Training Tips and Techniques

[3105]

Boy, this is a tough audience...can't seem to kick-start any kind of discussion; do we need to go back to TWD?

Thought I would start this thread to collect everyone's suggestions and observations about teaching...what works, and what flops spectacularly. Most, if not all of us, like to instruct or particpate in good, meaty training, so let's put our collective coconuts together and share the instructional wealth.

To establish my bona fides, I have a Secondary Education teaching cert from the State, so my educational background (Glassboro State, 1976) was focused on teaching. What I can offer is mostly classroom based techniques, admittedly a dry and for some people, scary part of the job. A lot of what I learned still applies to hand-on stuff though, and I'm going to share a couple of observations and suggestions.

My first pet peeve is the "Let-Er -Rip" school of thought where the instructors get everyone together, give them little to no information, then tell them to start the evolution. After the predictable chaos is over, they then berate the students that the whole thing went wrong and poorly executed.

Here's a simple solution: EXPLAIN what you would like them to do, then clearly state the evolution's objective and when it will be finished. More nonsense happens because three or four of the twenty some firefighters you're trying to instruct don't have a clue as to what the final outcome should be...tell them in clear, concise language. if they're realitively new, walk them through the evolution, step by step without overdoing it.

I think you'll find that most evolutions, when properly explained, will turn out pretty damn good if you invest a little time in explaining what exactly it is you want.

[hp4l]

We recently (about a month ago) had department training at the BCESTC. We didn't have a big turnout but enough to do the training safely. Before we started, the Instructor and the QTO (myself) discussed with the FF's what we expected to accomplish - bedroom fire, 1 victim trapped. We walked through the Class A building for guys who hadn't been there before and then began the evolutions. The first crew was the suppression team, advancing a 1 3/4" up the stairs and extinguishing the fire. The second crew laddered the 2nd floor, searched for the victim, and removed the victim down the ladder. The third crew was a backup team with a backup 1 3/4" line. We were there for about three - four hours, which included set up, scenarios, and critique. We got a lot of scenarios done so everyone got to rotate through the crews. Like 3105 said, explaining what you want before you start can really help you attain your goal quicker and safer.

[JDub]

hp4l said:

We recently (about a month ago) had department training at the BCESTC. We didn't have a big turnout but enough to do the training safely. Before we started, the Instructor and the QTO (myself) discussed with the FF's what we expected to accomplish - bedroom fire, 1 victim trapped. We walked through the Class A building for guys who hadn't been there before and then began the evolutions. The first crew was the suppression team, advancing a 1 3/4" up the stairs and extinguishing the fire. The second crew laddered the 2nd floor, searched for the victim, and removed the victim down the ladder. The third crew was a backup team with a backup 1 3/4" line. We were there for about three - four hours, which included set up, scenarios, and critique. We got a lot of scenarios done so everyone got to rotate through the crews. Like 3105 said, explaining what you want before you start can really help you attain your goal quicker and safer.

I was at this training session and it was awesome! We had a very hard time trying to find participants because of the day. So several of us rustled up some guys to go and it turned out to be a great time. Not only did it strengthen our skills but also created so much needed comradery. I would recommend this type of drill to everyone. Also might be a good idea for some of us to get together with our mutual aid companies and try different scenarios that will probably run into.

[3105]

Wow...and here I thought our department was the only one having trouble getting people to live burns...it's getting so bad, I'm going to explore partnering with other departments to ensure the minimum number of qualified firefighters are present (as memory serves me, that number is 8)

This is another sore point for me personally: firefighters who believe they don't need to live burn train or complain because it's too hot, too long, not interesting enough...the list of gripes is endless. I'm seriously considering pushing for mandatory live burn on an annual basis because some members spend more energy avoiding the drills than they do actually working at them. We're twenty minutes away from BCESTC but even so, a decent live burn will take (with travel and restoration time) two and a half hours..there isn't a lot you can do to shorten that and still make the evoluation worth while.

[3105]

In re-reading Jim's posting, it underscores a very simple, basic, and often ignored rule of training: Keep It Simple (Stupid)

Too often we get so excited about getting some good training in that we try to cram way too much stuff into a session, which then only serves to confuse the troops.

Always end with a summary of your objectives...this doesn't have to take long and will reinforce what you trained.

Another point: be especially careful about "experimenting" during a formal drill session: chances are better than average that someone will get the idea that what happened or tried is now "official procedure". My only advice is this: clearly state that what you are about to do is an experiment, NOT commonly accepted procedure. Even then, some dunderhead will be heard later saying "But we did it at a drill one night!"

[hp4l]

The live burn we have been discussing was honestly very simple and easy yet very helpful in tuning up our skills. The amount of ff's that show up and how efficient you are can control how long you are out there. All of our guys went through numerous times within the 3-4 hour period. 3105 - let me know if you want to try to set something like this up. I will help you plan it.

[gotwork]

I believe you must give as much information as you need to accomplish your objectives. We do our live burns two ways. On some we set up teaching stations that are designed to teach a skill for those who have never seen it and refresh those that have. Then at some of our live burn evolutions we limit the information or our expectations given to the "IC" because we are using this as an evaluation of A. their IC tactics and decisions, B. What the Crews actions are going to be in the preset evolution. We then constructively critique the scenario. The key is to be sure you point out some things done right, then the ones needing improvement, and then end with the remainder of the things done right. An all negative critique will get you nothing but unconfident crews.

[3105]

I concur with 2700's thoughts about negative reinforcement...I have rarely if ever seen or witnessed a training evolution that didn't have something positive go right...it's important to reinforce that jsut as much as it is to correct bad stuff.

I try to simply the process by catagorizing training evolutions into three separate types:

New Training: requires extensive teaching, demonstration, practice, and repetition

Refresher Training: minimum discussion limited to review of high points, then "relaxed" evolutions designed to identify any problems and/or misconceptions.

Scenario-Based Training: setting up and running an evolution as a real-time incident trying as much as possible to duplicate real-life problems and situations. This type should NOT be interrupted or stopped until the scenario has been concluded.

The last requires a little thought, effort, and pre-training briefing to establish the parameters and make certain everyone understands the objective. My personal preference is that EVERYTHING we normally do at a working job from radio communication to positioning to ICS roles and accountability should be practiced.