The Action Training Systems Emergency Responder Blog

Yes! As a firefighter, you learned how to put water on fires.  As a supervising fire officer, you need to become skilled at putting out a different kind of fire: conflict. Managing conflict is an essential leadership skill. You will want to learn how to manage all kinds of conflict – from petty disputes to major disagreements with the potential to derail your team’s success.

Managing conflict is an unavoidable part of any supervisor’s job. Nobody likes conflict, but suppressing disagreements only produces frustrated firefighters and unhappy fire stations.

On the other hand, a fire service officer who can confront conflict skillfully can turn it into an opportunity to help individuals grow and improve the organization.

Action Training Systems’ “Fire Officer I Series” talks about applying specific skills and characteristics to approaching conflicts constructively:

1. A willingness to intervene
2. The ability to model non-defensiveness
3. Show patience
4. Sensitivity
5. Optimism
6. Credibility

The first step to resolving conflict is being willing to intervene while others are still engaged in the dispute. When a conflict comes to your attention, you need to step up and offer a problem-solving approach.

The second characteristic is the ability to model non-defensiveness. Collect personal feedback from those involved without getting upset yourself or taking anything said personally. In other words, be a good listener. All of the parties involved have information you need to find a constructive solution.  

Third, you will need to show patience. Make it clear that you are not rushing to quick fixes, but working to develop an agreement on how to resolve a problem.

Fourth, show sensitivity. Show that you understand and accept the emotions that people involved express to you. Feelings of anger, fear or frustration are common.

Fifth, as the leader you must always project optimism. Even though others may be seeing things negatively, you must keep your focus on the positive results that agreement and resolution will bring.

Finally, one of the most critical characteristics for approaching conflict is maintaining credibility. Your trustworthiness is important.

• Be good for your word.
• Be consistently truthful and fair.
• And remember that integrity matters.

After seeing these six characteristics for approaching conflict, spend a few moments reflecting on conflicts you’ve observed in the fire station. Mentally reviewing these experiences, how would you apply these lessons on approaching conflict? Characteristics and skills for approaching conflict are central to your success as a supervisor. You’ll find that these characteristics will serve you well every day in many situations.

Classroom Fire Training & EMS Training Tips

Make learning easier by using some of these tips. Even if you are able to get your students’ attention in the classroom, you want them to retain the information you provide and use it in hands-on training and out in the field.

1. Learner Preparation

Preparing the learner ahead of time has been proven to significantly increase learning readiness, assimilation, thinking and recall time. For example, give your students access to ATS Online courses relating to the course material you plan to cover in your classroom training session the next day.

2. Repetition

Habits, beliefs, values and self-image are all learned through repetition. Repeat key points throughout your presentation. Look for creative ways to revisit the same point; - simply saying the same thing over and over again can be frustrating for students.

3. Inside Scoop

Once you’ve got their immediate attention, give learners the inside scoop on something. Relate your topic of the day to a scenario that has happened close to home.

4. Personal Experience

Support the point you're making with first-hand experience. This not only enhances your credibility with the audience, but also proves your knowledge of the subject.

5. Questioning Techniques

Your audience will remember less than 30 percent of the sentences they hear during your presentation, but they will remember more than 85 percent of the questions you ask. By asking questions, you deepen the learner’s understanding and conviction. The best questions are ones that get your students thinking, shock them to attention or get their agreement. Check out ATS Interactive training courses or ATS question files to help with question ideas relating to specific Fire & EMS subject matter.

6. Startling Statistics

Numbers and statistics can lose your audience quicker than anything else. By using numbers carefully you can not only prove your point, but also surprise your class. Present only the numbers and statistics that are necessary to make your point. Where possible, round to the nearest whole number. Graphs and charts should be simple. Detailed calculations should be provided on a handout.

7. Analogies & Metaphors

The more complex your subject, the more important it is to use analogies and metaphors. Know your audience! Using a complex analogy to support complex material can be frustrating. Your words matter. If you are presenting something complex, simplify it with a metaphor.

8. Be Brief & Finish Early

People once had the attention span to sit and listen for much longer stretches than we do today. Now that we can get information more quickly, that amount of time is rapidly decreasing. Limit your subject content to approximately 20 minutes. If you plan to train for longer, break up the segments and compliment your audience by finishing up 5 minutes early.

9. Humor

Humor can be one of the most effective attention-getting techniques when used naturally and appropriately. Humor keeps the audience alert and awake. Laughter triggers the release of adrenaline and increases long-term retention of information. Humor makes audiences more relaxed, responsive and creative.

