Loss of Skill

By Ray McCormack

from www.fireengineering.com

Many in today's fire service feel that there is resistance to change in regard to extinguishment techniques and other tactics, and they are correct. While resistance is what is felt, the reality is that changes need to be peer-reviewed--not just by a select few, but by departments, as well. Resistance toward change is one thing; resistance to changes is another. However, all of this is a good thing, because changes, especially ones that may go against department policy andextinguishment culture, are critically important and typically require measured acquisition.

The silent component of pushback on many changes is that they reduce the skill levels of firefighters. Some of the biggest centers of resistance to new extinguishment decrees are places where fires occur frequently. This makes sense because those that have developed the skills necessary to attack fires from the interior see little need to change. This is especially true since little science has been produced to prove that they are incorrect in their approach.

The training of firefighters is about skill development. Firefighters are taught how to put out fires from the interior by using the nozzle a certain way and how to advance through a structure while dragging a hoseline behind them. This is not a two-minute lesson even for a rookie; the basics of even the basics takes time. Firefighters who have advanced into the real world and have battled fires from inside learn from experience and repetition how to do it better and more effectively. Hence we have firefighters with skill levels that allow them to extinguish fires from inside the building.

When a firefighter is instructed to shoot the stream into a window opening for several seconds, the lesson is over. If we are to believe that there is a skill level to this action, then that is your prerogative, but I do not see it. While this tactic can darken down a room for firefighters, there is no experience gain. We have decreed a fire tactic that only lowers skill levels.

Using this tactic as a standard approach to any and all fires is an option departments are choosing and touting as being progressive. While the modern fire environment took at least 30 years to be recognized, it is our new normal. For firefighters to be told over and over that the risks involved with challenging this new fire is something best handled from outside is a slippery slope to when they eventually go inside without the prewashdown.

Firefighters understand modern hydraulic forcible entry tools and how they can force a door just by pumping a handle and inserting the expandable jaws between the jam and the door. The other thing they understand is that their irons skill level diminishes every time they use the hydraulic tool. Can the hydraulic tool work faster? Yes it can, but not on every door. The firefighter that has forced a door with their hand tools, with their mind engaged in the steps required, is a skilled firefighter. A firefighter who takes every door with the hydraulic opener is less skilled. They can start with equal skill levels, but when one uses a tool that requires little instruction beyond a one-minute demonstration, we will have firefighters with fewer skills.

The thermal imaging camera (TIC) is another example of a tool that is fantastic until the battery dies. Firefighters are always cautioned against searching without a constant landmark while using the TIC. For many, the TIC is just a better flashlight. While the TIC can be much more, it also obviously allows firefighters to move quicker than before and can and has led to the omission of solid search skills.

If you do not think that the fire service is up on its game and firefighters do not train enough, does any of this work againsttraining? Some will say, on the contrary, these things just need to be incorporated into the training. I agree, we must always incorporate all new tools into training, but it seems like moving forward can also put us two steps back.

The reduction of firefighter skill sets--especially physical ones that engage the thinking firefighter--is on an upswing. If you keep firefighters outside a building while you look for a window to shoot water into, but then preach that your department will do it differently when their is no window, you must ask who has prepared your people. Because you probably have not. Over-reliance upon tools and tactics that reduce a firefighter's ability to be a firefighter even in the modern fire environment is a steep price to pay for avoidance.