District 12
It’s been a while since I put in an article, once again life happened and call volumes increased, and I am going to training, and trying to keep up with things around the house and firehouse. So, let’s dive into training.
Over the past few months, there have been several trainings down in our part of the world, as well as other parts of the state. The pictures are just a few of the trainings that have been hosted in District 12. Due to the weather, being cold and raining, most of these were classroom and inside training.
The most disappointing thing with training has been and continues to be a lack of students. Numerous trainings only cost the time to attend. The most disheartening thing is to cancel a class due to lack of registrations. It is even more discouraging when the state provides so many trainings at no cost or dollars out of our budget. In my organization, we have had to cancel classes in the past or just get the minimum number of registered students by the deadline to have the classes delivered.
So, the question is this, where is everyone? Why are we not taking advantage of what is offered to us? Many of us have new members that need to learn and some of us have members that need to periodically refresh our knowledge or learn new ways to do what we do safer and better. Some of the things that we can learn will work in our organizations and some won’t. Until we as the Missouri Fire Service go out and take classes, we won’t know some of the advances in techniques and technology available to us to make an informed decision and implement new ideas and concepts into serving our areas more efficiently and safely. The most dangerous statement is, “We do it this way because we have always done it this way.”
Some of you know me, some do not, so I’ll give you a little snapshot of my career. In September I will mark 35 years in the fire service in some capacity. I started as a volunteer. I’ve been paid as a firefighter to pull 24-hour shifts. I have spent time as a firefighter, training officer, medical officer, inspector, and now a chief. While working for the state I volunteered at my current organization as a firefighter and medical officer. I was the last volunteer chief of my organization and now the paid chief. I have done many things in the fire service, even taught as an adjunct instructor and guest instructor. I’m not saying these things to toot my own horn, I say this to lead into this. The one thing constant throughout my career and afforded me the opportunity to serve in some of the capacities that I have, is training. Ongoing training, even some very basic training. I recently had a conversation with a good friend and brother that I rode crew with years ago that both of us are probably training more and harder now than we did back then.
The point is this, I know a lot but every day I show up to work or go to training I learn something new or a better way to do what we are tasked to do. We should be lifetime learners in this field that we choose to do. The key is we chose to do this, so why do we choose not to train to be at our best when the tones sound? It is a choice, do or do not. The “do not” can have catastrophic results. There could be one little key item in training that can save a life, that of a citizen, a fellow firefighter, or even our own. Case in point, if you saw an article last fall about our incident where one of our tankers got hit and damaged, it was training that kept us from getting hurt or killed that day. By the way, we just got that truck back after almost 9 months of repair work to get it operational. Had we not learned to use that truck as a blocking vehicle the possibility of losing some of our people would have been what happened. Sure, it was inconvenient to sit through a class. Sure, it was an impact to lose a piece of equipment for some time however we did not get anyone injured that day or worse yet new names to add to the memorial of our fallen brothers and sisters.
Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. Training is the way to find out and figure it out. There are so many situations that we as firefighters and officers may have to face at any moment. Wouldn’t it be better to learn about it before it happens than to face it and not know how to deal with it? Can we learn everything there is to know for everything? No, but continuing training and education gives us options when the time comes to respond to that high-risk low-frequency event. The event that lives are lost to.
We have so many resources now it is a shame not to utilize them. The days of the on-the-job training and we will figure it out when we get there are history. My hope is my lengthy words inspire us to train more, train harder, and learn as much as will possibly fit in the master computer on our shoulders. Train like your life depends on it, in this field, it most certainly does depend on it. The lives and property of those we swore to protect most definitely depend on it.
Until next time, stay safe out there, and thank you for what you do for your communities.
FFAM