10. Each One Teach One

Online learning is HOT and for a very good reason. Many departments and organizations around the world are turning to online training/learning as a way to decrease costs and improve the learners performance. Also, unlike a one-time classroom session, the online learning course is available to be accessed anywhere and can be reviewed a number of times to enhance the learners comprehension.

Many fire departments and EMS organizations are turning to online learning as a means to supplement their classroom training. Now, it is very important you understand that online training is not meant to replace hands on training, but simply be used as a tool to train students in addition to hands on and classroom learning. You can easily have your students login in from home and review or study material before coming to your weekly training night or before drills, so that the material to be covered is already fresh in their mind.

ATS online learning Supports your department/organization’s training goals

• Improved training costs – Producing learning content is time consuming whether it’s online or not. With ATS Online learning, our course content is based on national standards and designed to follow training manuals by IFSTA/FPP and Brady/Pearson Publishing. With ATS Online, each time a course is accessed your return on investment improves because you are not limited by a classroom environment which means savings through decreased travel, reduced materials and improved (and more efficient) performance.

• Increased productivity - Since ATS online is not bound by geography or time you can have control over when you want your students to take courses…during down time at the station or on their own at home . In addition, with the state of the current economy, we are continually being asked to do more with less. So ATS online is a great way to give students the tools and skills necessary to enhance their performance.

• Standardization - Although you are an excellent training officer/course facilitator, there is no guarantee that the course material will be presented the same across all sessions. ATS online allows you to create a process where learning is standardized across sessions. With ATS online there will be consistency in delivery and content.

ATS online supports learner development

• Improved retention - The combination of our high quality media and instructional design produces a very rich learning experience. With our interactive courses, quizzes and tests are available to help your learners retain the course content and better prepare them for hands on training and real world scenarios.

• Real-time access - Live learning doesn’t allow for much flexibility. ATS online eliminates this because courses can be accessed anywhere, anytime on any computer or mobile device such as an ipad or smartphone.

• Personalized Learning - ATS online allows you the freedom to customize your emergency response training to meet your goals for the day, week or year. You can purchase access to specific courses for a select number of learners based on your personal department/organizational need. This allow you control that you would not have in a classroom learning environment.

• Ongoing access to courses/resources - If you take a class in the real world and need a refresher, you better hope that you took good notes. Otherwise, you’re out of luck. That’s not the case with ATS online. Ideally, you continue to have access to the online content and resources to brush up on what you learned and have the opportunity to share information as well.

A few questions to ask yourself: What are your goals for your emergency response training? What type of training are you currently using? Are you completely satisfied with your current fire training or EMS training program? Is it efficient, without sacficing the quality of content and learner comprehension?

We are proud to announce that we have recently been awarded Aurora awards for our new Infection Control & Prevention Series as well as our Vehicle Extrication series. 

The Aurora Awards is an international competition designed to recognize excellence in the film and video industries. It specifically targets products, programs and commercials that would not normally have the opportunity to compete on a national level, by focusing on non-national commercials, regional or special interest entertainment and corporate sponsored film and video. Entries have come from across the US, and abroad (such as Russia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Germany, Australia and Mexico).

Action Training Systems’ 3-title Infection Control & Prevention series provides a systematic understanding of bloodborne, airborne, and other diseases of concern to emergency responders. These programs demonstrate how to minimize or prevent the spread of diseases through proper precautions and infection control practices and how to mitigate an exposure to communicable diseases. As a series, it provides a comprehensive framework to help instructors fulfill initial and annual infectious diseases training requirements.

The Vehicle Extrication series includes 10 training programs that teach to the current National Fire Protection Association standards, including NFPA 1001: Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications, NFPA 1006: Standard for Technical Rescuer Professional Qualifications and NFPA 1670: Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents. The programs cover step-by-step extrication evolutions, basic operational procedures and knowledge of tools and techniques used to complete an efficient and effective extrication.

For information on these and others titles by Action Training Systems, please visit our website at www.action-training.com or call 800-755-1440 ext 3

Do you need money for your fire training program?

Although the 2012 Grant period is not open yet, we wanted to get you thinking about and preparing for the upcoming year's AFG grant application period.

