Advanced training becoming a requirement, not an option

If you haven't figured it out yet, the days of attending a once a week firefighter 1 course that

Photo courtesy of Daniel Colucci.

that takes less than 100 hours to complete are as dead as the dinosaurs...and they aren't coming back.

Furthermore the minimum certifications to serve as a fire officer of varying ranks have increased, and may do so again in the near future.

The phrase for what is being described is the professionalization of the volunteer fire service.

We can yell, scream and say this is bull shit all we want but at the end of the day the fire academies we train at, and the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety we are all under are all run by career firefighters. This means don't be surprised if eventually fire recruits need to not only pass firefighter 1 but also firefighter 2 just like the recruits from career outfits have to.

If this battle can't be won then preparations need to be made for what comes after. Instead of new requirements being enacted and your fire department scrambling to find say a principles of building construction class for one guy, and a company operations strategy and tactics class for another while organizing a group to take firefighter 2. You can get ahead of the state for once by creating and implementing an advanced training plan.

For example a plan I have been thinking about would be a three area plan to meet different personnel groups needs.

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Twp. Fire Dept. #1

The first area would focus on advanced training for your current officers. Meaning pushing officers who have not taken firefighter 2 to do so, and for those who have, enrolling them in the prerequisite classes needed for fire officer 1. Then of course having these officers take the fire officer 1 course.

The second area focuses on the incident command system certification pipeline. Black hats who have interest in becoming an entry level officer in the future would be encouraged to take ICS-200. Next, entry level officers who have hopes of moving up the line would take ICS-300 at least if not also ICS-400.

The third area invests time in your younger firefighters who have not taken firefighter 2. The course is preferable for them because the skills they will be building upon in firefighter 2 will be fresher to them, and these younger firefighters are the ones who will be commanding your company and department in the future.

What I'm hitting at is the days of old and their minimum requirements for being a volunteer firefighter are gone and as a volunteer service we need to accept that so we can recruit, train and lead this generation and the ones that comes after.

See you at the big one.