It was only dormant, not deceased.
It started as a small itch in Fall 1984. I was teaching a fire science course using Ronnie Coleman's Management of Fire Service Operations.
One of the students, coming from a sleepless night at a busy house, exclaimed in frustration that "this is all bull###!"
I could see the point. A book heavy in theory, with west coast examples. It was hard seeing how these concepts made any difference when the student returned to the fire station.
Application One = fail
The first attempt to link the concept with local fire department practices was a fail. Using real life examples quickly pulled us into the personality and politics of the situation.
Never got to explore the application of the theories and concepts in the course.
Brazenly borrowing from the National Fire Academy
The National Fire Academy used a standardized municipality to apply concepts and techniques during the residential courses. Maybe a smaller example would work for me.
Welcome to Wombat City
The seat of Commonwealth County, Wombat City Fire Department has seven fire stations organized into two battalions.
Battalion 1 is all career, with four person fire company crews serving the downtown and built-up parts of the city. Most fires occured in the 1st.
Virginia went through an annexation craze in the 1960's that affected fire departments served by the community college. Battalion 3 represented the results of a 1967 annexation.
The original Battalion 3 included a rural station taken over by the city, a one station VFD that was running out of resources and a vibrant two-station VFD that was expanding.
Enough diversity to cover many supervisory and administrative situations.
An unhealthy obsession
Each time Wombat was used in a college or certification course I would add a little more detail. First a organizational chart.
Then brief description of the stations and companies assigned. That got more and more detailed, here is the 2012 version:
Then added a detailed annual report, using some operations research techniques to make the workload realistic and variable.
It was a weekend in the middle of nowhere, while teaching a fire officer certification course in the 1990s, when I built out the career roster of the 168 member department that worked a three platoon schedule. By now I had the full blown Wombatitis virus.
As unbelievable as a "reality" show
As the description of the city grew, some of the examples started to resemble a Jerry Springer show. They were just as ineffective as using real situations in 1984.
Dumped the overly complex soap opera stories and focused on issues and situations appropriate for the rank or role. Honed down like a Law & Order dramatization "ripped from the headlines."
"How did you know?"
Hit a sweet spot with the simpler examples. Often the students would come up and ask "How did you know about ……?"
I did not know.
There are similar issues and themes at almost every fire department. When presented in fictional Wombat City, the students could evaluate the issue and mitigation choices without the local drama.
Return of obsessive-compulsive Wombatitis
The downside is the obsessive-compulsive state I get into when using Wombat.
Seven days ago I started building a replacement course for a distance education EMS Operations and Management course.
Needed 14 sessions with learning objectives, work plan for each session with appropriate readings, 3 to 5 discussion questions and student assessments (tests). It had to be reviewed and approved by the department.
Needed an applied activity. Decided to dust off Wombat City so the student could role play as an EMS Supervisor and the EMS Deputy Chief. It has been six years since I looked at Wombat.
Caught myself updating the apparatus roster in Wombat City when I still needed to complete a half-a-dozen weekly discussion questions.
That buzzing is back in my head …
Mike "FossilMedic" Ward
Also on FireGeezer…
- Pasadena to reduce fire company staffing – June 12, 2011
- Anaheim Paramedic Engine 8 to close next week (update) – June 8, 2011
- Tule Fog stalks PGFD Chief Bashoor – February 28, 2011
- Pay phones fade from College Park campus – March 17, 2011
