we wear hitch pants. From them I learned why we wear nomex hoods.(God did not design our ears to be thermometers.) From them I learned of the limitations of the new fire gear. From them I just plain learned.

The fact is that the Fire Service in general looks at training to be of little importance. Look at your department. After firefighters complete Recruit training how passionate are they to further their education and practice? How receptive are they when a training class is held?

We all look at Firefighting as our profession. Compare ourselves to professional and even semi-professional sports teams. Do they practice? Do they practice to get ready for game day? The answer is YES!

How can we call ourselves professionals if we do not want to practice for "game day"? What would happen if sports teams did not want to practice? What happens to us when "game day" arrives and we lose because we were unprepared?

We've all heard and read the motivational mantras. When it comes to training just do it. Little things can make a huge impact. Besides keeping our skills fresh, training is one thing we can do to reduce injuries and firefighter fatalities. Educate each other. No one can be an expert of everything. What's wrong with firefighters with experiences in different trades cross training other firefighters?

Whenever the opportunity arises to learn and teach do so. Take what you have been shown and learn from it. Take what you have learned and pass it on.

Timothy E. Choate
Training Coordinator
Sudbury Fire Dept. Sudbury, MA

Recruit Instructor
Mass. Firefighting Academy