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Morning Lineup – March 4

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Monday Morning – Training Day

The next entry in Ian Haight's fire college diary has been posted.  You may remember that Ian is a student who enrolled at the first of the year in the 16-month Pre-Service Firefighter Training Program at Conestoga College in Ontario, Canada.  This fire school is the primary feeder of firefighter candidates for about 30 – 40 fire departments in Ontario and the graduates are fully prepared to begin work at any municipal fire deparment in Ontario.

It's an interesting concept that we don't see very much at all in the Lower 48 and Ian is providing a good insight to the workings and curriculum of the college program.  His postings on his own website that he has been publishing for a few years now, Waterloo Region Fire, began with an introduction to the how's and why's of the Conestoga College program HERE and then was followed by the first diary entry, Phew…I Made It!, that Ian posted HERE.  Part Two, Reflections on Month One is posted HERE and covers the first portion which is dedicated to physical fitness.  In this week's entry, Part Three tells about the class' physical fitness mid-term testing and describes their evolutions that have to be passed.  It sure ain't a test for marshmallows!  So take a few minutes to read Ian's latest entry, After Month Two HERE.

photo by Bryan Rosekat

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While we are on the subject of training, I want to remind you about the upcoming, unique fire officer training program that is being presented by CentreLearn and headed up by our own FossilMedic, Mike Ward.  We first told you about this forward-looking online training program that begins on March 13.  Our first notice that we published on January 24 (HERE) began:

CentreLearn Solutions, the leading provider of online training for fire and emergency medical services, announced a Fire Officer Training Program, taught by Mike Ward BS, MGA, MIFireE. The 7-part online course will begin on March 13, 2013, and delivered will include presentations, discussions, and assignments on:

  • The role of the new fire officer
  • Managing the fire company
  • Imposing order on chaos
  • Tactical lessons from near-miss and line of duty death events
  • Getting involved in the community
  • Advanced tools for the experienced fire officer

This program is being administerd by nationally-respected fire/ems educator Greg Friese through the CentreLearn Solutions advanced education provider.

Chief Billy Goldfeder, EFO, had this to say: “Mike's decades of experience combined with his focus on education-and his very cool ability to communicate will allow the students to make this program one of the absolute highlights of their career. If we are lucky, each of us will have a fire officer/instructor in our career that mattered. Someone who helped us "get it," about our responsibility as an officer. Mike more than "gets it"-and spending time learning from Mike online, or otherwise, couldn't be a better opportunity for future company officers, and those who need their batteries charged.”

Saturday's reminder notice, that you may have missed, announced a special "coupon" discount just for Firegeezer readers.  So take a moment to CLICK HERE and read more about this trend-setting program.  It's time to sign up, now.

It's also time to get this equipment checked out for today.  Monday long-list form today.  I'll get some genuine firehouse coffee going before we meet back in the day room.  It's time to start learning.

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Posted by on March 4, 2013 • Filed under: morning lineup, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – February 7

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Thursday Morning – Open Your Books

It was just a little over a week ago on January 29 that I introduced you to Ian Haight of Waterloo, Ontario.  He's the blogger from there who has just begun the 16-month Pre-Service Firefighter Training Program at Conestoga College.  If you missed the Lineup that day, take a few moments to read up on the background to this adventure HERE,  and then the follow up with the diary's initial entry, Phew…I Made It!, that Ian posted HERE.

While it is Ian's preference to post a weekly update on the activities and his progress through the program, you can understand that it isn't practical to try and stick to a strict schedule of posting his entries.  So we'll just keep you notified when they come along.  If you read his initial entry, then you know that he is a capable and interesting writer, so you will find the series both enlightening and entertaining.

Ian's second entry is now online, Reflections on Month One is posted HERE and he tells us about how the physical fitness aspect is playing out.  Going into the program, you might recall, being the oldest in the class he was a little worried about keeping up with the others.  And… he was chosen by the rest of his group to be the Class President.  A good test of leadership capabilities already!  Congratulations, Ian.  We will be watching for the next update and I will post the link when it's available.

p.s.:  Ian is inviting you to leave any comments or questions about his experiences, so go ahead and let him know what you are curious about on the page.

Now let's satisfy our curiosity on whether these trucks and tools are ready for today's action, and get started on the check sheet.  I'll get the Bunn-O-Matic back into action and run a couple more pots to be ready for our meeting in the day room in a little while.  See you there.

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Posted by on February 7, 2013 • Filed under: education, morning lineup • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – January 29

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Tuesday Morning – Let's Go To School

In the past I have referred you to an interesting fire blog published up in Ontario, Canada, called Waterloo Region Fire and published by an active volunteer FF and fire buff, Ian Haight.  He has been working while pursuing a graduate degree at the local university, but the great thunderbolt hit him, like it has to almost all of us early in life, and decided to follow his calling and go full-time in the firefighting business.

Kicking off the New Year, Ian wrote in his blog on the first of the month:

A few months ago I messaged my family and friends letting them know I’d been accepted into the pre-service fire program at Conestoga College. Since then, I’ve spent nearly every waking minute questioning and second-guessing my decision to enrol. The program begins on Thursday January 4, and I’m still quite nervous about my decision.

For the first time in quite awhile I am embarking on something completely different and entirely outside my area of comfort. I’m leaving behind the flexibility and familiarity of my graduate studies and am enrolling in a program which is very regimented, quick-paced, and physically demanding.

I am, however, looking forward to the structure, the routine, and the daily challenges of being back in the classroom. On the other hand, I am very nervous about the physical demands of the program. I am sure I will find myself at the upper end (if not the top) of the age range in the class and I know I will struggle to keep up with those who are younger and more fit than I. While I’ve been working very hard to prepare myself, I am still very worried about the upcoming physical challenges. It has been very hard to not let my worries cast a shadow over my excitement about the program, but until the course is underway, my concerns continue to be rather overwhelming.

The trend in the eastern Canadian provinces is to draw from similar accredited programs for new hires in the FD's, probably because of the expense and time required for a department to run its own recruit training school.  When Ian completes his course, which will take a little over a year, including a 4-month break in the summer, he can carry his ticket to any FD that is hiring and apply.  As I understand it, there are about 30 career departments within communting range of his present home, so there is good opportunity awaiting him.

The good news for us is that Ian will continue blogging and regularly posting entries in a diary style of his weekly activities and progress through the school.  He has run the proposal by the school officials and they have not only granted permission to him to do this, but they are fully supportive of the project.

For those of us in the lower-48, this will probably be a new view on how firefighter preparation and training is trending in some areas.  I suspect that once the smaller cities and municipalities find out that they can have "rookie schools" and have other people pay for them, we just might see some of them blossoming down here, too.

We don't need to wait any longer for Ian's narrative to start because his first entry has been posted.  So take a few minutes to CLICK HERE and read the kick-off entry of his travels through the fire college, Phew, I Made It!

After you do that, we will plod over to the apparatus and get it checked out for today and I will get the Bunn-O-Matic running.  Somehow I think that those two activites will never change completely.  See you back in the day room.

p.s.:  You can read about the Conestoga College Pre-Service Firefighter Training Program on the school's WEBSITE HERE.

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Posted by on January 29, 2013 • Filed under: morning lineup, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , ,