This workshop discusses more than 100 company drills, tricks of the trade, and teaching points collected from 37 years of “in the trenches” fireground experience. Company officers and training officers can incorporate these techniques and ideas into their training programs. Many of the drills have international firefighter application as well. Structure fires are down, and real-world experience is hard to come by, so there must be “outside the box” training that goes beyond the standard Firefighter I and II curriculum and evolutions. Instructors and company officers can challenge their firefighters to quickly identify and solve problems they will face on the emergency fireground using drills on fire hose, ladders, and tools in innovative ways. The workshop covers the buddy-to-boss transition and how to locate drill locations in your district; engine and ladder company evolutions; tricks of the trade on portable radios, pike poles, extended lays, hose coiling, and bridging with ground ladders; and a variety of firefighter individual skill sets for surviving the fireground. Many of the drills are based on incidents involving near misses or line-of-duty deaths. All the drills have been performed by the instructor and his crews and are safe.
