TRAINING UPDATE:  Fire Officer 1 Courses Announced

COURSE STATUS UPDATES:

The training schedule has been updated at www.erie.gov/fire to reflect these course announcements: 

NEW:

• 9P16005 Fire Officer 1 at Highland hosting for the Evans Fire Control on Tuesdays and Thursdays starts 1/3/17. The last class is Wednesday-3/15/17 (Wednesday in lieu of Tuesday)
• 9P16006 Fire Officer 1 at Boston hosting for the Hamburg Fire Control starts 3/28. No class 4/25, 4/27 or 5/30.

FULL:

• 6H16010 Firefighter Survival starts at the Training & Operations Center on 12/6/16 is FULL. No further applications are being accepted. The roster has been posted to www.erie.gov/fire.   

PLEASE NOTE:

• Please read all of the notes below, download the appropriate documents and share them with your recruits and firefighters. Start submitting standard training course applications and NYS OFPC training authorization forms immediately.
• As always, the training schedule is a “living document” with frequent updates. PLEASE NOTE THAT MORE COURSES WILL BE FORTHCOMING SOON

IMPORTANT FIREFIGHTER 1 COURSE CLARIFICATION:

As previously shared, the Firefighter 1 course no longer exists as a single course in its entirety, effective September 1, 2016.

The New York State OFPC Firefighter-1 certification will now be delivered in two (2) separate courses:

1. BEFO w/HMFRO: ALL students must begin with Course#1R-Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations with Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations (Most often represented as “BEFO w/HMFRO”).

   This course is designed to prepare students to respond to emergencies as EXTERIOR FIREFIGHTERS to accomplish the objectives of OFPC’s “Recommended Best Practices for Fire Department Training-Exterior Firefighter” (http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ofpc/training/firefighting-best-practices.cfm) objectives. (See attached.) Portions of the NFPA 1001 and NFPA 472 will be covered to train the entry level member as an Exterior Firefighter as defined by OSHA regulation 1910.156 Fire Brigade Standard. Training on OSHA’s 1910.120 Emergency Response to Hazardous Materials regulation, 1910.146 Confined Space regulations (awareness level) and the 1910.147 Control of Hazardous Energy regulation will also be covered during the course.

   Students attending this course will not be trained to wear an SCBA nor be trained to function in IDLH atmosphere. BEFO graduates should be committed to exterior operations ONLY and should not be placed in the HazMat warm or hot zone operations, interior structural fire attack, roof and/or ventilation operations and should not be in situations requiring them to come in contact with IDLH atmospheres nor the possibility of breathing smoke or contaminants.

   This course is 79 hours long, delivered in 25 units, including 4-4 hour HMFRO units. The completion certificate for this course will state: “Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations w/HMFRO”.

2. SCBA/IFO: Students seeking to be trained as an Interior Structural Firefighter who will wear a self-contained breathing apparatus must then progress into Course#1S-SCBA/Interior Firefighting Operations course (Most often represented as ”SCBA/IFO or SIFO”) following successful completion of the BEFO w/HMFRO course.

   If the student does not intend to be trained as an Interior Structural Firefighter they will stop at the successful completion of the BEFO w/HMFRO course.

   This course is 50 hours long, delivered in 16 units, including two (2) 4-hour structure fire skills units. The completion certificate for this course will state: “SCBA/Interior Firefighting Operations-Firefighter 1”.

View this video to see a sample schedule and hear how the new delivery method will enhance the learning experience: http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ofpc/training/videos/firefighter-1.cfm

NOTE FOR STUDENTS WISHING TO BRIDGE FROM LEGACY COURSES:

Students who previously completed either the 2015 BEFO; SSO-Scene Support Operations; Basic Firefighter or Firefighting Essentials curriculums can now bridge into the SCBA/IFO by first attending a series of 2016 BEFO curriculum classes. See the attached document for details. http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ofpc/training/videos/documents/legacy.pdf