Free Training for the Fire and Emergency Services

May 21, 2012

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and Fire Corps are offering a wide variety of FREE online training in the coming weeks for your emergency service personnel as well as your auxiliary/support program (Fire Corps). Register for these sessions early as space is limited.

FC-304: Conducting Home Safety Checks
Tuesday, June 5 – 11 am EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course explains the purpose and importance for home safety checks and the role that Fire Corps personnel can play in conducting these checks. It introduces the concept that non-emergency volunteers can be educated in fire prevention concepts and provides the platform and the format to conduct effective home safety surveys. The module will also provide the necessary ingredients to make this program successful.

FC-205: Building the Relationship with Suppression
Tuesday, June 5 – 1 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course provides an overview of Fire Corps teams building relationships and accepting personalities in fire departments, whether they are combination, career, or volunteer, in order to collaborate. This module identifies characteristics of volunteers, characteristics of leaders, and available resources and best practices from existing Fire Corps programs.

FC-203: Program Assessment
Wednesday, June 6 – 1 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course addresses the fundamentals of effectively assessing a Fire Corps program and why program assessment is important. It looks at how to measure effectiveness of program activities, compile data, and calculate the value of your program. It will also include tools for benchmarking progress, supplemental forms and resources to assist in gathering data, and evaluation techniques to help identify program growth areas and achievements.

FC-302: Providing Rehab
Thursday, June 7 – 1 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course offers insight of the proper rest, re-hydration, nourishment, and medical evaluation responders need. The class also provides knowledge of how to start, implement, and/or enhance a rehab program in your department. Learn how to expand your department’s services and provide an opportunity for community members to answer the call to serve our first responders through rehab so everyone goes home safely.

FC-401: Engaging Youth Volunteers
Thursday, June 7 – 7 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course is designed to help teach how to successfully start a youth Fire Corps program along with methods to ensure the sustainability of the program and keep teens engaged. Learn about various methods and practices that will provide you with a strong foundation to reach and motivate youths in order to maintain and sustain a successful youth Fire Corps program.

FULL INVOLVEMENT: Firing Up Your Program
Wednesday, June 20 – 2:00 pm EDT
Register at https://nvfc.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
The course helps firefighters take the lead as the Health and Wellness Advocate by establishing a sound action plan for their department’s Wellness Program. Participants will learn strategies to ignite full involvement – from their officers to their community – in the support and success of the program. This includes building a wellness team, creating an annual plan, establishing methods of gathering and evaluating data, and securing sponsors to support the health and wellness program.

Overcoming Wellness and Fitness Barriers in the Fire Service: A Study by Johns Hopkins
June 19 – 2 pm Eastern
Register at https://nvfc.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
Johns Hopkins University and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have collaborated on a three-year research project to study health interventions in firefighters in Maryland. Participate in a one-hour webinar that will provide insight into the focus group feedback, barriers to wellness and fitness in the fire service and how some departments have developed creative solutions to their wellness and fitness challenges.

FC-204: Funding and Support
July 10 – 11:00 am EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course provides an overview of how funding and resources can benefit, strengthen, and increase the scope of Fire Corps programs by creating financial stability. It also identifies the basic steps and components to building a financial plan. The module will cover which funding streams are available and which are right for your program. Learn basic guidelines to determining your financial needs and resource already available to you, as well as tips to acquiring funding and the benefits to gaining a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

FC-303: Fire Corps in Public Education
July 10 – 1:00 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course provides information and activities that can be used to teach participants how Fire Corps members can assist fire departments with fire safety education programming and activities. The workshop will highlight best practices and provide information and tips on training, screening, and monitoring volunteers specifically for fire safety programming and activities.

FC-402: Engaging Senior Volunteers
July 17 – 2:00 pm EDT
Register at https://firecorps.webex.com under the Upcoming Sessions tab.
This course is designed to give an overview of how Fire Corps programs can connect older adults with volunteer opportunities within their Fire Corps program. The module also identifies strategies on recruiting, interviewing, orientating, training, evaluating, and retaining senior volunteers.

On-Demand Webinars

In addition to these live webinars, the NVFC offers a series of on-demand webinars for the fire, emergency medical, and rescue services. Access the courses below at www.nvfc.org/trainingeducation/nvfc-academy-online-training/.

  • Seatbelts Top Our Response Priority
  • Pump Operations and Maintenance Training Course
  • Functional Exercise
  • Nutrition
  • Program Design
  • Heart Health
  • Smoking Cessation
  • Heat Stress – Choosing the Right PPE
  • Obesity in the Fire Service
  • The Insulin Connection
  • The Impact of Stress on Firefighter Heart Health
  • Basic Nutrition
  • Functional Fitness for Firefighters
  • Recruitment and Retention in the Volunteer Emergency Services
  • Grant Writing for the Emergency Services
  • Emergency Services Liability
  • From Volunteer to Combination: Making the Transition

New courses are coming soon, so stay tuned to the Dispatch and NVFC web site!