Another new year, another set of training goals. How did you fare last year? Did you meet all of the realistic training goals for your organization? If the answer is no, maximizing your training opportunities can help your department to meet its goals and objectives for 2004.

Realistically, most fire department training officers aren't assigned 100% of the time to the training division. Administrative priorities, recruitment and promotional activities, and daily crises all affect the time available for training. However, waving the white flag isn't an option, either.

If your department trained only on the statutory mandates and on initial and refresher courses required by OSHA, EPA, NFPA, your state and others, there wouldn't be enough training sessions or meetings available to cover delivery of even these subjects. Now, add other local priorities, and you're even further behind.

For example, all firefighters are required to maintain their EMS and hazmat certifications, as well as their bloodborne pathogens refresher course. Some state agencies require an annual update on ICS or sudden infant death syndrome. The community right-to-know legislation, too, demands annual review. Driver training and confined spaces are subjects we always need to be current on. The list of demands goes on and on. To stay ahead of the curve, training officers must think and work smarter to get it all done.

There are various types of training that fire and rescue agencies must conduct to meet these requirements. Activities like recruit training, one-on-one probationary skills development and driver certification probably aren't open to major revisions. There are, however, several types of training that can be given a major makeover with impressive results. They include:

Classroom

One-way presentations and lectures from instructor to student that offer didactic or theoretical material.

Drill

Basic training in which the student performs a series of tasks such as stopping at the hydrant, wrapping the hydrant and connecting the fittings, that make up an evolution.

Exercise

Tactical training in which multiple students perform a set of evolutions in real-time. Typically, several engines and a squad must coordinate individual actions and tasks.

Promotional

Activities to prepare a firefighter to pass a set of evaluations toward a higher position or rank.

Refresher

A course of study designed to maintain competency.

If we really are going to make this year's training more successful than last, we need to commit to working smarter, not harder. This will require some new assumptions:

1. Every day is a training day. Whether it's a tail-board training session, an incident debriefing, a quick case study at the kitchen table or something more formal, there are no days off from training in this business.

2. Every employee is required to participate in independent learning. Individual responsibility by every member is essential if the organization is to progress and succeed.

3. Didactic, one-way presentations can be delivered via distance-learning models: online, video, satellite television, teleconferences, self-study courses and formal college courses. All these modes should be included as vehicles to deliver traditional lecture material to both on- and off-duty personnel.

4. Having all companies meet at a central location for training and provide response coverage for their first-due district is the least-efficient method of providing training and education. Training, courses, meetings and other learning sessions delivered locally should always be videotaped and made available to those members who missed the session. Tape is cheap compared to overtime pay. Only specific or special events require a centralized, live session for one-way, lecture-only presentations.

5. Company officers and battalion and division commanders should be responsible for delivering and documenting a portion of the assigned personnel's training. It should not be left solely to the individual with the title of “training officer.”

6. Manipulative, hands-on training is essential. Applying every course under local conditions and with local equipment is where learning and retention actually occur. Even incident case studies and other lessons learned from an emergency should be presented in the context of a local target hazard or specific occupancy.

7. Many commercial companies provide turn-key solutions for delivering various training programs — use them. There are programs that cover the common refresher subjects such as hazardous materials, infection control, and CPR and first aid. The National Safety Council has been providing emergency driver training; first aid, CPR, ACLS, and workplace ergonomics courses; and a myriad of other great programs. These courses come with videos, textbooks and an opportunity to use a local training center for the hands-on testing of skills.

Satellite-delivered Fire & Emergency Training Network programming provides training 24/7. EMS continuing education, fireground tactics, basic firefighter and officer development courses are regularly offered. All programs have testing services available, as well.

If you can replace some of your old organizational assumptions with some of the items on the new list, you will find that promotional and refresher training can be presented either as independent or self-study courses. The typical classroom training can transition to a distance-learning model. Responsibility for many of the drills and exercises can be re-assigned to company and battalion commanders.

The demands on today's training officers are well documented. Managing a successful training division requires leveraging new methods, technologies and strategies to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness. A training officer taking just these few recommendations can result in more time to plan, organize and maybe even purchase some of the commercial solutions to really take the workload off.

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John Linstrom is the education consultant for FETN. He served more than 20 years in fire departments in California and Texas before retiring with the rank of assistant chief. Linstrom is a National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer graduate and adjunct instructor. In addition, he's a member of the Federal Mass-Fatalities Recovery Team and California Task Force 6.