Firefighter training has greatly diversified since I was a young firefighter. We now see more emphasis on technical training — hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction, confined space and trench rescue — as well as the back-to-the-basics kind of training that firefighter recruits must receive before they can master advanced training.

PHOTO COURTESY RON POBLETE Firefighters at the Henderson (Nev.) Fire Training Academy practice extinguishing a vehicle fire.

PHOTO BOB VACCARO Suffolk County (N.Y.) Fire Service Academy’s taxpayer facility duplicates a commercial residential structure with offices or apartments.

PHOTO COURTESY JASON TAYLOR Orange County Fire Authority recruits practice roof ventilation and flashover tactics.

The growing number of topics training must cover is an increasing problem for some areas because of budget cuts and restrictions on live-fire training. Burning Class A materials to allow firefighters to train under realistic, hot and smoky conditions is no longer possible in many areas. Instead, EPA guidelines and budget restrictions require the use of temperature-controlled, natural gas-fed fires. At the same time, training has never been more important. Today's firefighters don't have the luxury of gaining as much on-the-job experience as their predecessors did, because structure fires have decreased dramatically around the country in the past 10 years.

Providing realistic yet safe firefighting training is the responsibility of the many fire training centers located throughout the country. Some train paid and career firefighters, others train volunteers, and some train both. But they all have one common goal: to provide the best possible training, using the most qualified instructors, to help firefighters master firefighting skills. In this article, I explore three different facilities.

PHOTOS COURTESY RON POBLETE The HFTA’s six-story tower building with a two-story burn building has three computer controlled fire rooms.

The HFTA was built in 1997 and sits with an adjoining fire station on 8.4 acres of land in the heart of Henderson’s business district.

Within the burn building, firefighters train on live burns fueled by natural gas in three different scenarios: a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom.

HENDERSON (NEV.) FIRE TRAINING ACADEMY
The city of Henderson, Nev., is currently undergoing a major growth spurt; in fact, it's one of the fastest-growing areas of the country. The Henderson Fire Department (HFD) is proactive in keeping up with the current growth. It operates out of nine stations with 193 personnel — 159 fire/rescue operations personnel (including 60 paramedics) as well as the administrative staff and chief officers. The HFD covers 98 square miles with an ever-growing population of 252,000 residents.

The Henderson Fire Training Academy (HFTA) provides training to paid firefighters — its own recruits and on-the-job firefighters. According to Training Chief Steve Walton, the HFTA routinely provides initial basic firefighter training to anywhere from 5–20 new recruits in a given year. Each training cycle lasts about 16 weeks. Several Nevada fire departments send their firefighters to the HFTA, including Boulder City, Clark County, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas; the Henderson Police Department and the Nevada State Police also use the academy for various aspects of training. Training programs include Firefighter I and II, driver/engineer training and confined space/high angle/trench rescue training. "We also teach a TIPS [Trauma Intervention Program], sort of a critical incident stress program, where volunteers are trained in trauma support counseling," Walton says.

The HFTA was built in 1997 and sits with an adjoining fire station on 8.4 acres of land in the heart of Henderson's business district. It consists of a classroom building, a six-story burn tower, confined space/trench props, a drafting pit, an auto extrication area, hazardous materials props and a driver training course.

The six-story tower building with a two-story burn building has three computer controlled fire rooms, a kitchen and living room on the ground floor and a bedroom on the second floor. All burns use natural gas. All scenarios allow companies to operate on regular 40-foot-wide streets with 25' setbacks and street lighting with traffic signs.

The trench rescue area has concrete trenches of various widths and depths that help firefighters build confidence during shoring and cribbing training. There is also a confined space area with 2–8' vaults interconnected with a 24" pipe. The 40' x 40' auto extrication training area features room to work on four vehicles simultaneously. The hazmat prop area consists of 100 feet of rail track, two out-of-service rail cars and an M-306 cargo tank truck. The driver certification course covers 2 1⁄2 acres, with training provided in accordance with NFPA 1002 guidelines.

Walton notes that in addition to new recruit training, the HFTA hosts all fire companies from the Henderson Fire Department for quarterly training, including a review of company operations, hazmat response and advanced tactics and strategy. "We also have a quarterly officers' muster, where we review near misses [and conduct] incident safety training and incident command training," Walton says. "From time to time we invite guest instructors from utility companies to give specialized training on certain topics." The facility also serves as an on-site training center for the department's EMTs and paramedics.

PHOTOS COURTESY RON POBLETE	The burn building provides recruits with hands-on training in ventilation and roof operations.
All scenarios allow companies to operate on regular 40-foot-wide streets with 25' setbacks and street lighting with traffic signs.	The HFTA’s 40' x 40' auto extrication training area features room to work on four vehicles simultaneously.

What will the future bring for the HFTA? Walton says the academy is planning a new Command Training Facility. "We looked at the Phoenix Fire Department's Incident Command Training program and liked what we saw," he says. "We are incorporating some of their ideas into our advanced incident command center."