Below are a list of Top 10 Best Pratices as stated in the FEMA grant semiar at FDIC 2012

1. Start preparing early & read the 2012 program guidance
2. Align your departments “needs” assessment with current funding priorities
3. Tell your departments story
4. Read each question carefully, then answer the question
5. Have the application read by someone else before submitting
6. Submit your application before the deadline, a day early or a week early if possible. Just don’t wait until the last minute.
7. Make sure to include all eligible cost as part of your application (EHP review, state taxes, vehicle performance bonds)
8. Make sure your project can and will be done within your grant period of performance
9. Have your bid specifications ready when you receive your award (be proactive)
10. Ensure you will have the support of your local government leaders

Bonus : Call the AFG help desk with any questions 866.247.0960

2012 AFG Workshop Schedule 

“BURN” Documentary Spotlights Abandoned Building Controversy

The documentary that many believed would never be finished finally premiered this week.

BURN: One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit first premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Tuesday with more film dates scheduled throughout the week. 

The newest trailer for the documentary recently played at FDIC, where Director/Producers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez lead a Q& A about the film. Famed actor and “Rescue Me” star Denis Leary also contributed to the documentary as executive producer along with Jim Serpico, who co-founded the production company Apostle with Leary.

Putman and Sanchez followed the members of Engine Company 50 on Detroit’s East Side as they served their community. They used helmet-mounted cameras to see from the perspective of the firefighters as they put their lives on the line, but the most interesting part of the story is told through the interviews with crew members.

As you get to know the crew, you see how they deal with the problems common to all fire departments, but on an extreme scale that is no longer sustainable. Despite the bleak odds in as fire calls increase and budgets decrease, the message of the documentary is clear: the community keeps Detroit strong, and that is always worth saving.

Detroit has one of the highest reported arson rates per capita in the country. Firefighter Frank Dombrowski was quoted in the documentary’s trailer saying, “Ninety-five percent of what I do is arson… very rarely do we have a legitimate fire.”

This isn’t surprising considering the high number of foreclosed and abandoned homes in the Motor City area.

This issue also made national headlines earlier this week when Detroit’s Executive Fire Commissioner Donald Austin said that allowing abandoned buildings to burn to the ground is one option to consider in the face of a 15% budget cut.

The proposed plan would allow some vacant buildings to burn if they're more than 50% consumed, but only if the fire does not threaten inhabited structures and weather conditions are favorable. These structures often cost more to tear down or salvage than they are worth, so allowing them to burn may be an affordable, albeit desperate, solution.

This idea raises controversy because many abandoned homes and buildings may be providing shelter to homeless individuals or even families. However, abandoned structures pose a greater risk to firefighters because they are often left in dilapidated conditions with a higher chance of collapse.

The case of Walter P. Harris, a 17-year veteran for the Detroit Fire Department who was killed when the roof collapsed during an abandoned house fire in November of 2008, exemplified this risk in the documentary’s extended trailer. The fire that killed Harris was also reported as intentionally set.

To learn more about the BURN documentary or make a tax-deductible donation to the project, visit the Official Burn website at http://detroitfirefilm.org .

What do you think of the documentary? Should fire departments allow abandoned buildings burn to cut costs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

Are you discouraged because your 2011 AFG training request was denied?

Don’t give up! Grant funding for training projects is not dead.

Many fire departments are frustrated that they were not awarded a training grant for 2011 and may not apply for training this year, or not apply at all.  If your department has a training, equipment or apparatus need, we urge you to keep trying!  

Action Training Systems has some tips to help you successfully ask for training in 2012.

1)Make sure your training request matches the grant priorities.

The 2011 AFG Program Guidance for training states: “In implementing the fire service’s recommendations concerning AFG, DHS has determined that the most benefit is derived from training that is instructor-led and hands-on and that leads to a nationally sanctioned or State certification. Therefore, applications focused on national or State certification training, including train-the-trainer initiatives, will receive a higher competitive rating.”

Nearly every successful AFG funded training project demonstrated in the request that the program outlined was instructor led, incorporated evaluation and testing, and led to student certification upon completion.

To be successful, you must outline your entire training program, not just training materials you need to carry out that program.

You must show how your certified instructor will use the requested training materials as part of a program that includes getting students in the classroom seats and delivering quality hands-on training leading to certification.  

The AFG reviewers like to see that you have a training plan, not a wish list.  You must indicate how trainees will be evaluated and tested in your program to demonstrate their competency.

Action Training Systems offers several instructional aids that are necessary to meet the goals of developing effective emergency responder training.  These include instructional DVDs and CBTs to complement instructor led Firefighter I/II, Driver Operator, HAZMAT Awareness, HAZMAT Operations and EMS course delivery; PowerPoint programs for all levels of firefighter and emergency responder training; a full line of IFSTA manuals and student workbooks necessary for effective delivery; Brady/Pearson EMS books and, a comprehensive test-generating program for student applications and evaluations.

