Tuesday night's drill was an air pack refresher. Topics include (re)familiarization with our Scott X3 Air-Paks, the Pak-Tracker and the RIT-Pak Fast Attack kit. Prior to a hands-on period, members viewed a page (shown below) created to bring all of this information together in one place. 

As we all are dealing with the ramifications of our present reality of COVID-19 based restrictions, the Adams Fire Department is directing its members to courses offered at the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute. The UL FSRI Fire Safety Academy is a special software application developed for the delivery, administration, documentation, tracking and reporting of educational materials developed to disseminate the research findings of the UL FSRI and ultimately increase the knowledge of the fire service. Topics include tactics, fire suppression, fire dynamics and firefighter safety.

The Fire Safety Academy is designed for the fire service, but registration is open to everyone, at no cost. To register, visit the Sign Up page, provide your name, a valid email address and password. A verification email will be automatically sent to the address provided. Once verified, this will become the USER NAME for accessing the Fire Safety Academy via the Sign In page.

The new courses are:

• Cardiovascular and Chemical Exposure Risks During Training
  
• Residential Attic and Exterior Fires
  
• Positive Pressure Attack
  
• Understanding and Fighting Basement Fires
  
• Firefighter Safety and Photovoltaic Systems
  
• Impact of Ventilation on Fire Patterns
  
• Impact of Horizontal Ventilation on Fire Behavior

​**IMPORTANT- The Fire Safety Academy allows department Training Officers to access and to track your training. During the sign up process you simply identify your department by Fire Department Identification Number or FDID# (Adams Fire Department 3004).

​As mentioned at an earlier monthly meeting, there is a free training opportunity for all members to participate in from the Emergency Responder Safety Institute. ​The Institute serves as an informal advisory panel of public safety leaders committed to reducing deaths and injuries to America's Emergency Responders. Through a special agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, the Responder Safety Learning Network (RSLN) offers a National TIM Training Certificate for registered users who complete ten specific RSLN online self-paced programs.

To earn credit for each program, you must view the program in its entirety and pass the Skills Challenge test. Once you earn credit for all ten programs, you will be able to download a special certificate that is the equivalent of completing the National Traffic Incident Management Responder Training Program.

Although we have been lucky with some unseasonably warm temperatures of late, winter training is often an inside affair. Topics like CPR, first aid training and hazmat make up a recognizable staple of training topics. This past Tuesday, training was a bit different as the fire department did a tabletop or a simulation of an actual event, in this case a fire that happened in the eastern part of the state.

First a video showing the fire scene before the local department arrived was shown. Then, using large maps of the area, teams set about enacting a response. Later, using props, each group explained what they planned. Lastly, the video of the actual event was continued, showing what had actually occurred.

Training scenarios like this help make us think about "what if" in our communities: how would we handle this event; how does our policy, procedure, protocol, training, rules, orders etc... apply to this scenario; what would be our turnout, our staffing our equipment response?"