In addition to regular training, the HFTA plays a special role in the FireRescue Conference & Expo, held each November in Las Vegas. "We are happy to host some of the hands-on training for FireRescue magazine's annual conference in Las Vegas, and hope to continue our good relationship in the future," Walton says.

PHOTOS BOB VACCARO The SCFSA’s Class A building simulates a typical two-story dwelling. Firefighters practice making their way through the structure while executing search procedures.

This four-story facility is used for engine and truck evolutions, including advancement of hoselines, horizontal and vertical ventilation procedures and standpipe operations.

One of SCFSA’s control towers, where instructors control the operation of training taking place at various props on the fire training ground.

An actual railroad tank car is used to simulate the proper firefighting procedures for attacking bulk fuel storage with horizontal or cylindrical tanks.

This two-story dwelling with a two-car garage features moveable partition walls to allow instructors to change the interior for various types of evolutions.

SUFFOLK COUNTY (N.Y.) FIRE SERVICE ACADEMY
Training volunteer firefighters is the priority of the Suffolk County Fire Service Academy (SCFSA), located in Eastern Long Island. The area is home to one of the largest concentrations of volunteer firefighters in the country — 11,000, to be exact.

Joe Williams, Suffolk County Commis-sioner of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services, takes firefighter training seriously. "As a firefighter, you can never have enough training. A well-trained firefighter is a safer firefighter," he says. Williams notes that training is not just a rookie responsibility. "No matter how long you are in the fire service, you must continue to train. Just when you think you might know everything, you come across something that you never came across before," he says. Williams' philosophy drives the SCFSA's curriculum. "After the events of 9/11, we are performing more technical training as the demand for this type of training increases," he says.

The SCFSA's well-qualified instructors provide a two-fold service: They teach in-house courses at local fire stations, and they conduct fireground training at the fire academy. The instructors teach more than 100 courses related to Firefighter I and II requirements, hazardous materials, technical rescue, incident command and general safety courses, as well as tailor-made instruction for specific departments.

The SCFSA offers 13 different evolutions, including:

• Maze Training: In maze training, firefighters confront the unknown while wearing an SCBA. Crawling through the maze is a skill drill that teaches them how to work in a strange structure while performing firefighting functions.
• Tower Facility: This four-story facility is used for engine and truck evolutions, advancement of hoselines, horizontal and vertical ventilation procedures, standpipe operations, aerial device practice and truck company operations.
• Tank Car: An actual railroad tank car is used to simulate the proper firefighting procedures for attacking bulk fuel storage with horizontal or cylindrical tanks. Firefighters learn the proper use of various nozzle selection and hose-handling procedures, as well as extinguishment of running spill fires.
• Taxpayer Facility: This facility duplicates a commercial residential structure with offices or apartments. The three-story building features a basement, a penthouse and an elevator motor room; it exposes firefighters to a working standpipe system and multiple roof ventilation simulations.
• Class A Building: This building simulates a typical two-story dwelling firefighters might respond to in a residential neighborhood. Utilizing SCBA, firefighters are trained to enter a hostile environment and systematically make their way through the structure while executing search procedures.
• Vehicle Extrication: In this area, instructors lead firefighters through auto extrication evolutions to demonstrate the proper use of pressurized air bags, hydraulic cutting tools, power saws and hand tools.
• LPG Gas Facility: This training simulates fighting fires fueled by Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), whether it is a small barbecue or a loading dock. Firefighters learn all types of hardware and practice different extinguishment methods on fires of varying intensity and type. 
• Flammable Liquids Firefighting: This evolution provides training in foam operation and handline operation, using different size flammable pits.
• Large Dwelling and Vehicle Fire Facility: The SCFSA uses a large, two-story, colonial-type dwelling with a two-car garage to instruct firefighters how to respond to fires in dwellings and vehicle fires within enclosed spaces (garages). The facility also simulates basement fires; its partition walls are moveable to allow instructors to change the interior for various types of evolutions.
• Confined-Space Rescue: Constructed by technical rescue instructors from the academy, the confined space rescue area allows technical rescue teams to work on different types of confined space scenarios, such as a cesspool collapse and rescuing a victim from a storm drain, different types of piping and steel vessels. 
• Building Construction and RIT Training: The SCFSA features a two-story frame building used for rapid intervention team (RIT) training as well as teaching various types of building construction found in frame buildings.

With this large range of training evolutions, the facility attracts more than just firefighters. Chief Tom Kost, director of the SCFSA, notes that many non-fire organizations use the facility, including the Suffolk County Police, Suffolk County Sheriff, County Fire Marshals and private organizations like EDO Corporation, Long Island Power Authority and Brookhaven National Laboratory, to name a few. "In 2005, we had over 43,000 students taking various training at one time or another, and we expect to go over that mark this year," Kost says.

