Se7en Characteristics For Saving Lives Every Company Officer A Trainer

by F. R. Montes de Oca, EFO, MESH, CPM

Recently I attended a virtual meeting hosted by the Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

The discussion focused on upgrades to programs dealing with firefighter survivability.

At the end of the briefing, the chatroom discussion focused on the growth of increasingly aggressive firefighter training.

Full disclosure — the opinions and recommendations contained herein result from having served a decade as a chief training officer for a large Central Florida fire department and an additional 40 years designing and delivering firefighter safety and survival training throughout the US.

On occasion, I witnessed training being suppressed and supported, ignored and embraced by department leaders. Witnessing these events helped me to formulate my approach to training. During each experience I discovered “aha” moments.

A sad “aha” moment occurred before returning to the fire service post retirement.

It occurred July 2002, south of Orlando when two firefighters needlessly died during a poorly managed live-fire training event. As a result of the LODDs, the fire chief was terminated.

The sad truth is that firefighter deaths during training operations occurred 9 percent of the time in 2021. In many past years the figure was 4-5 percent, which reflects a double increase!

So, if we as a profession are so much better than past genera- tions, what’s the deal?!

Shortly after the deaths of the firefighters, I was appointed fire chief.

During the honeymoon period the governing board was generous, but I knew it wouldn’t last.

The solution to providing current, safe training? (Aha moment arrives like a Federal Q. Incorporate the existing 48 company officers into the training team.) In other words — every company officer a trainer.

The CO is the most invested in his/her company. Often he or she knows the troops better than the troops – if observant.

And, the CO has the most to gain (or lose) if the training isn’t well-developed and competently delivered.

I include “she” here to recognize Captains McCollum and Reed who I was fortunate to lead in my training bureau days.

They consistently developed, managed and delivered excellent training while supervising dozens of male assistant training officers.

The Warriors Guide, being published in 2024, contains 366 tips and guides on life, death, success and failure.

One of the aphorisms in it and adopted by various professionals and practitioners is: “Leave it better than you found it.”

That has been my approach to all organizations that I have been affiliated with since my rookie days. If there ever was an appropriate time to adopt this guiding principal it was now.

Sometimes you have to look for opportunities to improve. Oftentimes the weaknesses or need to improve stares you in the face.

Regardless of the situation you find yourself in, always endeavor to leave the team, group or agency better than when you arrived.

Even if you plan on spending only a day or so with a group, make your time account for something more than taking up space and air.

You don’t have to be “the legend” everyone refers to or remembers in awe, but make every effort to cause improvement. Following are seven traits (or tips) that are fundamental in successfully maintaining a forward training trajectory.