Even though the intent of this article is to outline the use of the civilian training officer versus the traditional firefighter training officer, there is a hybrid example that basically is a combination of the two types. A common practice is to hire back retired firefighters as civilian training officers as a type of second career. This option may provide the best of both worlds, depending on the employee. In addition to the Fresno, Clark County and Oak Harbor departments, agencies that have incorporated this type of hybrid training officer include the Contra Costa County (Calif.) Fire Protection District (Calif.), the Roseville (Calif.) Fire Department and the Wheeling (Ill.) Fire Department.

In Fresno's case, assigning firefighters to rotate into the training division was akin to asking them to volunteer to serve jail time. The firefighters did not want to give up shift work and the amount of off-duty time it provided, plus the training division had a reputation of having an overwhelming workload that would sometimes intimidate even those who might otherwise be interested in the assignment. As a result, the primary purpose of the interview process essentially became to determine which training-officer candidates had the best excuses for not getting the assignment.

Because civilian training officers don't rotate back into a field assignment, they don't have this limitation. Therefore, they have the ability to perform with a higher level of proficiency throughout the assignment rather than just towards the latter stages of their rotation, and they are able to take on more work, which has lessened the workload for the sworn training officers when they do rotate into the division. This, in turn, has helped to attract more qualified candidates who actually volunteer for the transfer opportunity in the more traditional sense.

Drawbacks to Consider

The use of civilian training officers does not come without some drawbacks. In most agencies, this position often is called up to provide assistance when an incident occurs, or to fill short-term vacancies in the fire stations. Even though civilian training officers can provide much needed assistance in terms of incident support, in many circumstances their use obviously will be limited in comparison with trained firefighters. In Fresno, we have used our civilian staff — especially our nurse/EMS coordinator — to supervise incident rehabilitation activities, augmented by civilian volunteers, i.e., community emergency response teams. By assigning civilians to tasks such as medical monitoring, more firefighters are freed up for operational needs.

In some cases, there may be concerns from the local labor groups about the perceived loss of firefighter or fire officer positions. The key is discussing the issues in advance and determining the best solutions for the organization as a whole. For instance, it may not make sense to civilianize the entire training division, especially in cases were the organization is small and needs the training officer positions to augment staffing for emergencies, or to help staff fire stations from time to time.

In the case of very large organizations, the impact of the training staff on day-to-day operations may be less perceivable. As an example, Clark County is one of the largest fire agencies in the country, but its training division is almost entirely comprised of civilian training officers. Because they have such a large organization with a sizable day-to-day force of firefighters, it takes a very large incident to exceed the organization's response capacity. Therefore, the impact of having, or not having, the additional staff from the training division is minimal.

In Fresno's case, three of the five training officers are fire captains, so they can be quickly called out to emergencies and take on positions within the ICS structure — typically that of safety officers, which helps incident response to function more safely and perhaps more efficiently. They also provide the key structure needed for many training activities, since there always will be a need for hands-on training taught by qualified personnel.

In terms of the labor groups, the fact that one of the new training officer positions added in 2007 was designated as a fire captain helped to alleviate their concerns regarding the loss of future firefighter positions. They also were somewhat relieved that instead of assigning five involuntary candidates to the training division, they only would have to deal with three. So timing played an important role in gaining acceptance for this strategy.

There are other concerns. What happens after 10 or 20 years to civilian employees who do not have the option to rotate in and out of their assigned duties? Will they burn out? Will they lose effectiveness over time? What happens if a replacement civilian training officer cannot gain credibility within the organization? These are issues that will require time to explore, but the cost benefit over the first few years of this non-traditional concept has been highly favorable, if not profitable. Part of the success is due to the quality of employee selected. All have proved to be highly self-motivated, with a high level of expertise and a strong commitment to department mission and to the firefighters they help protect. Choosing the wrong candidate, especially in the initial stage of the transition, could be disastrous for the organization and the employee.

The recent economic crisis has forced the fire service, as a whole, to re-evaluate how it invests its funding. It will take non-traditional approaches to keep our organizations viable, but this does not mean we must always lower our standards. The use of civilians as professional trainers may be a way to save on costs and yet improve the effectiveness of your training program.

Micheal Despain, M.A., EFO, CFO, MIFireE, has more than 25 years of fire-service experience and currently serves as a deputy chief/training chief with the Fresno (Calif.) Fire Department. He is a certified master instructor within the California State Fire Training system and has served as adjunct faculty for State Center Community College and National University.