Levels of fire and rescue training

The new minimum training standards are based on what level a person wants to serve in the fire and rescue system.

These standards have already been in place for career personnel.

Go to this document and review pages 6-11. Here you will see the different levels of service and what training will be required.

For example, on Page 6 you see

“EMT Only”

“Firefighter Only”

“Firefighter/EMT”

Under each of those levels are classes that will be required. Turn the page and you’re at a new level of service. The highest level is a command officer, such as a battalion chief or a volunteer chief. The highest expectations will be on command-level officers because there are 34 classes and almost 1,000 hours. Keep in mind that many of these command-level officers will have a lot of this training. The 1,000 hours is a total of the 34 classes, and it is unlikely there will be any current member who needs 1,000 hours of training.

A new recruit who wanted to achieve that level would eventually need all of those classes, but not in two years.

A story in tomorrow’s paper will explain this further, along with comments from county officials on why this is happening and what is next.

Post tags: minimum training standards | Spotsylvania County Fire and Rescue

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/spotsygovt/2010/10/14/levels-of-fire-and-rescue-training/

WyndMyre

I am curious about these new requirements. OK, so the Chief officers have to have all these fire classes and certifications. Don’t we have at least ONE agency in Spotsy that is EMS only? Do THEIR officers have to have fire training as well, even though they only do EMS? Do the fire officers have to have EMS training? I understand and applaud the extra training, but I think some of it is too ‘across the board’ and is a bit counter intuitive. EMS officers don’t drive fire trucks, so why make it mandatory that they have to? Seems a bit silly to me. I certainly hope this is a living document and the needed adjustments can be made.
Dan Telvock

WyndMyre, the answer to your question is it depends.

If you look at the link I have and review the standards, you will see that if the person wants to be in a high-level post to command incidents, then they would be required to have cross training.

This was a concern Chancellor’s Eric Lasky raised. He said he was concerned that there was no EMS only command position.

If you want to be at the top, the new standards will require that person to cross train. Yes, fire fighters seeking command positions will need EMS training.

In fact, the county prefers hiring new career firefighters who are cross trained. Basically what the county has done is it took the standards already in place for the career fire and rescue employees and applied them to the entire system.

I hope I answered your question.
Sam

Dan,

Does anyone have any idea what this is all gonna cost the taxpayer?
Or has anyone given any indication of when this system is implemented what is Chris Eudailey gonna do to make this more than just a Fire Department that is a stepping stone?

Someone ,somewhere has some numbers.

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