Building An Aggressive Volunteer Culture Through Training

When operating in a limited manpower environment, those firefighters on the scene must have ways to quickly get control of the incident before it grows beyond their capabilities. Demands on volunteer firefighters continue to increase in both time and scope, requiring a critical assessment of how we train. How can we simultaneously ensure responders have the skills and knowledge necessary while accommodating competing priorities? These challenges are faced by all departments with volunteer members and can impact recruitment and retention -- and proper weekly and academy training design can help.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will learn how to complete a district-wide risk assessment to be used in training curriculum design, utilizing historic call data and expected growth.
• The participant will learn how to identify training needs and priorities based on risk, incorporating available response personnel and defined metrics for success.
• The participant will understand how curriculum development for volunteer-based companies is different and can be tailored to aid in recruitment, retention, and enhanced performance.
• The participant will understand the benefits of a modular academy design to meet local and state standards and department needs, defining qualifications and certifications of each level.
• The participant will understand how to tier weekly/monthly training curriculum to meet the needs of both their entry-level and experienced firefighters and overall training objectives.