Successful AFG awards, especially those for training, require planning thought and preparation. 

Action Training Systems has over 24 years of experience in developing courses for emergency responders.  Action Training Systems has a key understanding of the industry, the adult learner and of instructional design, placing our programs at a superior advantage over other training products in the market.

Action Training Systems has aided thousands of fire departments worldwide in meeting their training needs.  Contact our expert technical staff at 1-800-755-1440 for your training support needs. 

As most of you with a recent CPR certification know, the American Heart Association released some important changes to the 2010 Guidelines for CPR and ECC. The AHA reevaluates these guidelines every five years based on new peer-reviewed evidence in resuscitation studies to ensure the best techniques are used.

The biggest change was in the BLS sequence, which changed from A-B-C to C-A-B. Chest compressions start sooner to force existing oxygenated blood through the body. During that time, another responder can prepare a pocket mask or BVM with oxygen to deliver the rescue breaths. This may also allow time to prepare an AED as well.

Action Training Systems incorporated these new guidelines into our EMS Training: Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) series title called Resuscitation. Here are some of the production team’s behind-the-scenes shots from Resuscitation.

We shot the main CPR setup in Buckley, WA with Officer Adam Garrett with Buckley Police Department. EMT Miriam Cooper played our bystander who happened upon our victim, retired firefighter John Justice.  We filmed in an alley just adjacent to the fire department and nearby police station.  The shoot was supervised by Buckley FD instructor and ATS technical advisor Angela Riggsby.

Our responders Dwayne McGehee and Justin Torres arrived from City of Buckley Fire Department to demonstrate our two-rescuer CPR technique.

The 2010 AHA Guidelines also made some subtle changes to chest compression rates and depths. Previously, the AHA recommended a rate of approximately 100 compressions/minute. Now, the 2010 guidelines recommend at least 100 compressions/minute. The compression depth of 1.5 (4 cm) to 2 inches (5 cm) for adults has also changed to at least 2 inches (5 cm).

Since John was alive and well, we decided to save our compressions demonstration for a dummy. Our cameramen Sjon and Peter captured the demo at Pierce County Fire District 5 with Andrew Cochrane, Ryan Gorcester and Alex Langlow.

The dummy didn’t seem to mind and only responded with a satisfying “click” upon each compression.

The compression depths for pediatric patients changed slightly in 2010 as well. Previous guidelines recommended a compression depth of approximately one third to one half the anterior-posterior diameter of the chest, but the new guidelines recommend at least one third the anterior-posterior diameter of the chest. The new guidelines also include an approximation of that depth as 1½ inches (4 cm) for most infants and about 2 inches (5 cm) for most children.

We shot this pediatric CPR scenario with North Kitsap Fire & Rescue’s Trevor Glebe and Steven Green, who make regular appearances in the EMR series. Our patient actor, Bryce Delmendo, kept laughing, although we reminded him he was supposed to play dead. It was hard for the guys to keep a straight face, too. 

The production team had a great time working through the CPR and AED procedures with our local EMS departments. Check out the Resuscitation title on our EMR page to view a quick demo of the program.

What do you think about the changes to the AHA Guidelines?

Dennis Elliott from Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue in Silverdale, WA recently found StageIT to be a great firefighter training tool for creating some schematics to update his department’s Field Operations Guide (FOG) for apparatus positioning. Click on these 4 examples to see the schematics he created. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4

As part of his Lieutenant’s promotional exam Dennis was given an assignment to work on updating the department FOG for apparatus placement at a scene. He had to turn in the updates on paper and provide diagrams illustrating apparatus positioning.
StageIT is most often thought of as a tool for an instructor to use and create simple to complex emergency response simulations. Often overlooked are the schematic diagrams included in StageIT’s media library which allowed Dennis (the testee not the instructor) to quickly create some aerial view schematics illustrating apparatus placement. It took him about a half an hour to produce the four professional looking schematic illustrations included in this folder.

Simple but effective. He did not want to use an aerial map image view to illustrate the placements because too much distracting detail was shown in the photo. With these schematics the focus is all on the placement of the vehicles. While the schematics Dennis created can be projected on screen for use in a classroom, he was also able to print them out to hand in with his assignment.

StageIT provides an easy way to create real-world training solutions to enhance strategy and tactics planning, promotional testing and pre-incident planning. 

By the way, Dennis passed his exam with flying colors and is now a Lieutenant with the department.

Pictured Above: Dennis Elliott with his son Austin at his badge pinning ceremony.

    Click here to see another example of StageIt Fire Simulator Software