Updated July 7, 2017
Whether volunteer or career, having capable and safe firefighters comes down to how well they are trained. Fire chiefs need to not only build a good firefigher training program, but also find a good instructor who can execute that program.
For effective tactical training, you must choose good instructors who teach important, relevant subjects. The training must be real world and practical. Adults must be engaged mentally and physically to learn at the optimal level.
When possible, choose instructors who love the topics they teach. These instructors will use fewer lectures and more participation when teaching adults.
Eight training pitfalls:
|
Look for an instructor who will train on the problem areas of your firefighters, talk about mistakes and take corrective action. There is nothing to be embarrassed about when a mistake is made unless you ignore the mistake – good instructors understand this.
Videos are a great firefighting training tool, but they are a supplement, not a substitute for a good instructor. If your instructor uses video to supplement training, they should be no longer than 10 minutes.
Simulating firefighting training reality
Simulations are another effective training tool.
Properly performed, simulations provide firefighters experiences that they will at some point go through on an actual fire or rescue scene. When that occurs, you will know your tactical training is working.
Scenarios are the instructional vehicles for simulation. Their creation, format and control are more an art than a paint-by-numbers approach. To exploit the learning and evaluation capabilities of a simulated environment in a firefighter academy, the instructor must use judgment in designing scenarios and in evaluating trainees.
No matter how good or bad a situation may be, a good instructor knows that it can always be improved upon.
Reinforce proper firefighting technique
A good trainer will help firefighters know why they should learn. People learn best when they understand the purpose and expected outcome of the training activity. Relevant training allows the firefighter to use their personal experiences in the training session.
A good instructor will also reinforce the learning process by repeating the right way to do things.
There is often a gap between what we say we do and what we actually do; this is not effective on the fireground. A good instructor will train firefighters like they will be expected to perform at an emergency.
Firefighting training programs should be based upon an analysis of the critical tasks required for firefighters in your department. Critical tasks are those tactical functions every firefighter must be able to complete.
If one member of the team is not able to fulfill their part of the game, the team will fail and someone may get hurt or die.
Measuring fire academy performance
Learning can be done the hard way; experience without lesson is a poor teaching method. Street smarts can’t be learned from a book, but a good instructor can relay experiences through stories that will give firefighters confronted with a similar situation the power to make better decisions.
A firefighting training program should focus upon skill development, maintenance and improvement. Every program needs performance standards; these are important for the organization and the individual.
A good instructor will measure performance, not attendance. In many cases, when you measure attendance, you measure firefighters’ ability to tolerate the instructor, not that they learned something useful.
In order to measure training, the system must be developed through an analysis of critical tasks and careful analysis of the department.
