Recently a student asked me, “When we train, do we provide vocational skills and knowledge or do we subject ourselves to three hours of listening to an instructor tell us how he or she does it in their department as some obnoxious student tries to pick a fight with the instructor in the process?” The question made me realize how many firefighters and officers experience training just like this. It's no wonder why training sessions are poorly attended and why we have to beg, mandate, and threaten firefighters and officers to actively participate in training.

Those who take part in training must leave the session feeling that it was enjoyable and worth the time spent. Often personnel resent the fact that the training activities are mundane and lack challenge. Have you ever noticed how many firefighters, when asked at a training session to perform a certain task, automatically step back and say, “Let the rookie do it. He needs to learn.” These are the very people who are certified in high-level subjects such as super special weapons or chemical devastations that are only used on the second Tuesdays of odd months. They are walking IFSTA manuals.

So do we over-educate our people? Learning advanced skills is important and necessary, but specific training on specialties should involve those individuals who are interested. As these specialists retire, advance or get tired, finding other personnel to take their place is an important part of the departmental — or better yet regional — planning processes.

Instead, are we forgetting the basics for the majority of our service? When was the last time you tied a bowline? It's the basics that are used day in and day out — firefighters aren't dying on specialized calls.

It's true that training on the basics can be redundant, so it's important to vary the training sessions to keep them interesting. Rather than always training on water flows, nozzle patterns and ladders, add other basic skills such as ropes, knots and the use of the other tools on the apparatus. A great source of creative and interesting drills that will put the pep back into your training is www.firefighterclosecalls.com; click on “Weekly Fire Drills.” The bottom line is that a training officer can't walk into the station on training night and ask, “What am I going to teach tonight?”

It's the training officer's obligation to prepare an instructional session that will be interesting and, more importantly, to make sure that those being trained leave the session with confidence in the skill or knowledge taught. If the lesson is planned and worthwhile, with the objectives of the lesson clearly stated at the beginning, it's then essential to follow a simple principle of famous educator Madeline Hunter: closure. Just as the name suggests, closure is done at the end of a training session, summarizing the lesson with what was learned. This reinforces to trainees that they truly learned something they can use to make their job better, easier or safer.

Training with other departments and companies also is important. It improves communication, an essential element in a safe and effective operation. Standardizing operating procedures would help on those occasions when time is of the essence. Interdepartmental and or inter-company training automatically takes on a special air, and the psychology of such a training session encourages all those who participate to perform at higher level.

The Charlotte and Concord fire departments in North Carolina recently were involved with multiple other agencies in a training exercise at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It's training like this that will emphasize the basics and perfect the use of NIMS and unified command. It also promotes networking with other agencies and makes for a highly educational experience that is interesting, different and even fun. It doesn't require a venue like a large sporting venue to do something like this. A school, a shopping mall, a large chain store, a supermarket, a post office, or other local office building or structure will be just as effective.

Another way to make a basic-skills training session interesting and enjoyable is to invite public officials, put them in gear and have them train alongside you. If the drill is well-planned, it will result in the firefighters performing at their highest level. It also may change the attitude of a public official who may not have a positive view of the fire department. It will get the public officials to realize the type and intensity of the work that firefighters do, as well as the conditions that firefighters work under. EMS scenarios also should be practiced in this way.

A young firefighter once told me, “If training is not fun or interesting, people do not learn as much or remember it as well.” To spice things up, more hands-on training on varied subjects is essential. People learn better by doing rather than just being told how to do it. An example of practical, basic hands-on training came to me from that young firefighter. This department had done quick-access planning on local marinas but never went to the scene to practice. They had a boat fire on a dock that was more than 800 feet away from the engine pumping the fire. Their apartment line (200 feet of 2½-inch hose to a gated wye and 200 feet of 1¾-inch) was pulled. Sixteen minutes after dispatch and numerous additions of 2½-inch hose sections, the crew finally had enough line to reach and put out the fire. They used their new engine with the Williams foam system and applied foam to suppress the fire.

Their training after that was to drive an engine to the scene and practice stretching hose for extended lengths (over 400 feet). Various ways were tried, with the fastest time being less than six minutes. Everyone enjoyed the training and learned the value of hands-on and on-scene training.

Instructors and training officers today should be more facilitators than anything else. Question-and-answer sessions must be used to bring out the information in a lesson. For a lesson to be effective, individual and group activities must be dispersed throughout. Group discussions and live demonstrations are very effective in teaching skills. These activities must be followed up with hands-on exercises conducted as one would do them in the street, fully geared up with all safety measures in place. Most of all, don't design an activity that has some of the firefighters or officers who are being trained standing around while others do the activity. Everyone must be employed in some activity, even if they are told to observe closely because they are going to teach it next or give a constructive criticism of the group performing the activity.

I would like to thank the students who asked important questions and provided valuable feedback. I appreciate your honesty and openness.

Chief Mike Chiaramonte is a 35-year member of the Lynbrook (N.Y.) Fire Department and a past chief of the department. He's currently the chief fire inspector, where he's responsible for code enforcement and prevention education. Chiaramonte was a past chairman and board member of the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section Board and New York State Director to the IAFC Eastern Division. He's also a National Fire Academy Instructor and an adviser to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Chiaramonte is a state EMT-CC and an instructor at the Nassau County EMS Academy. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston and a master's degree from Hofstra University, both in communications education.