New Firefighter Class to Get More Training

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The class of Probationary Firefighters slated to enter the Randall's Island Academy in March will have an additional five weeks of training on top of the usual 13, Fire Department officials confirmed Jan. 26.

SALVATORE CASSANO: Preparation a priority.

The total training time will jump by another five weeks for the next class in the fall, bringing the total to 23 weeks, which will be the norm for all the classes that follow, according to the FDNY.

Stress Safety, Terrorism

New hires will get increased instruction on a number of basic safety techniques as well as anti-terrorism training. They'll also be given detailed and extensive training on building inspection and fire prevention services, officials said.

Details of the 10-week extension - first reported in THE CHIEF-LEADER four weeks ago, were formally announced by Mayor Bloomberg in his State of the City address Jan. 17.

But the decision was made last summer, when Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta revealed significant changes to the FDNY's hiring criteria.

Those alterations reduced the number of college credits needed to qualify for the job from 30 to 15, and eliminated them entirely for candidates with six months' full-time work experience or military time. Additionally, the FDNY altered the scoring methodology of its physical exam, making it a timed event that's graded as a pass/fail.

Stresses Communication

Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano said the goal was to create a more vigorous training program for recruits that would enhance written and verbal communication, as well as provide a strong foundation in the anti-terrorism skills that are "pertinent to the world we live in today."

He said future Probationary Firefighters will be "much more well-rounded, and are going to be given training on subjects that we feel will help them not just fight fires but also prevent fires from happening."

Chief Cassano said the FDNY was working in conjunction with other city entities on ways to strengthen inter-agency information-gathering, retention and application at in-the-field situations. "I'm really excited about where we are going with this; it's going to be a premier program for the training, and also in the quality of instruction."

Haz-Mat, Rope Instruction

Department spokesman James Long said the additional 10 weeks of training would help Probationary Firefighters improve their grasp of hazardous material techniques as well as the basics of firefighting.

The FDNY in recent years has invested heavily in high-tech training tools such as subway and flashover simulators, as well as confined space and driving simulators. A high-rise simulator is also in the works, Mr. Long said.

The FDNY also plans to increase the amount of time Probationary Firefighters have to train with the ropes and safety harnesses that have become standard issue since the Jan. 23, 2005 fire that forced six firefighters out a fourth-story window.

More Inspection Work

The safety harnesses are buckled over the bulky bunker gear firefighters wear, while the ropes go into the jackets' outer pockets. Learning to quickly assemble the pieces under duress and in smoky conditions, and how to safely rappel down a building exterior takes time and repetition, safety experts say.

Firefighters in the field currently go on building inspections in their area twice a month, according to the FDNY. The department plans to beef up those responsibilities and increase new hires' understanding of the mechanics of fire prevention.

To that end, said Francis X. Gribbon, FDNY Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, extra attention would be given to teaching probies how to communicate with members of the public, be it schoolchildren touring a fire house, building owners with faulty sprinkler systems, or residents in need of assistance.

"We need to teach firefighters in greater detail how to talk to the public," said Mr. Gribbon. "This job today is less fire and more [Emergency Medical Service] work, more fire prevention and more inspection work, all things that require interaction with people."

The FDNY plans a 40-percent expansion of the training time currently dedicated to fire prevention and inspections for new hires.