Fire News

Back in 2011, Noel Maitland (at that time lieutenant and 15-year veteran with the FDNY) wrote an excellent fire department training op-ed for Fire Engineering. Maitland recalled: “I had an officer who taught me to always test the hydrant on a fire run, even if it’s for one of those annoying automatic alarms that always … Continued

In a November article for Fire Engineering, Burlington (NC) Fire Department battalion chief Paul Watlington sang the praises—and spoke to the brain-bending complexities—of pump operations. It isn’t just that each department has a unique mix of equipment. And it’s not only that new equipment and apparatuses enter the market, altering some of the fundamentals underlying … Continued

  Firefighters are expecting 2021 to be a record-breaking year for building and wildfires. But fire teams are shorthanded and overworked nationwide. This isn’t just about the increasing length and intensity of the wildfire season—nor is it about COVID. Both play a role, but it’s one of intensifying an existing problem: We are an aging … Continued

  Advances in simulator training technology have made it possible to overcome the roadblocks that regularly prevent adults from truly mastering new and complex skills. In 1980 Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus—working at the University of California, Berkeley and supported by the U.S. Air Force—formulated the “Dreyfus Model” of Adult Skills Acquisition. They sought to analyze … Continued

  FAAC’s fire truck driver training simulator supports simple-to-complex, individual and team training. The levels of this platform’s-based training are increasingly diverse and challenging, and broadly range from basic driving skills, through emergency response scenarios and then up to a higher level of emergency response scenarios occurring with critical incidents and taking place “on the … Continued

  One of the reasons that simulation training can be so much more effective is that it is an inherently engaging active learning opportunity. All training methods lie on a continuum. At one end are the most “passive” learning methods. Passive teaching methods strictly give information and encourage very little engagement. Examples include lectures, PowerPoint, … Continued

  Fire simulators and fire-fighter training have not been left out of the age of “Big Data.” For example, the City of Atlanta Fire Rescue Department has worked with analysts from the Data Science for Social Good project to streamline their inspection process. This ultimately resulted in Firebird, an open-source framework that uses algorithms to … Continued

  Since it was first identified in 1999, the Dunning-Kruger effect has transformed how we talk about people who have no idea what they’re talking about. The “Dunning-Kruger effect” is an exceedingly common—and previously unnamed—psychological blindspot: The human tendency to vastly overestimate our abilities because we know very little about a field.  (The title of … Continued

  Integrated fire simulator training—like that available through the Continuum of Training—offers huge wins when it comes to honing and coordinating your firefighting crews into seamless teams. But that’s not all—or even the most important—gain that you’ll see when you adopted an integrated fire simulator training program. Phil Duczyminski is a fire department training officer … Continued

  Mistakes happen. This is especially the case when it comes to a high-stakes, high-stress situation—one where every second counts—like responding to a fire or other critical incident. “At just about every fire or training event you look at, you’ll see mistakes take place,” notes Phil Duczyminski, a fire department training officer for the City … Continued