Fire Department Training : Courage in the Face of Adversity

In today’s world, corruption and greed have become bywords. However, the Fire Department, adhering to its core values of Integrity, Commitment, Honor and Selflessness, continues to shine as a beacon of hope. The public finds a safe haven in which to repose its trust, firmly believing that someone is looking out for them. At the same time, firefighters need to practice extreme caution themselves. Hence, proper fire training is of crucial importance to the safety of not just the citizens they serve, but of the firemen themselves.

The first truth of the job is that firemen may do everything by the rulebook and still get injured or killed. What ultimately serves them is the number of hours spent training and the amount of experience gained. Alongside, it is of vital importance to have adequate number of fire rescue personnel on the fireground and proper fire fighting equipment and skills. As the saying goes in the Fire Department, “You have two hands, bring two tools”. Implementation of standard operating guidelines, thorough knowledge of the basics of firefighting and the capability to keep a cool head while making informed decisions in the face of imminent danger are the best foundation for safety. And this is what Fire Department training strives to do.

Fire training systems provide a controlled environment for firefighters to learn about myriad fire behavior and the best procedures and different techniques for approaching different situations. Realistic settings duplicate the stressful conditions of emergencies and allow seasoned firefighters to hone their skills adequately while newbies are taught the rules of the game. Training is given under different headings –

• Live Fire
• Flammable Liquid and Gas Fires
• Forcible Entry
• Car Fires
• Urban Search and Rescue
• Disaster Management
• Hazardous Materials

Not to be left behind, however, are basic yet vital skill sets such as power saw operations, hoseline estimate and stretching, nozzle selection, nozzle team tactics, hydrant, ladder and preconnect knowledge, SCBA emergency skills, R—EBT (Reilly Emergency Breathing Technique), ventilation tactics and Firefighter survival tactics. Special attention is given to Fire Department Equipment like fire extinguishers (powder, foam, CO2, water) pressure gauges, valves, hoses and nozzles, fire blankets, gear for Hazardous Materials, smoke detectors and fire alarms for optimum and effective utilization.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of fire training. Firefighters require thorough knowledge of different aspects of the game because each category of Fire Department Training incorporates further sub-categories. For instance, Liquid and Gas Fire training includes ruptured gas line fires, fuel and chemical spill fires, relief valve and boil over fires and pressurized tank fires. Similarly, conditions while fighting fires at high rises are unique and very different from those at a fire at the top level of a flat-roof ordinary construction. Issues such as locating the fire, setting up the standpipe system, deciding the primary point of attack, communicating with occupants and effective evacuation procedures have to be properly addressed to avoid tragedies.

Disasters, manmade or natural, do not come with warnings. They have to be faced promptly with a skill set above the ordinary. Fire Department Training strives to arm its firefighters with all possible weapons to combat emergency situations in urban and rural scenarios. As firefighters joke, “we gotta know how to put the wet stuff over the red stuff.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Politics and Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.