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Thames Valley Fire & Rescue Service |
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TRAINING |
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Thames Valley Fire & Rescue Service prides itself on it's ability to train and maintain competence of all it's operational staff. Continuation training takes place on a weekly basis and all operational staff must attend this weekly session. Fitness and Suitability Before any training takes place, prospective recruits would have to undergo and pass strict fitness and suitability exams. This is standard practise for all fire services as we must be sure for health and safety reasons that our firefighters are "fit for purpose" and can deal with any situation they may be called upon to deal with. Initial training for new recruits takes place at the Company's headquarters in Bletchley, Milton Keynes and consists of the following elements which must be passed by both written and practical exams in each core subject. Basic firefighter drills - This is the core element to any fire service where a recruit learns the basics of what it takes to be a firefighter. Rank and structure, running hose out, connecting branches, calling for water on/off, ladder work, all types of fire suppression, rope/line techniques and knots, pumping, equipment familiarisation, working on or near waterways, PPE and firefighter safety, radio telephone operation and phonetic alphabet, working as a team. These are but a few of the core elements that every firefighter must know. This course takes approximately 12 weeks to complete and no recruit can continue until this phase of training has been assessed and passed. RTC / RTA training is another core element and consists of 8 weeks training where a recruit is taught how to approach, evaluate and deal with road traffic collisions/accidents where person(s) may be trapped and/or injured. The recruits are taught how to set up a safe working area around the incident, how to deploy resources, how to operate and control various pieces of equipment and how to gain access to any vehicle where a casualty is trapped. Recruits are taught glass management, stability of vehicle, chocking and blocking, structure of vehicles, various methods of cutting and spreading using Hurst/Holmatro cutting gear, casualty handling, working with Ambulance crews, and casualty extraction. Breathing Apparatus ("BA") Training is another 8 week course which teaches the recruit how to deal with fires/incidents that require the firefighter to don and wear breathing apparatus in order to sustain a safe working environment for the firefighter. This is an arduous and intense course and failure on this part of the course would result in full retraining or dismissal of the recruit. The recruit learns how to assemble the BA kit from core elements and name each, they learn limits to each piece of equipment and they learn how to maintain the equipment to a safe and acceptable standard. Furthermore they learn how to wear BA sets giving maximum durability and comfort during working incidents. BA training teaches the recruit how to breath whilst "under air" and how hard the environment they may go into can be, using our onsite "Hot House" training facility. Temperatures in the "Hot House" can reach 1100 degrees Celsius. We also teach our recruits how to deal with the possible threat of a "flash over" and they practise this regularly with real fire flash over training. Emergency Medical Technician Training Once the above training has been completed, all firefighters for TVFRS are taken in by our sister company Thames Valley Ambulance and Paramedic Service and trained to be Emergency Medical Technicians as we provide a dual role service, which many of our county colleagues do not have access to. This helps us in emergency situations where no qualified ambulance staff are available and where emergency medical attention is needed by a casualty in areas where ambulance staff cannot or will not enter, i.e. Chemical, Nuclear, Biological contaminated areas or areas where it is too dangerous for others to enter. Some TVFRS staff go on to becoming fully qualified Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians with ALS skills. Once a recruit reaches this stage and has passed all the written and practical exams, he/she is then allowed to go "on the run". This means they can ride any of the pump ladders to events or incidents that we deal with. Further to this training a recruit is then on "probation" for a period of up to 18 months depending on the recruit and dependant on his/his ability to carry out the job and tasks at hand. Continuation training is always evaluated and documented by the more senior firefighters. Competent Firefighters who currently work for, or have recently left the county brigades, have to attend an induction course designed to familiarise them with the set up and workings of TVFRS and they way in which we operate, our equipment and our working practices. We acknowledge that these already trained firefighters can bring a lot of experience with them and welcome them to our service. Driver Training All TVFRS fire appliance drivers or those who may drive any of our associated vehicles are professionally trained to EFAD (Emergency Fire Appliance Drivers) standards. This is a two week course and is retaken every three years and must be passed in order for the driver to continue being allowed to drive company vehicles. All operational staff during their weekly drills and training sessions learn new/old skills and practise to make sure that every Thames Valley Fire & Rescue Service firefighter is fit and competent to carry out his/her duties.
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Some recruits and an instructor taking a break from BA training.
Casualty location and evacuation training
Pumping and fire fighting training.
Checking the speed during driver training. |
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© TVFRS Thames Valley Fire & Rescue Service 2008 |
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