N.L. firefighters train at 'fire school' and hone their skills networking with each other
About 250 professional and volunteer firefighters met in central Newfoundland this week to avail of 22 courses being offered by the provincial government's fire services division, but the education goes beyond just the courses being offered.
There were simulated rescues, live fires, vehicle rescues, incident command setup, ladder raises, marine firefighting and training on how to deal with wildfires — along with networking with other departments.
"It's been a very busy week and the firefighters, they're loving it," said Robert Fowler, provincial fire commissioner. "We've got firefighters represented from departments all over the province — big, small, medium, large."
"They meet here. They talk about the good things that happen in their department. They talk about the challenges they're having in the department … they get some good quality training, network with each other and then they bring that good quality training with them back to their communities."
Included in that training, called "fire school," is how to tackle wildfires.
Last summer saw some of the worst wildfires the island portion of the province has ever seen, and there have been more of them this year than the year before. As of mid-May, there have been 53 fires, compared to 18 during the same time period in 2022.
"Because of our changing climates and the events that have happened recently … there is a big interest in those types of courses," Fowler said.
"We need to be well-rounded as firefighters."
'You're not going to find that in a book'
This year is the first fire school for Daniel Vickers. He said the new knowledge is invaluable.
"This is Level 1 I'm doing now; I do my vehicle [course] to get my Level 2 and hopefully I'll have that done sooner than later — my goal would be within the next year. But yeah, I'll definitely see a fire school again."
Brady Schroeder of Deer Lake agrees. He attended fire school for the first few years of his 11-year tenure as a member of the Deer Lake department. Now, he's passing on some of that knowledge as one of the instructors.
"To come out here and do the networking … you're sharing little small tactics that you use that are not common," he said.
"You're not going to find that in a book. You're not going to find it in a video. But you're talking about the different stuff that you do and the limitations that we have as a province. So the networking is huge out here."
Firefighters will take what they've learned and apply those skills back in their communities, says Fowler. Beyond that, he said, they will share the experience of what this training is like and hopefully inspire others to sign up for future sessions.
"People in the community see activities like this going on and they know that they can help out and they got a skill to be able to help out with their community, so we invite them to join the fire service," he said.
Firefighters will continue other training following this week's courses, said Fowler, availing of local practical training, as well as virtual training offered by the department.
