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Workshops, Thursday, April 24
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
| Safe Training Environments |
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This workshop is not about occupational health and safety. Instead, it's about creating a dynamic learning environment in which students are encouraged to discover and learn, rather than simply endure.
Traditional fire service training styles involve "tearing down to build up." While discipline is essential to maintain order and respect for rank, constant put-downs, negative reinforcement, and using drills as punishment destroy morale and have detrimental long-term effects. Many men do not respond well to this sort of "training," and most women simply turn off, either going through the motions or becoming increasingly discouraged and losing confidence.
Safe and encouraging environments for firefighter training instill confidence, provide support, and promote individual growth. These training methods are of assistance and benefit to all fire service personnel. In this presentation, we will discuss how the fire service can build safe training environments and develop new training technologies to build individual competencies and confidence.
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Faculty: Janine Bailey and Sue Collins are station officers with the New South Wales Fire Brigades in Australia; both joined the brigades in 1992. Both experienced several types of negative training environments as junior firefighters, which prompted them to explore different training modules. Janine Bailey also runs a small business that specializes in training for computer software. One of Sue Collins' motivations in returning to the State Training College as a recruit instructor was to ensure that recruit training was a time of learning and discovery, and not just sixteen weeks to be endured.
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| Fire Service Planning |
| Good planning not only pays off in the efficient use of resources, but is an essential ingredient for building consensus and managing change at all levels of the organization. This workshop will briefly cover the major forms of organizational planning used in the fire service, including strategic planning, long-range planning, and tactical or project planning. We will discuss the need for each of these types of planning, the basics and benefits of each type, and who should be involved. The workshop will include several planning models and processes. |
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Faculty: Ruth Obadal is Planning Chief for the Eugene, Oregon, Fire and EMS Department. She is a 25-year veteran of the fire service, beginning as a firefighter for Kansas City, Missouri, where she worked for 18 years, rising through the ranks to battalion chief. She holds an associate's degree in fire science technology and a bachelor's degree in public administration and fire service management, and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer program. (Note: This workshop is also offered at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday.)
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| How to Make the Media Work for You |
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| Whether you're TV-shy or TV-savvy, fearful of the spotlight or a reporter's best sound byte, there are some simple techniques to help you not just survive an interview but make the most of the experience by using the media to your advantage: recruit more women, shine a light on working in a non-traditional field (the good, the bad, and the ugly), fund raise, publicize a colleague's promotion, celebrate a sister hero, or interest young girls in a career in firefighting. We will discuss ways you can use your media opportunities (welcome or unwelcome) to gain a positive result. |
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Faculty: Maureen McFadden joined the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund as its Vice President of Communications in March of 2001. The bulk of her career has been spent in journalism, most recently at CBS News, where she produced segments on women's issues, health, and breaking news for The Early Show. She spent ten years as deputy editor of Women's Day; her freelance writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. Maureen produced the award-winning documentary, "The Women of Ground Zero."
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| "Is It Safe?" The Avoidance and Management of Violent Situations |
| Each year, thousands of EMs, fire and health care professionals are assaulted and become victims of violence. Despite our "Wonder Woman" and "Florence Nightingale" desires to "prevent death and destruction, not all our patients appreciate our efforts. Whether it is psychological, physiological, or chemical- or alcohol-induced, patients too often become violent and take it out on the emergency services provider. This workshop will identify the origins of violent patients and discuss various approaches to de-escalating situations. The goal is to increase awareness and personal safety for the first responder. |
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Faculty: Marilyn Bourn, RN, MSN, NREMTP, is EMS Division Chief for South Metro (Colorado) Fire/Rescue, and Medical Command Officer for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team. She has worked in the fields of nursing and EMS since 1978, and served as EMS Educator for the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center from 1988-1998. She has lectured at numerous fire, EMS, and medical conferences throughout the U.S. She holds a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in education and emergency nursing.
