Chief Doug Stewart has placed an increased emphasis on both physical and educational training for members of the Jerome Township Division of Fire. Crew members and leaders have been working through an incident management training program. Above, firefighters Dylan Wildman, left, and Justin French, right, along with Lt. Sam Parsons, center, work to move fire hose from the department’s old truck to a newly purchased engine.
(Journal-Tribune Photo by Mac Cordell)
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Jerome Township fire officials are taking steps to protect firefighters and improve their service to the community.
Fire chief Doug Stewart is in the process of having his men go through an incident command certification process. The certification program is designed to instruct, train and then evaluate and certify fire fighters and officers who serve as incident commanders, supervising and managing local emergency events.
According to program officials, the training program “provides fire departments with a training and certification system that defines the best standard command practices for common, local, everyday strategic and tactical emergency operations.
“This training and certification program produces Incident Commanders that make better decisions that will potentially eliminate the lethal and/or costly mistakes that cause injury, death, and unnecessary fire losses in the local response area,” wrote former Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini who authored the program.
“It really came from years and years of experience,” Stewart said of the program.
The program begins with a 50-hour online training, followed by 24 hours of simulated situations. Additionally, the certificate requires continuing education and a recertification process every three years. Stewart said he has had six department members go through both the online and simulation portions of the training. Another four firefighters have done the classroom work and are preparing for the simulation portion.
He said that eventually everyone at the firehouse will have some level of training the training, “so we are talking the same language.”
“It really helps us develop our younger guys, and really our senior officers, in a systematic manner of communicating and managing these incidents,” Stewart said.
Lt. Sam Parsons, who has been through the training, said it is important to know who is in charge in an emergency and to trust that person will make good decisions.
“In every situation, someone needs to be in charge,” Perkins said, noting that rank and structure are important in many organizations like the military or police and fire departments. “This allows us to know that know matter what the situation, whatever the call, it is going to be handled in a professional and unified way so everyone know what they can expect.”
Stewart said lack of effective communication is one of the leading influencers in many line of duty deaths.
“We really are protecting our officers and protecting the community,” Stewart said.
Personally, Stewart said the training makes his life easier. He said that in the past, he would get “an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach” anytime there was an incident and he was away.
“It takes a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said. “No chief wants to feel they have to be there, have to be there, have to be there. It is comforting to know that I do not need to be at every scene, that the men and women managing the scene and controlling the scene are trained and using best practices.”
Stewart said there is a cost to the training, but since he is a trainer, he is able to offset some costs by doing portions in house and trading services with other trainers in the region.
The incident command training is part of an emphasis on increased physical and educational training Stewart has mandated for Jerome Township firefighters and officers.