Training frequency

[Bagyassfirey]

yes we have done burnover training that is the one training day we have every year before the fire season..This works for our brigade and works well. we have a roster system to run the truck every sunday and this works well to. just because we dont got to the station on a night every week n talk n play fire doesn mean we are not good firefighters.

[bittenyakka]

One training day before the season??  I thought that members had to have at least 12 training sessions a year let alone 1 for the whole brigades before the season?

[Bagyassfirey]

One training day before the season??  I thought that members had to have at least 12 training sessions a year let alone 1 for the whole brigades before the season?

dont know there mate...thats just what we do and have done for years.

[Sarge]

Bit like tonight....on the pager site....one Brigaed is doing burnover drill tomorrow....like hello....its farking March....

misterteddy u should be careful with a statment like that as with my brigade some do burn over more than once a year, and others simply because they can't get all their members in at the same time to do it once.

[Sarge]

and yes we and i don train weekly..doesn mean jack filtered whether u train or not...

It does if you have those type of members and they are asking (on the fireground) where things are on the truck or they can't remeber how to do something or they do it wrong because (through not training) don't know it has changed, basiclly this type of attitude is potentily dangerous to the health of others.

[Bagyassfirey]

well it works 4 us it might not work 4 others.

[boredmatrix]

isn't training for people who don't have real experience??

[Baxter]

isn't training for people who don't have real experience??

I hope you are being a bit sarcastic Boredermatrix in some ways. On a more serious side of this yes you are right if you only attend an average of 20 incidents a years of a varying in nature you do need to training to be prepared for all the different types of tasks you do per year. Then again we can always try putting safety first if we train.

I had an interesting encounter with a member of another service where by both our respected services are using more and more of each other resources either training or administration to both of us we feel we might as well be one organisation if we are going to share so much 

[SA Firey]

SAFECOM is coming remember

[Katrina]

Why doing burnover drills now??? hmm, new members? some people been away for several months with work, now available again? refresh some minds again? Just part of the on going cycle of doing training? All reasons apply for one brigade that did burnover drill the other week

[jaff]

Why doing burnover drills now??? hmm, new members? some people been away for several months with work, now available again? refresh some minds again? Just part of the on going cycle of doing training? All reasons apply for one brigade that did burnover drill the other week

"WARNING WARNING, COMMON SENSE IN USE, WARNING WARNING"

Members youve been warned about this kind of behaviour!

[Shiner]

More likely for members that want to put their names up for Vic but are denied as they haven't done this years drill (or the paperwork has not been submitted)....

[Bagyassfirey]

whats it matter anyway when the MFS guys that go over havent done skills maitenance 1 or 2 

[fridgemagnet]

For those who are or aspiring to be Brigade Captains there is a legislative requirement on two accounts that need to show that the members of a brigade are operationally competent and that training records are being maintained. If an accident does occur it will be the  Brigade Captain who will get asked the questions and given the task of rectifying the problem.

Training for the sake of training is not needed but training for the ensuring that members are safe and competent is needed. At an incident we are members of a team and we are only good as they say as the weakest link in a chain. I would like to think that it is not myself or one of my fellow members of the Brigade who is deemed to be the weekest link.

[bittenyakka]

Well my brigade which is not that busy  by an means went to about 8 different types of jobs last year. Now i would assume that means we need at least 8 training sessions (we have 1 a week). now 8 isn't many when you have to put lots of people through tasks .

eg who has seen a person learn and become operationally competent in pumping in 1 session? Those of us who run training know this is an almost impossible task.

[bajdas]

I would like to have the personal time to commit has a volunteer to train once per week. But with work, family, kids, house tasks, maintenance, other interests, etc, etc....I don't have time.

This is one of a few reasons for not joining a local agency (yellow PPE).

Currently my Unit train once per month which (personal opinion only) is not enough to build teamwork, trust and competence of majority of the volunteers. But majority of the volunteers disagree & it is more important to keep volunteers than be perfect in all jobs required.

Be flexible to meet the volunteers lifestyle....if people can make fortnightly training, then great. If they can make a weekend day training, then great.

Some are on shift work (like me), so could you do some training on a weekday morning ??

But I believe it should be acknowledged that if the volunteer does not do enough training to be competent in the task required, then they do not do that task...it is too much risk for the whole crew & people you are helping.

** personal opinion only **

[bittenyakka]

That is true that family has to come first. BUT i have a question why can;t we change the attitude of "your a vollie come when you can" to "you have chosen to make CFS/SES etc a part of you're life be here on x night to train" People are happy to commit to things like youth groups and scouts so how come we can't say "We ask you to make Monday your CFS night"?

We all agree that 10 good crew are better than 40 we never see

[6739264]

It's a tough question. You can hardly ask a Brigade that may turnout only 5-10 times a year, if that, to hold very regular training sessions. As long as Brigades hold training, often enough to remian proficient in any roles they may have, is that not enough? Us from the busy UI Brigades may be shocked that anyone could train less than weekly, but in many places, the need does not exist. If you only ever turnout during summer, then why not have a big pre-fire season training session, and then a few days throughout summer?

