Minimum Instructor Qualifications

Annual wildland fire safety refresher training must be fresh and engaging. Instructors must be passionate about firefighter safety, and willing to adapt their presentations for each specific audience. No Annual Fireline Safety Refresher will be successful without dedicated, experienced, and knowledgeable lead and unit instructors. Annual Fireline Safety Refresher Training lead instructors must at least be single resource boss qualified. Unit instructors must at least be firefighter type one qualified. Adjunct instructors may be utilized to provide limited instruction in specialized knowledge and skills at the discretion of the lead instructor. They must be experienced, proficient and knowledgeable of current issues in their field of expertise. This requirement will ensure that an appropriate level of expertise and knowledge is available to facilitate exercises and lead discussions.

Be Committed and Passionate About Safety

Instructors should endeavor to facilitate a quality refresher that engages all students no matter their ICS qualifications or experience. Refresher training should never become simply a plug and play with no student interaction. The core topics should be addressed in ways that are meaningful and interesting to the audience. Classes with a wide array of experience and qualifications can provide excellent opportunities for the less experienced to be mentored and for the more experienced to rethink old habits.

Annual wildland fire refresher training is one of the best opportunities to teach and reinforce safe behavior on the fireline. Many highly complex, well-managed incidents come through with few or no injuries. During the historic Northern Rockies 2003 fire season, no firefighter was entrapped, or pulled out a fire shelter. How did this happen? By paying attention to details and rigorously applying firefighting fundamentals. It can be done, it has been done, and it is the responsibility of each manager, supervisor, instructor, and firefighter to strive for this level of excellence.

Keep It Fresh and Interesting

Most modern courses are committed to engaging and encouraging interactive group processes. Though a presentation was well received last year, we run the risk of boring participants with repetitive material. Bring change and improvement to your program. This is not to say lectures and videos are out - far from it. Interesting guest subject-matter experts and latest video presentations are ways to create variety and maintain interest.

Studies have shown that adults learn and retain information better when they actively participate in training. Computer simulations, role-playing simulations, sand table exercises, flag (practice) fires, staff rides, and tactical decision games are all excellent experiential-based training methods that can be used to make refreshers engaging and interesting. Sandtable workshops and a course called Simulation Development and Delivery are increasingly offered around the country. These can assist facilitators of experiential-based training opportunities in honing their skills.

The many hazards on the fireline are beyond what can be addressed during one session. Plan an annual rotation of supplemental topics, many examples of which are provided on this website.

A National Emphasis Topic is also a part of this website. By choosing one special problem, and focusing national attention on it for the entire season, we may achieve significant positive culture shifts. Tragically, we have many important topics to choose from.

Tailor Presentation for Specific Audience

Your presentation should be tailored to your local fuel types, but should also prepare firefighters for assignments in other geographic areas. All refresher training needs to include a good review of the 10 and 18. You may have specific events or opportunities that guide your course format.

Review Fire Shelter Deployment

Prepare a quality fire shelter deployment review and practice session. Use the latest instructional material, and innovate realistic conditions. DO NOT USE LIVE FIRE! Fire shelter training is a subject that is constantly evolving, and wildland firefighters must have access to the best current information.

Review Agency Policies

Each federal agency has its own policy on refresher training and is accessible by clicking on the appropriate shield. NWCG direction for annual safety refresher training is also posted. State and local policies are not listed at this time, but may be included in the future. One issue is the total hours to be committed to annual fire safety refresher, and who must attend. Agencies do not always agree.

Prepare Documentation

And finally, be sure to fully document who attended, the instructor names, what was covered, and when and where the training took place. A form was developed to assist with refresher documentation. Each participant's training records must be updated, which means course completion memos must be sent to appropriate training officers.

Training Documentation Form