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An Alternative - Using what you have
by Joseph J. Coffey

As firefighters we live in a time of DVD, Computer Programs and other multi-media forms. At this time the fire service has the most advanced tech at are finger tips. What happens if the computer programs does not run or not every one can fit around a computer screen? Plus we still have a generation gap within the fire service -older members verse generation  millennium.

An idea that I tried was with using a basic white board with erasable markers and toy fire trucks  to help better explain a tactic during training to a fire crew. The tactic was a water lay using tenders, engines and ladder trucks to fight a structure fire. This type of training was used because the crew was having some difficulty grasping the concept. It work well, because each firefighter was able to see, hear and draw the hose connections and  hose lay on the white board. Using this type of training made the firefighters better understand what was taking place and how the parts connected.  Also discussion was easier because we were inside a classroom and not having to talk over the vehicle noise on the fire  training ground. Total time that was set aside for whiteboard training was 1 hour.

Part two of the training was taking the vehicles out and setting up the water lay on the fire training ground. I refer to this as the hands on part. Every firefighter was wearing their protective firefighter equipment and this portion of the training was operated at a moderate speed for setting up the water lay. The crews performed with confidence and were able to complete the tactic.

Lessons learned from the table top training gave all the firefighters a hands on visual training in a safe warm/dry classroom in a 3 dimension manner using all the sense and appealing to different learning styles.

Using the white board with erasable markers and toy fire trucks is low tech, cost effective but was successful in teaching the tactic. The white board could was able to be placed on a  table and accommodate all the firefighters to sit around and participate in the training. In this case there was no need for a costly computer programs, it was just using what items were around to get the job done right. If the training budget is tight and lessons need to be taught or even trouble shoot a problem, this type of  training may be the answer for basic fire company training.

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