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The Assistant Chief of Operations supervises the training of the fire District’s personnel. The District’s training programs include topics in fire suppression, emergency medical services, rope rescue, urban search and rescue, hazardous materials and workplace safety. The requirements for legally mandated training have continued to increase at a pace that conflict with the available operational training time for the average firefighter.
Entry-level volunteer firefighters are required to complete the Basic Volunteer Firefighter Academy and Emergency Medical Technician 1 Training. This represents over 200 hours of training to reach the minimum competency for a Volunteer Firefighter. All Volunteer Firefighters are required to attend regular ongoing training. The District conducts volunteer drills on the second, third, fourth and fifth Mondays of each month. There are approximately 31 regularly scheduled volunteer firefighter drills each year, for 62 hours of possible training. Volunteer Firefighters must attend at least 50% of the drills per year to remain active. Additionally, volunteer staff may take two approved courses per year of their choosing. The District offers opportunities for personnel who meet minimum requirements, to participate in volunteer firefighter training shifts on the weekends. Volunteer Firefighters are paid a stipend to work training shifts to defray costs associated with spending shifts training. This program gives volunteer personnel the opportunity to work at incidents they would not normally attend and to more fully learn the firefighter’s trade. This program is being expanded.
All of the District’s career personnel are required to attend regular ongoing training. Career suppression personnel are assigned a minimum of 60 hours training per year, exclusive of volunteer drills. Career staff may take two courses per year of their choosing.
The bulk of the District’s training is conducted internally. This concept is more practical with the completion of the District’s training facility. The District utilizes off-site training sessions or classes for advanced or specialized training programs not available internally. Training will continue to be limited by the actual number of training hours available. This will be complicated by the fact that the majority of the District’s personnel are volunteer and have restrictions on the amount of time that they are able to grant to the District. However this situation has changed and will continue to improve as we begin to provide more of these trainings in-house.
It should be the goal of the District to ensure that all career suppression personnel have and maintain the following minimum certifications within two years of employment:
CPR
Emergency Medical Technician 1
Class B Driver License
Firefighter 1
Rescue Systems 1
Rescue Systems 2
Confined Space Operational
Hazardous Materials Operations
ICS I-300
It should be the goal of the District to ensure that all volunteer suppression personnel have and maintain the following minimum certifications within two years of employment:
CPR
Rescue Systems 1
Confined Space Awareness
In addition, we should ensure that all personnel have access to the State Fire Marshal Fire Officer series of courses, and be encouraged to attend them. All company officers should be encouraged to obtain Chief Officer Certification. All personnel should also be encouraged to seek certification as instructors for their respective areas of expertise. We should ensure that all volunteer suppression personnel have the opportunity to obtain Firefighter 1, Rescue Systems 1, Rescue Systems 2, and Confined Space Operations.
The Training Division has been providing fee for service-based training. This has created a substantial offset in the District’s training related cost and has improved access to certification based training to many law enforcement and fire agencies in the region.
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