Help needed - Training Calendar/Materials

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I'm working on a project for my volunteer department. Currently we don't have an organized drill/training schedule and haven't had one for a LONG time. Now that I'm in an officer position I have the ability to change that, so for the past few months we've been doing a bunch of impromptu drills on PPE/SCBA, self-rescue techniques, ropes/knots, etc. to get something started. So far its been well received, but its time to take it to a more organized level.

I was wondering if anyone out there had an schedule I could use as a sample, as well as any training materials they'd be willing to share. I'm not a certified Instructor yet, but I see no reason why we can't run some simple drills to keep everyone's skills sharp.

One of the unique challenges I run into is that the majority of my active membership is made up of college students who are only in town between September and May. Its sort of a double edged sword because we can pick up tricks and tips from all over the country, but at the same time everyone has different SOPs and everyone has to be brought up to speed on how we do things. If anyone has a similar issue and would like to share how they work with that, I would appreciate any and all advice.

Thanks in advance, one of the main reasons I use this site is to be able to share ideas and knowledge, which we have plenty of on Bravo.

[miami222 62]

They way I approach drill planning is to have a bunch of smaller instructional drills that lead up to a large

scenario based drill. In the smaller drills everyone gets an opportunity to do all the jobs where in the scenario they may only get to do one or two depending on the task they are given for example:

Week 1: Ladders and ventilation

Week 2: Hydrants and drafting

Week 3: Hose line advancement

Week 4: Forceable entry and Search & Rescue

Week 5: Initial attack scenario drill that covers all topics learned above. (Could be a Mutual-Aid drill)

The topics could vary depending on your department and what they have in district, if you have no hydrants you may just do drafting and tankers. The point is have a goal that you are building towards and make sure that everyone understands and gets refreshed on the basics before you step it up. Then move on to another topic or you can have multiple topics running at the same time (each week being a different topic: week 1 fire, week 2 extrication, week 3 rescue), it all comes down to turnout and and experience level that you are dealing with. Also have a set day of the week for drills and publicize the hell out of it, my department has a 2-3 hour drill every Tuesday night this way you are looking at 4 drills a month and you can cover a lot of topics.

In addition put together some bad wether drills that can be done inside on bad wether days like knots

Here is a good link for drill ideas and materials to look over.

http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/weeklydrills.php

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Wow, that's perfect. Thanks for the help, if anyone else has suggestions or advice I'd welcome it.

We'll be having a few new members next fall as well, so I plan on doing an "Intro" presentation to our fire department and its running order, etc.

[FDNYDCHI 38]

My old fire department had a monthly calender that was sent out every month of what was going on. (ie Training was the 1st and 3rd tuesday of the month). If you want you can use google Calender which is free and then you can "share it" with other people of email it to them. Also too you can do a pager test and remind people of the trainings for the week

Good Luck

Chris

[PC_420 28]

We have a set full year schedule of drills in The Falls. Spreading out our training and keeping to the basics because of the volunteer nature of the department. These drills are conducted by the lieutenants (of which I am one) with the assistance of upper officers and we have the latitude to spread open drills and add on to them as we see fit. Every once in a while we will do more advanced training. The biggest thing I do as a lieutenant, I think, is to not only hold drills on drill night, but when I have a large enough group of guys hanging out, is to have an impromptu drill on any night, whether its just going over the trucks and the tools, or actually going out and using them. Wasted time hanging around, is wasted time not training. Or as I like to say to my guys... "Its a firehouse, not a hang out"

[FFPCogs 863]

Unless it's a department wide drill such as EMT, bloodborne pathogens or hazmat ect, we will usually split the attending members into groups or companies of about 5-7 and record who is in which. One group will go out to do Engine work for about 3 weeks or so, one will do Truck work and one Rescue work, each in seperate location either in district or out. After the 3 weeks or until everyone is proficient the companies are then rotated to a different rig and skill set...i.e Engine to Truck, Truck to Rescue and so on. After everyone has rotated through and is proficient with the company level drills we will usually do live burn excercises to put it all together consisting of anywhere from 6 - 8 scenario based burns in a day long drill all done in real time with members again being rotated through the different roles they have practiced over the previous 10 or so weeks. Now since not all members attend all drills by recording the attendees and their evolutions we are able to keep a record of who has done what and to what level. We can then tailor drills to the specific needs of both the department and the members to an extent. Example FF X has done the Truck and Rescue element but he/she needs Engine work proficiency training so as they attend drills they will be placed with the Engine company until he/she has proven their proficiency in that discipline.

Weekly variations incorporated into the company evolutions include putting FFs in the officer roles, breaking in new drivers, drafting or tanker shuttle ops ( a novelty for us), FAST and hi rise/standpipe ops ect.

While this is ongoing we will do specialized department drills as the facilities or resources become available such as vehicle extrication, collapse, water rescue and any other topic that comes along outside of our normal FF evolutions. We also conduct building familiarizations and walkthrough regularly. Plus we run a seperate specific 12 week probie class that all new members must complete before moving into the company level drills.

Inclusive of all this, drills are designed to prepare the members in need for the in house promotional testing we conduct. Probies are prepared for our 2nd class (grade) exam and 2nd class members for our 1st class/officer prep exam.

Hope this helps

Edited June 5, 2012 by FFPCogs

[JM15 386]

Cogs, very interesting concept...