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| Elephants, Dragons, and Battleships: Chief Officer Development in the Fire Service |
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"How do I become a fire chief?" It is a question repeated regularly across our fire service community. Unfortunately, the answer is elusive, inconsistent, and unpredictable. And, further, the question really should be, "How do I prepare myself to be a successful and effective chief officer?"
Chief Broman's presentation will begin with a brief look at where we are, and then quickly move to describe a better direction for today and for the future. The information presented in this session comes directly from the current work of the IAFC's Professional Development Committee, which is leading to the first-ever officer development handbook for the fire service.
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Faculty: James M. Broman, Fire Chief, Lacey (Washington) Fire District; Chair, Professional Development Committee, International Association of Fire Chiefs
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| Strip Mall Fires: Strategic and Tactical Considerations |
| How many times have we heard, "They fought that fire like they would a house fire," when talking about commercial occupancies? Learn strategies and tactics that work at one-story commercial occupancies: strip malls. Review guidelines for engine companies and truck companies (especially PPV tactics), size-up factors, and construction features, in order to operate safely and efficiently at fires in strip malls. Case-study review will reinforce the impact that building construction and good (or poor) tactical procedures have on firefighting outcomes. |
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Faculty: Katherine Ridenhour is a captain with the Aurora, Colorado, Fire Department, and the president of the WFS Board of Trustees.
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| Managing Sleep Deprivation in the Fire Service |
| In the fire service, sleep deprivation is unavoidable -- but it can be managed. Aside from the macho attitudes that still pervade the fire service, the biggest obstacle to successful management of sleep deprivation is lack of education, by both fire department administrators and individual line personnel. This workshop will provide a starting point in this education so that firefighters and their agencies can take better care of themselves, and consequently take better care of the citizens we serve. |
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Faculty: Robin Widmar is a Driver/Engineer for the Colorado Springs Fire Department, where she has worked for ten years. She researched the issue of sleep deprivation for her department in 1998, and received a departmental award of recognition for her research project.
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| Building a Highly Qualified, Diverse Workforce |
| The Minneapolis Fire Department has been extremely successful in recruiting, tutoring, hiring, and promoting a highly qualified, diverse workforce that reflects the community and is well represented by women and people of color. Chief Bleskachek will discuss how the Minneapolis Fire Department put together a Cultural Awareness Committee, composed of firefighting personnel of all races and both genders, who worked with the administration to define the needs of the department. In the process, the Minneapolis Fire Department raised its standards and tied all testing to essential job functions. She will also talk about their recruitment program and how they made tutoring and mentoring opportunities available for cadet candidates. The presentation will also include discussion of how barriers to hiring and promotion were identified and addressed. |
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Faculty: Bonnie Bleskachek is a 14-year veteran of the Minneapolis Fire Department, with five years as a captain and three years as a chief officer. She has served as her department's training officer and is an assistant instructor for the fire science program at Hennepin Technical College. She has presented workshops at numerous fire service conferences, including Fire-Rescue International and the most recent WFS conference in Cobb County, Georgia.
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| Risk-Benefit Analysis |
| Measuring risk vs. benefit on the fireground means evaluating safety. Making this assessment is not only the incident commander's job, but every firefighter's responsibility as well. In this workshop, we will discuss risk management throughout the emergency incident, because as the incident progresses, the associated risks increase. During the initial stage, we address perhaps the most important questions: Do we risk a life to save a life? Do we risk a life to save property: If the risk outweighs the benefits, do we proceed, or look at alternatives? We must select the appropriate system to mitigate the situation. During the incident, the IC must keep control, and the communications and decision-making modules must not falter. As the incident concludes, personnel must not become complacent and allow safety to take a back seat. After discussing the uses of risk-benefit analysis on the incident scene, we will also address incident critiques and how they can support safe fireground operations. |
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Faculty: Jay Ruoff is a division chief with Littleton, Colorado, Fire Rescue.
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