By FireRescue1 Staff
OTTAWA, Ontario — Evidence-based fire dynamics will now be incorporated into firefighting training certification standards and adopted by all municipal and military fire services in Canada.
Defence Research and Development Canada reported that the firefighting practices will include evidence-based knowledge to increase operational effectiveness and keep crews safe.
“Up until the last few years, we’ve had completely different philosophies on how to fight fire,” Montreal Fire Services Division Chief Gordon Routley said. “For example, we’ve been taught from day one that fighting fire from the outside will only make conditions worse inside. But science has shown that’s not the case if you do it the right way.”
Fire departments from Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Calgary joined forces to adopt transitional attack methods for their teaching and practice. They have been working together to create new training tools for firefighting operations.
“We believe that there’s a lot of new science and information that’s out there that isn’t accessible to firefighters. So the intent of this project is to take that information and knowledge and put it into practice through ways that firefighters can access it,” Peter McBride, Ottawa Fire Services Division Chief, Safety and Innovation and project manager, said.
Firefighters simulated a series of full-scale fire trials, where buildings were ignited and then extinguished using new approaches and tools, according to the report.
“Part of what we did is experimentation and gathering information, but mostly it’s a demonstration of different, more advanced, techniques of fighting fires in a very controlled and measured environment which is going to be used to teach firefighters the newest, more effective, and safest ways to fight fires,” Routley said.
Pictures and video were taken in order to produce learning materials that will be incorporated into the curriculum.