News

Is Your Training Ground Safe?

Published Date: 02.18.2011

By Bryant Stiles, NVFC KY Alternate Director

Article appeared in the April 2010 issue of Firehouse Magazine

When families send their children to school, they expect the school will do everything within their power to assure their children’s safety. Families of firefighters should have the same expectation for the safety of their loved ones on our training grounds.

Yet we continue to have serious injuries and fatalities on the training ground. The USFA Firefighter Fatalities report for 2009 through October 31 lists our 76 firefighters that have fallen in the line of duty. Of these 76, six (or eight percent) have died with the type of duty classified as training.

While eight percent may sound high, statistics for each year of the past decade reveal the number of firefighter training fatalities typically exceed 10 percent of the total of firefighter line-of-duty fatalities. Training injuries appear to follow the same percentages.

To see how events can go terribly wrong on the training ground, visit the NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation web site where NIOSH investigated 19 training ground incidents where one or more firefighters lost their lives.

Join with me for the next few minutes as we explore the issue of firefighter training ground safety.

Safe training grounds must be a priority for career, combination, and volunteer fire departments. This priority is among the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) Volunteer Firefighter Health and Safety Priorities, which are set forth in a series of B.E.S.T. Practices divided into the four focus areas of Behavior, Equipment, Standards, and Training. These priorities are relevant whether you serve as a volunteer or career firefighter.

To view the complete list of B.E.S.T. Practices, please go to the NVFC web site at www.nvfc.org/health_safety.

Training ground safety must be a unified effort. Firefighters have a responsibility for acting safely. Officers have a responsibility of leading by example with safety on the training ground. Instructors, the individuals planning and executing the training program, have the responsibility for planning for safety of students.

Providing safety for firefighters during training does not translate to eliminating or reducing hands-on evolutions. Sports teams do not choose to train solely with videos and computers to keep their players safe. Firefighters learn by doing, and we must continue to emphasize comprehensive skills-based training evolutions. We must provide quality, safe training opportunities that prepare our firefighters for completing their mission.

Steps toward safe training grounds begin before ever leaving for the training ground. First we must understand what type of injuries and fatalities are occurring on the training ground. Just as with response injuries and fatalities, a large percentage of training ground injuries and fatalities are heart/stress related. As a result, every department needs to have a health and wellness program for their personnel.

The NVFC provides excellent resources for your health and wellness program through the NVFC Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program at www.healthy-firefighter.org.

Second, we must understand that training ground injuries and fatalities are not solely a result of live fire training. Firefighters, officers, and instructors must be as focused on safety during all other types of hands-on training evolutions as they are when learning with live fire.

Third, instructors must continue to advance their knowledge and skills toward improving the safety of their training grounds. For example, the Kentucky Fire Commission/State Fire Rescue Training provides a class for instructors involved in live fire training.

Fourth, just as with live responses, training injuries and fatalities are occurring on the way to and return from the training ground. Firefighters, officers, and students should follow department and nationally recognized safety procedures when traveling to and from the training ground. It is of the utmost importance that everyone wears seat belts.

Fifth, instructors should understand and follow NFPA standards that impact the specific training session they are conducting. NFPA 1403, Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions, is the most recognized training safety standard; yet other NFPA standards will impact your training ground.

Sixth, practice like you play. As a part of your department’s operational procedures, commit to operating on the training ground just as you would operate on the fire ground. Do not allow bad habits, such as not wearing full protective clothing, to develop on your training ground only to be repeated on the fire ground.

As you plan specific training evolutions, the following should be considered.

1. Accountability of all personnel on the training ground. If a firefighter is entering the training ground after the beginning of the program, this firefighter must be accounted for and provided a briefing on the specific training evolution(s).
2. Operate the training ground under a clear incident command system. This should include effective communications with everyone on the training ground.
3. Have a lesson plan for each training evolution, with clearly stated objectives. Within the lesson plan, provide for safety of students, instructors, officers, and bystanders.
4. Provide a safety briefing for each training event, with each student understanding the objectives of the evolution(s), the danger(s), and safety precautions.
5. Establish a rehab area during training evolutions. Take vital signs of each person involved in the training at the beginning and end of evolutions.
6. Have an emergency operations plan for the training session. If possible, or required due to specific type of training, have an EMS unit available. If an EMS unit is not available, have a plan for providing initial emergency medical care should an injury occur to a firefighter or an instructor.
7. Encourage all firefighters to know CPR and have an AED at every training session.
8. Monitor safety throughout the training evolution(s), specifically monitoring for changing conditions. Weather must always be considered. Training can be conducted in most weather conditions if safety is a priority. An exception to this is lightening, which should bring a halt to training operations.

For those instructors working with volunteer firefighters, you have the added burden of having many of your personnel on your training ground after they have already completed a long day of work. They may not be as physically or mentally alert as they would be first thing in the morning, placing an additional safety concern on the instructor.

A long and dedicated career can be overshadowed by one bad day on the training ground where a firefighter, officer, or instructor has suffered an injury or fatality. I ask for your commitment to Everyone Goes Home safely from your training ground.

If the National Volunteer Fire Council may be of assistance, please contact us at www.nvfc.org or toll free at 888-ASK-NVFC (275-6832).

Bryant Stiles has been with the Kentucky Fire Commission/State Fire Rescue Training for 19 years and is currently the State Fire Rescue Training Division Director. He is the Kentucky Alternate Director for the National Volunteer Fire Council. Stiles has been involved in the fire service since 1974, including six years as Chief of the McLean County Central District Volunteer Fire Department.

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