NVFC Live Online Trainings

The NVFC offers a series of live online training opportunities, including webinars, Roundtable Talks, and Volunteer Voices Lives. This page is updated as more trainings are added. If you miss a live webinar, you can watch the recording in the NVFC Virtual Classroom.

Webinar: Pipeline Safety and Emergency Response
April 17 at 2pm ET
Instructor: David Bullard, Columbia County Fire Rescue

In conjunction with National Safe Digging Month, join the NVFC and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for this webinar on how emergency service departments can best prepare for pipeline safety and response in your community. In this session, you’ll learn how to identify if your community has pipelines – and what’s in them – and how to identify transmission versus distribution and gathering lines. The session will also discuss working with pipeline operators, understanding your response capabilities, and how to train effectively for a pipeline event.

This webinar is made possible by the USDOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

R&R Coffee Talk: 5 Tips for Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Populations
Saturday, April 27, at 2pm ET
Join Dr. Candice McDonald, Chief Joel Cerny, and special guest Paul Acosta as they discuss five tips for building a volunteer fire department that reflects the diversity of your community. Learn why diversity is important, how it strengthens our ability to respond effectively to emergencies, strategies for reaching out to and engaging diverse communities, and ways to ensure that your department is inclusive and welcoming to all.

This Coffee Talk is sponsored by Fire Department Coffee.

Webinar: Wildfire — It Knows No Boundaries
May 1 at 2pm ET
Each year, the frequency and intensity of wildfires are growing. They are destroying land across the globe and are taking lives in communities and firefighting organizations of every size. In fact, the U.S. Fire Administration reports that between 1990 and 2020, there were 522 firefighters killed while involved in brush, grass, or wildland fire response. In this webinar, presenter Bill Arsenault will provide a look into the wildfire landscape of the past 30 years, what has changed for the fire service, and what we must do to be more effective in our preparedness and response.

Webinar: Protecting Houses of Worship from Arson
May 6 at 2pm ET
Presenters from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): Joseph Larkin, section chief, Stakeholder Engagement Division; Victoria M. Rossi, supervisory intelligence specialist, CISA Intel – Analysis Branch; and Bob Winters, protective security advisor

Arson Awareness Week is May 5-11 and this year’s theme is “Protecting Houses of Worship – Fire as a Weapon.” The NVFC and USFA are holding a webinar to support this year’s theme with representatives from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Briefings will include a historical review of attacks on houses of worship using fire as the weapon; a threat and intelligence review of current threat actors, targets, and trends; and a discussion on preventing, protecting, mitigating, and response and recovery for arson events involving houses of worship. There will be a question and answer period following the briefings.

Webinar: Responding to Warehouses and High Challenge Facilities – Considerations for Volunteer Departments
May 15 at 2pm ET
Warehouses utilizing robotics and other high challenge facilities bring a set of difficulties for volunteer fire departments, who may not be used to dealing with these technologies. While responding to emergency incidents in these types of facilities is not common, when they do happen the risk is high. This webinar will introduce participants to some of the high challenge facilities that they may encounter. Join speaker Michael Spaziani of FM Global as he helps participants better understand the challenges and how to prepare for an emergency response to the facility.

This webinar is sponsored by Stonehouse Media.

Roundtable Talk: Volunteer EMS Recruitment and Retention Strategies
May 22 at 2pm ET
Panelists: Candice McDonald (moderator), Jules Scadden, and Eric Quinney

Details coming soon.

Webinar: Managing Combination Departments — Leadership Challenges
May 29 at 2pm ET
Instructor: Quentin Cash

This webinar will provide an overview of challenging leadership issues facing leaders and chief officers in combination department settings. Topics covered will include administration, delegation, setting expectations, mentoring, and human resource issues, among others. This webinar will include pertinent information to both volunteer and career managers and chief officers to provide tips and tools to produce success around communications, leadership and supervision.

This webinar is sponsored by Amazon Business.

Webinar: Advancements in Utility-Scale Battery Energy Storage Safety Features, Standards, and Practices
June 5 at 2pm ET
Utility-scale battery energy storage is a critical component to achieving decarbonization objectives while maintaining a reliable and resilient power grid. Deployment of utility-scale battery energy storage capacity is accelerating dramatically in the U.S. However, both local firefighters and people living near proposed energy storage project sites have questions about the safety of these facilities. This presentation by Mike Simpson of AES will address the characteristics of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS), potential hazards such as thermal runaway, and new approaches to mitigate those risks. These advancements encompass equipment safety approaches; a four-stage approach to effective protection against thermal runaway; advancements in enclosure design; monitoring systems; standardized testing; codes and standards; safety evaluation processes; and passive and active safety measures. The presentation will also provide examples of how clean energy project developers can work together most effectively with local fire departments on hazard mitigation analyses, project site design refinements, and emergency response planning to further enhance energy storage safety.

This webinar is sponsored by AES.

Webinar: Moral Injury — Peeling Back the layers of PTSD
June 11 at 2pm ET
Instructor: Wendy Norris, Texas LODD Task Force

Join our webinar, sponsored by ESO, the premier provider of software solutions for first responders, as we delve into the psychological toll of frontline work during the pandemic. Discover how moral distress and survivor guilt impact the mental well-being of our heroes, and learn practical strategies to overcome these challenges. Led by experts, this session offers insights into coping with traumatic events and reconnecting with our values. Register now at eso.com/fire to gain valuable support for yourself or your team members and navigate the emotional complexities of frontline work.

This webinar is sponsored by ESO.

Missed a training? Click here to view past Train Strong webinars. Click here to watch past Roundtable Talks. Check out additional on-demand courses in the NVFC Virtual Classroom.