TRAINING FOR FAILURE IN THE UNITED STATES FIRE SERVICE

Abstract

In 2017, the United States fire service documented 87 firefighter deaths and an estimated 58,835 firefighter injuries. To reduce these risks, the fire service invests hours of training in personnel to keep them as safe as possible. Unfortunately, these fatalities and injuries continue to happen despite the number of training hours conducted to master department standard operating procedures (SOPs) and maintain state continuing education requirements. Although training will never prevent 100% of fire-related deaths, it is a critical component in decision-making in a high risk/low frequency occupation. Based on NIOSH findings, it can impact response to improve firefighter safety. This thesis presents various training models currently used in the fire service, how cognitive processes and panic and stress impact firefighter response, other challenges and impacts on training, as well as best practices for training in other organizations. The evaluation of these factors assists in developing a better understanding of how we learn and retain information and how these lessons can be applied to improve training in the fire service.