Check out recent training from Interstate Rescue! If you’re looking for firefighter training ideas, this Performance Under Pressure evolution was designed to force personnel to perform under intense physical and mental pressure. This firefighter training video includes an obstacle course and firefighter training props, along with live burn training and cognitive ability training.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
The firefighters are going to go through a wire entanglement and wall breach. We’re going to level them up, show some techniques and then go at a higher speed. After that, we’re going to split them up. They’re going to do forceful entry with a live-fire layout. They are going to practice cognitive and quick math skills.
After that, the other groups are going to start the complex scenarios. They’ll get into the fire engine and show up on scene. They’ll do a forceful entry, a search to find the victim and pull the victim out.
When they are finished, they’re going to have their officer bring them up to do a search of the top floor. They’ll come up to the top floor where there is going to be a floor collapse. That’s when we will start our mazes. We don’t believe in starting a storyline within a maze because it’s not typical for the fire service.
As the firefighter does the primary search on the second floor, there is going to be a ceiling collapse. They will have to get their orientation and figure out where they are. We’re going to have a wire entanglement or a ceiling collapse. As they work through this believable storyline, the building construction is going to be different and they’re going to have to get down low.
They’re going to come through the bottom portion and through the lean-to flaps. There will also be two-by-fours to negotiate. As they come through, the role-play officer will meet back up with them. Their last task is to do a window hang or bailout and that will be the end of the storyline.
The main objective of this storyline is to give the firefighter the opportunity to practice skills in a high-stress situation. All of these props are emotional components. There’s going to be smoke detector sounds, smoke pots and fire engines responding with lights and sirens. Along with that will be people forcing doors, throwing ladders and running saws. As they go through this process, they may reach condition black, or irrational fight-or-flight.
We’ll have an exercise controller that’s assigned to them that will use Socratic questioning to get the firefighter cognitive again. We want them back on track to meet the objectives of what they were taught. As they go through this, there’s going to be a person that’s assigned to them who helps work through any issues.
We don’t want that firefighter to fail, or to rip their mask off. We don’t want them to flip out and do something that could file as a bad memory. Because of that, a person is going to be here to help guide them through that cognition.
There’s a lot of little intricacies in this process. It doesn’t look so long and big, but it feels like forever when you’re going through it. It’s a really good opportunity to find out more about yourself and what your triggers are. We want the firefighter to challenge themselves with those triggers. They need to learn how to work through them and meet the objective of getting out alive.