[Mike]

There is certainly a requirement for training on a 'regular' basis. Not only legislatively, but for our own safety and piece of mind.

My brigade trains weekly, however we generally have a month in winter and a few weeks over xmas off - everyone needs a break. The surronding brigades change thier training schedule based on the time of year.
- once a month
- once a fortnight
- weekly
It results in a number of pager messages to remind people, but a small price to pay.

The result is that as a group there is a requirement to train 12 times a year which can be met easily, and there is flexabiliy for those who work on the land.

[gasman]

My unit trains on a weekly basis, it is a come if you can type scenario. I believe you are expected to attend at least two trainings a month and 50% of the call outs are preferred, otherwise you can be considered as a non active member and hand back the pager, not sure what CFS vollies do on training  nights but SES training is always varied and interesting.
Point is, you can never get enough training as long as the training situation is varied, no point doing same casualty rescue week in week out. Same for CFS i guess, no point doing just a basic drill, have to mix it up and add some extra variations to the exercises, makes it interesting and makes you think...

[Zippy]

We train Weekly, Except Public holidays (which is a shame sometimes).

Pretty much spend November-March doing slightly more rural work. and April to november Urban/Hazmat/Rescue work.  But all year round its kinda inter-mingled.

I personally wouldnt mind having a "General" Training night on the typical monday night.  But also a more focused training night on Fortnightly maybe wednesday/thursday...deals with doing things with more pace.

A different idea...Monthly Inter-group training... (eg 10-12 brigades have a few people each intermingle to train with eachother..a bit more abroad)

[bajdas]

That is true that family has to come first. BUT i have a question why can;t we change the attitude of "your a vollie come when you can" to "you have chosen to make CFS/SES etc a part of you're life be here on x night to train" People are happy to commit to things like youth groups and scouts so how come we can't say "We ask you to make Monday your CFS night"?

We all agree that 10 good crew are better than 40 we never see

That is one of the reasons why I have not joined the local CFS Brigade or SES Unit. I cannot make the "...you have chosen to make CFS/SES etc a part of you're life be here on x night to train.." criteria.

So I am volunteering with a SES Operations Unit which requires less of a time commitment.

I hope the choice is given to all potential volunteers that walk through the door. It would be sad to see potential volunteers that have important life-skills that can be used at incidents, walk away because of other time commitments.

Think about the radio, comms, welfare, maintenance, admin, etc, etc roles that do not require weekly training.

The alternative has not been offered by either local organisation...but then those roles are already filled by volunteers.   

[Bagyassfirey]

we turn out to less than 10 incidents a year and train once on a sunay before the fire season..This is what we do and region know this and don say "you need to do more" so i guess its enough.

[bittenyakka]

Yes i do acknowledge that you can;t really tell quiet brigades to train weekly.

That is true that family has to come first. BUT i have a question why can;t we change the attitude of "your a vollie come when you can" to "you have chosen to make CFS/SES etc a part of you're life be here on x night to train" People are happy to commit to things like youth groups and scouts so how come we can't say "We ask you to make Monday your CFS night"?

We all agree that 10 good crew are better than 40 we never see

That is one of the reasons why I have not joined the local CFS Brigade or SES Unit. I cannot make the "...you have chosen to make CFS/SES etc a part of you're life be here on x night to train.." criteria.

So I am volunteering with a SES Operations Unit which requires less of a time commitment.

I hope the choice is given to all potential volunteers that walk through the door. It would be sad to see potential volunteers that have important life-skills that can be used at incidents, walk away because of other time commitments.

Think about the radio, comms, welfare, maintenance, admin, etc, etc roles that do not require weekly training.

The alternative has not been offered by either local organisation...but then those roles are already filled by volunteers.   

To be honest that is the kind of person i want in my brigade the one who will admit that they can't commit to x amount of training.

We had one member who initially joined the brigade as a comms operator but ended up being a FF. By all accounts was a good member but his employment often required him to be overseas. Due to an army background he made the personal decision to leave operational duties as he didn't consider it safe for him to be on the truck.
We asked him to stay but he had made his choice.

That kind of member is much better than one that rocks up once a month and doesn't realize how much they are lacking compared to the rest of the crew.
Unfortunately sometimes members will leave but to me saftey and hence well trained people are more important than numbers on a pice of paper.

[Baxter]

we turn out to less than 10 incidents a year and train once on a sunay before the fire season..This is what we do and region know this and don say "you need to do more" so i guess its enough.

Being from a rural Brigade where by we can have on average 15 incidents per year and we train weekly with a once a month sunday training as well. We work off the principle that we don't train in school holidays or on long weekends or on days where the weather is above 35 degrees (location and environmental reasons for this choice and would make it an interesting aside). We have chosen to take this approach to training due to local community expectations and the close scrutiny of the local press to any mistakes or perceived mistakes. We work off a 50% rules of needing to be present and Region knows this. They are also the first in after the any perceived pear shape operations with pen, paper and recorder. I can understand how some of the guys from Wangary felt with the lawyers after being through a the CFS own version.

If you want to the run risk of this happening to you then be my guess I prefer to err on the safe side of things