Maximize Training Center Potential

Historically, training academies throughout the country have been designed to facilitate basic instruction of common training scenarios, such as car fires, structure fires, technical rescues and driver training. In most cases, these sessions are conducted as separate training events in accordance with a standard certification program, such as Firefighter I and II; they use independent training stations surrounded by unobstructed, paved areas. Burn buildings and training towers are commonly constructed with 360-degree access consisting of flat, paved areas with limited, if any, forms of realistic exposure. In many cases, each training prop is far removed from the next to avoid potential disruptions from multiple groups training at the same time.

Although this instruction is adequate for introductory or basic skills training, how can we magnify our training experience to better challenge recruits and even the most experienced firefighters/officers?

It helps to think differently about how the training center property can be used to support the various drills and exercises. Yes, established concepts remain important, especially the practice of having more land than we think we’ll ever need so that we can provide room for future expansion, account for setback requirements, meet ordinances for storm water management and green space, and provide adequate buffers to minimize the impact on our neighbors. Just as important is the need to organize the site to train firefighters in a realistic context, to support experiential learning opportunities.

Go Beyond the Basics
Training today’s firefighters/fire officers initially involves creating a firm foundation of knowledge; this is typically achieved in a standard classroom environment. Experienced instructors provide the specifics, such as how to safely attack a car fire, including initial scene size-up, safe apparatus positioning, hazard identification, hoseline deployment and approach, fire stream management, and forcible entry/safe positioning.

When students move from classroom instruction to hands-on instruction on the drill ground, firefighters typically perform a quick walk-through of the site to establish a firm understanding of the appropriate steps (muscle memory) needed to complete the given drill; in the case of a simulated car fire, they use a demo vehicle or a standard LP/natural gas vehicle prop.
 
But the context can go beyond these basics. Agencies can expand the use of their site, transforming it into an invaluable, real-life training tool. For example, they can develop sites that resemble cityscapes, simulating the real occupancies and hazards found in the surrounding community. Of course, no two training centers would look alike, because the hazards found in the distant suburbs of Seattle differ from those found in downtown Tulsa, Durango, New York City, Phoenix or rural Florida.

How to Set It Up
Although different in design, there are some rules each training center should follow when constructing their site.
–    The various training structures and props should be spread out enough so that training can be conducted by different groups at different props without the groups interfering with each other.
–    At the same time, the props should be close enough to each other that the surroundings of each simulated incident, and the students’ approach to them, are as realistic as possible. To achieve this, connect props and structures with streets, alleys, sidewalks, simulated overhead power lines, street signs, etc.
–    Develop props or ways that students can deal with the hazards, and work with the opportunities, found in the real world. Create changes or variations in topography so that students have the opportunity to perform in low-angle, trench and confined-space rescue scenarios within the cityscape. A simple example: a car fire parked against a curb or positioned against a guardrail, on an incline with a storm drain or manhole cover at the downstream. Another example: an embankment or low-angle slope beside a roadway, which can be used to teach vehicle stabilization and advanced extrication operations.

Training for the Worst
Organizing a training center site in this manner also allows firefighters and other agencies to try their hand at simulated large-scale incidents (such as a tornado or terrorist attack) with a multi-agency response. Fire, police, EMS and other emergency response agencies could train together in a simulated cityscape that includes multiple buildings on fire, simulated mass casualties, overturned vehicles on the street with trapped victims, collapsed structures, traffic and crowd control issues, bomb disposal issues, suspect search scenarios and other hazards.

Important: As we all know, worst-case scenarios, such as large-scale terrorist attacks, don’t occur every day, but it’s important for firefighters and other agencies to train for such events, because incidents of great magnitude are those that, in many cases, identify and define the breaking point of most agencies. As such, agencies must “train for failure” so that they can determine their areas of improvement, consider the need for expanded or enhanced mutual-aid/auto-aid agreements, modify their equipment and resource needs, determine their regional response capabilities, etc. By conducting multi-agency/multi-faceted training (to include full-blown activation of a field command post, emergency operation center, etc.) allows an agency (region or county) to train for failure, reset and repeat the exercise to ensure success.

The Added Benefits of Adding Reality
When drilling in a more realistic environment, students will not only obtain real-life firefighting skills, they’ll also learn other skills crucial to sustaining a successful firefighting career, such as stress management and the ability to think clearly in critically dangerous situations with minimal time to act.

Putting students in stressful scenarios while still within the controlled training-ground atmosphere–with instructors closely watching–can be invaluable. For example, once students have successfully learned how to disentangle themselves from a standalone entanglement prop, it’s helpful to have additional locations where students might find themselves unexpectedly entangled during a different drill within a training structure (but not a Class A burn building, where entangling a student could be too hazardous). This would help them not only train on how to overcome the entanglement, it would also allow them to realize their reaction (stress level) to the situation, and how to manage their reaction appropriately on the fireground.  

Another example: a multi-victim rescue scenario that requires the student to make a decision as to which victim should be rescued first. How about a quick ladder rescue vs. a rescue requiring the deployment of a handline, or forcible entry and navigation to the second floor (all under high-heat conditions and limited visibility)?

For larger-scale, multi-faceted, multi-agency incidents, training allows emergency responders to develop effective decision-making skills while experiencing the real-life stressors and complexities of an actual event. Unified command training, communications, and command and control procedures are taught in a classroom, but applying those lessons within the simulated cityscape (with multiple agencies represented) on the training ground magnifies them dramatically. Such a scenario offers opportunities for surprises, too, such as a fire extending from one building to the next, or a secondary device detonating once the initial responders are on the scene.

Design It!
Following are steps for designing an effective, multi-faceted training facility:
1.    Determine whether your department really needs a self-sufficient training center or if it would be more advantageous to develop a regional facility. What resources do you already have? Who will use it? What changes are occurring in your community (and communities around you) that might impact training needs in the future?
2.    Establish a management team for the training center that’s not just a design committee that operates while the facility is being designed and constructed; it should also be the team that will operate and maintain the facility once it’s built.
3.    Establish funding for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining the training center.
4.    Hire a qualified architectural/engineering team that has experience with training center planning and design.
5.    Conduct a risk assessment of your response area. Identify common hazards (the high volume, daily calls) and worst-case scenarios (the hazards that cause the greatest problems during calls, or the highest sense of concern if such an event might happen one day).
6.    Develop the curriculum, and be sure to include the most basic skills, as well as multi-agency response training.
7.    Once the curriculum is in place, determine how much land is required and find an appropriate site.
8.    Design and build the classrooms, training structures, props, and grounds to support the curriculum.
9.    Use your training center safely and with the objective to teach, to make the first responders walk away knowing they’ve improved and are prepared for whatever emergencies they might face.
10.    Watch for students who appear as if they’re just going through the motions. It may be an indication that the curriculum and facilities need to be re-evaluated and improved.

A Long-Term Investment
Much like the firefighters we train, the facilities we design and the training we conduct must be developed with the mindset of supporting real-life situations. Training facilities are long-term investments and should therefore facilitate instruction and certification requirements for entry-level personnel, while also being capable of challenging the most experienced chief officer. By designing a facility (or adapting an existing facility) to accommodate realistic situations, large-scale events and worst-case scenarios (e.g., terrorist attacks, natural or man-made disasters) that test the limitations and capabilities of available resources, we enhance the learning experience for all participants and provide an opportunity to identify areas for personal and organizational improvement.