The academy officially opened in 1959 in Yaphank, N.Y., with just a small training tower, a burn building and some flammable pits. It has come a long way, with major improvements. I trained at this facility as an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter, completing both classroom and fireground training. Believe me, it doesn't get more realistic than this.

But it's still growing. According to Commissioner Williams, planned expansions include a 200-seat auditorium, a new gas-training site, more classrooms, a new pumper test facility and new field offices for the instructors.

PHOTOS COURTESY PEGGY DELANEY Training equipment is staged in front of the Orange County Fire Authority’s (OCFA) Regional Operations and Training Center six-story training tower.

The training grounds includes this strip mall prop, in which recruits practice fighting fires on commercial buildings in a strip mall setting.

OCFA’s training tower allows firefighters to practice extinguishment on three computerized, natural gas-burn props and environmentally safe smoke systems.

OCFA’s non-burning tanker prop is used to instruct firefighters how to perform tanker fuel-spill cleanup.

Academy recruits participate in graduation ceremonies. The training center runs two recruit academies each year, each with about 30 recruits.

ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY REGIONAL OPERATIONS & FIRE TRAINING CENTER
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) in Irvine, Calif., is a regional fire department that provides protection to 22 cities and all unincorporated areas surrounding Irvine. It serves a population of 1,333,000 residents through 61 fire stations.

Training is provided at a state-of-the-art facility that was constructed in 2004 and encompasses 20 acres. Battalion Chief Ed Fleming, who is responsible for executive support for the center, explains, "After spending 70 years training at outside facilities, we finally have our own. We moved into the complex officially on March 12, 2005. We had changed our name from Fire Department to Fire Authority in March 1995, so it was a 10-year celebration of the name change as well."

The complex contains the following buildings:

• Public Service and Support: Offices and resources related to administration of the center
• Communications Center: The 911 emergency dispatch center along with radio, telephone and computer equipment rooms
• Support Services Building: A warehouse and offices for purchasing, property management and communications, as well as repair shops for radios, telephones and computers
• Training Grounds Classrooms: Training officers' rooms, classrooms, locker rooms and an outdoor training pavilion
• Strip Mall Prop, Training Tower and Training Grounds: The tower is a six-story building with three computerized, natural gas-burn props and environmentally safe smoke systems. The training grounds also offer evolutions on props designed to teach vehicle extrication, vehicle fire extinguishment, tanker fuel-spill cleanup, confined space rescue and strip mall firefighting. 

 "We run two firefighter recruit academies twice yearly, [with] about 30 recruits in each class," Fleming says. "Each session lasts 14 weeks, or about 560 hours. The OCFA brings in a cadre of five additional experienced suppression personnel from the field to participate as academy instructors during the 14 weeks." In addition to Firefighter I and II, the OCFA training center also provides training programs in incident command, the California State Fire Marshal Program, a 10-session Chief Officer Course and a 10-session Captain Level Course. "We have a staff that consists of one battalion chief (training officer) and a mix of nine firefighters, engineers and captains who act as training officers," Fleming says. "The nine assistant training officers conduct in-service training for approximately 800 career firefighters."

Unlike the Henderson facility, the OCFA's training center does not provide continuing EMS education for its firefighter/paramedics. Such training is conducted in the field by nurse educators who visit individual fire stations. "This reduces out-of-service time, and it frees up the training center for fire-and-rescue skills training," Fleming says. Each individual fire company comes in three times yearly for refresher training in rapid intervention, two-in/two-out, rescue, flashover, confined space and EMS.

PHOTO COURTESY PEGGY DELANEY Recruits learn basic rope rescue and rappelling techniques.	PHOTO COURTESY PEGGY DELANEY Firefighters train on the OCFA’s flammable liquids pit.
PHOTO COURTESY PEGGY DELANEY In addition to fire attack tactics, OCFA recruits also practice auto extrication on this car prop.	PHOTO COURTESY MIKE ROHDE The confined space rescue area allows OCFA students to practice various rescue scenarios.

A COMMON GOAL
Although each of these training centers is individually designed to meet the needs of its communities, they are united in the purpose of training firefighters in the safest, most effective way possible. While the SCFSA concentrates primarily on volunteers and the HFTA and the OCFA training center focus on career firefighters, the training is the same. Their approaches and their training props may vary, but they all teach the same firefighting skills.

If your department is planning to build a new training facility, it will of course be based on budget constraints; some training facilities must make do with less, using in-house personnel to construct props. But budget constraints by no means should diminish the effectiveness of the training provided. Companies can provide you with pre-fab towers and burn buildings that can be installed at a lower cost than required for some of the props. If you're interested in learning more, research some of the training sites around the country. It is as easy as surfing the Web and seeing what's available.

Bob Vaccaro has more than 30 years of fire-service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (N.Y.) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office®, The New York Fire Patrol and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss-control consultant.