Monty

From Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services

Uniform Training Standards

All Firefighters entering the Fire Service in Putnam County after August 1,2002 must comply with the following training standards:

To receive an Interior Firefighter Accountability Tag, Departments will certify via Interior Firefighter Form that subjects have successfully completed the Basic Firefighter Course,(#91) the Intermediate Firefighter Course (#92) and Firefighter Survival (#87) .

In order to be designated as a Company Officer, 1st Line Supervisor, Lieutenant or individual Fire Department equivalent title, firefighters must successfully complete the following New York State training classes for Level II Firefighter.

Basic Firefighter……………  42 Hrs

Intermediate Firefighter…….  36 Hrs

Hazmat Operations…………. 16 Hrs

Fire Fighter Survival…………09 Hrs

CFR or Equivalent……………78 Hrs

Advanced FF…………………24

AVET…………………………16

Introduction to Fire Officer  (27 Hrs) and one of the following category 2 courses:

ICS (12Hrs), Commanding the Initial Response (12Hrs), HAZMAT Incident Command (24Hrs) Fire Officer I  (21 Hrs)

** OFPC Officer Development class, or NFA Officer Development Course will satisfy requirement for Introduction to Fire Officer and other required Category 2 Officer course.

My Company's qulaification for line officer is two years of active service - or a letter from all the current Line Offficers supporting the candidate! We have no requirements for interior other than a medical - that doesn't include a fit test. But that's another story.

I think everyone is on the same page that it does fall under the law...OSHA CFR's. 

However, it is the AHJ's responsbililty to enforce it.  All it takes is a few times of enforcement and it will no longer be a problem.  If they don't like it and quit...guess what...you don't need them anyway.

This is probably one of the best threads I have seen on this site where all had great input and kept it very professional and knowledgable.  Hats off to all my brothers (and maybe sisters) who took part in this thread.

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What happens if the AHJ isn't bothered with the law? It seems that if the department isn't bothered, no-one else around here is (county / state etc).

We've always done it this way, I'm still here, what's the problem! I wonder if the recruitment and retension issues are weighing on people's mind, lack of knowledge or something else?

Glad to see such an overwhelming response favoring the clean shaven policy. Now if only our local community departments or county(ies) would set a policy and stick to it.

I'm also far from convinced about 'exterior' status. I know it is very common, but what about the MPO when the wind shifts and all the black stuff is blowing around the rig 100 yards or more away from the structure?

What about the hazmat spill as someone mentioned? Now, if you read OSHA's Interpretation, anyone that responds to a suspected Hazmat incidents needs to be at least operations Pretty sure that requires a clean shaven face. However, I know of non-awareness firefighters responding to hazmat calls. Again, it would be nice to have an enforced policy - at least I'm not aware of one.

These rules may be excessive, but there is a lot of thought that goes in to them. As mentioned, it's not just your life. It's the life of others, FAST or whoever, that may need to rescue you. It's the escalation of the incident because of the diversion caused. It's the workers comp payments, death benefits etc. The list goes on.

My dept., Walden (Orange), we have an cold water rescue team. All our equipment is stored on our ladder truck, mostly due to the available room and equipment already one it to assist in the rescue. Protocol is for the first 2 cert. guys 2 get to the fire house start to suit up and throw at least 1 bag of PFDs and helmets in the cab. If the guys arent finished suitin up when the trucks ready theres enough room in it to finish. Also as soon as our first unit arrives on scene and confirms there are people in the water M/A goes out for our back-up team, our neighboring dept. Montgomery, to respond with thier team and boat.

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Not really wanting to stir things up, but do you guys have a policy on seatbelts? I know by my own experience many places don't and changing in the truck is the norm. Just a thought. Personally, I'm trying to use the seatbelts as often as I can, especially when certain drviers are behind the wheel

Interesting topic. Yes, the top cause of fatalities is medical (MI, CVA), the next is vehicle related, I'm sure we could do more training there. Anyone have any stats related to injuries though?

How about ensuring that the current rules are enforced? How many departments don't follow the current minimums? I'm sure they're out there .... How many do the bare minimum OSHA/NYS PESH 8 hours? Fit testing 29 CFR 1910.134? Bloodborne Pathogen CFR 1910.1030, Hep-B vaccination? Hazmat training?

If we could get the Departments / County / State to enforce what is currently out there would be a good start.

I agree that having the ability to take more training would be great - but I think we should first look at the current situation.

A previous department had basic courses that needed to be taken within one year as part of the mutual aid agreement within the municipality and the department had rules of at least 48 hours annual department training to be 'active'. I know places in Westchester that have active firefighters in their 80's living in Florida! Sure, acknowledge them for their service to the department, but are they really active?

<soapbox begin>Unfortunately, we have 200+ years of tradition resisting even these basic things. I mean, if it's worked for 200 years with no incident command, accountability, mandatory training, why do we need it now ?<soapbox end>