Old Forge Firefighters Drill School
Please join us for the 2024 Old Forge Firefighters Drill School on September 12-15 at the Old Forge Fire Department, 116 Fulton St., Old Forge, N.Y.
This event will enable you to experience a unique opportunity to train and network with fellow firefighters from around New York. There are a variety of topics, and the instructors are top notch. Chief John Buckman III, who has served as volunteer fire chief for 35 years, is the keynote speaker and will speak on today’s volunteers’ wants, desires and needs and how leaders can meet those.
Attend, gain knowledge, and share with your department.
*The Hunter Rescue class is FULL.*
Class Details
Keynote: Are You Ready To Be a Leader?
With Chief John Buckman III
What are we going to do? The volunteer fire department is falling apart. Volunteers are not as dedicated as they once were. Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Adapt and overcome are the action words for those who lead volunteers today. If you fail to recognize differences in our society and the differences in our volunteers you will fail. Chief John M. Buckman III has served as volunteer fire chief for 35 years and researched behavioral attitudes specifically with volunteers. In this keynote address, he will identify today’s volunteers’ wants, desires and needs and how leaders can meet those.
Crisis Management: When Bad things happen to good fire departments
Presented by: Rob Leonard
Unfortunately, bad things happen to even the best of fire departments. Sometimes they are things beyond our control and other times they are things we could have prevented. We are great at responding to other people’s emergencies, but are we prepared to respond when tragedy strikes our department or we have become the focus of negative attention? IN this session, participants will review various crisis situations confronting fire departments across the country every day – from Line of Duty Deaths to poor response times/operational outcomes to financial misfeasance to Human Resources nightmares. Participants will review the common threads of response to all fire department crises with a focus on maintaining clear communications with our members and the communities we serve as we take definitive actions to maintain the public’s trust.
The First 5 Minutes!
Presented by: Thomas Basher Jr.
So many things happen or need to happen in the early stages of an incident that if the first 5 minutes don’t go well, it sets the tone for the rest of the fire. This course covers everything firefighters and officers should know, look for, and think about during those crucial first five minutes. Topics covered include: apparatus placement, hand line deployment, ladders, mutual aid, supply, rescue, radio communications. Audience: All Firefighters/Officers – Classroom Only
Propane Live Burn
Presented by: John Pitman
This class will review: physical properties and characteristics of propane and the importance of remembering them during a propane emergency; methods to control propane vapor when released into atmosphere; firefighting techniques utilized to mitigate leaking propane as well as fires involving propane.
Fireground Operations on Main Street
Presented by: Christopher Naum
Presenting the signature Reading the Buildings program taking the classroom to the streets with insights on building construction, the program objective is to increase awareness and understandings promoting new skill sets in the fundamentals of building size-up and assessment, construction that directly impact firefighting and command operations at Main Street structure fires. Starting with a classroom briefing presenting Fireground Operations insights for Main Street: Old School Hazards for Today’s Buildings & Risks and Building FACTS and Size-up insights the class then transitions to the streets of Old Forge for a facilitated walking lecture tour with curb side conversations on building construction, size-up, risks and OPS insights. This unique program will consist of a walking tour on selected streets of Old Forge, Reading Buildings and Developing Size-up skills looking at a variety of building types, occupancies & risks and vintage and era of structures, discussing operations, risks and building hazards with curb side conversation. This program open to all ranks and experience levels.
Fire Behavior
Presented by: Jeff Burkhart
Using the designs for a “Palmer’s dollhouse,” attendees will be engaged in discussion discussing ventilation limited fire attack, fire behavior, fire dynamics, fire growth and decay, compartmentalization, smoke as fuel load, water application and nozzle pattern decision making. Real time observation of various smoke conditions and reaction to various ventilation patterns. All of this will be done utilizing fire in an outside environment.
This demonstration will help firefighters gain knowledge on the effects of the fireground ventilation both positively and negatively and help them practice reading smoke and predicting backdrafts and flashovers.
Additional discussion points include proper tactics, size-up, task-specific size-up (such as vent-enter-isolate-search) and will include real time results from improper nozzle selection and the impact it has on the fire.
Grant Writing
Presented by: Tom Miller
This three (3) hour course is designed and intended to give first responders a solid understanding of the elements of successful grant writing. The course will include sources of grant funding available to local emergency services organizations as well as the key elements that are critical in ensuring a successful award. Attendees will receive a toolkit of key resources that they can use as they work to explore and write grants for their organizations.
Lake Water Rescue
Presented by: Oriskany & Sylvan Beach Water Rescue Teams
Sylvan Beach Fire Department covers 36 miles of Oneida Lake, 10 miles of the Erie Canal, and 10 miles of Fish Creek. The department covers this area with the use of our 25-foot, Deep V haul boat with twin 225 HP motors with 500 gallon per minute water pump and a CAFS (compressed air foam system), 16-foot Airboat powered by a 300 HP Hirth helicopter motor, and a Sea-Doo jet ski with a 230 HP motor that carries 3 and equipped with floating tow behind. Additionally, our technical rescue trailer carries 3 inflatable 12-foot boats, and all our supplemental equipment required for rescues of various kinds. Sylvan Beach’s Water Rescue Team is made up of members certified in open water, swift water, flood mitigation, and ice rescue.
The program we will provide at the Old Forge School encompasses a little of everything our team has to offer. The first part of the course will include classroom time to discuss rescues, identify the type of equipment needed in various situations, flood types, fire suppression on a water vessel, and general safety of water emergencies. The second part of the course will be hands-on skills of throw ropes, assisting a victim from the water, and potential fire suppression.
Participants should be prepared to get wet during this training. Please do not bring bunker gear to the training. Optionally, if the participants have personal flotation vests and throw ropes they would be beneficial, but not required.
Hunter Rescue – Class is Full.
Presented by: Thomas Basher Jr.
Affecting a Hunter Rescue from a tree stand or fall protection can be extremely dangerous and a time sensitive task. Ground ladders and aerial devices may not get it done. This class will go over the different concerns, equipment and skills needed for Hunter Rescue and cover the proper techniques of rescuer safety and victim retrieval from height.
Audience: All 1st Responders. All Hands On. Only 25 spots. Class is full.
Tanker Shuttle
Presented by: Mahlon Irish Jr. & Dave Denniston
In this fast paced, hands-on session, Chiefs Denniston and Irish will share some tricks and tips on moving large quantities of water in rural America where abundant municipal water systems are not commonplace. We will show you how to get the most out of your tankers, and might even have a few tenders as a snack!
PTSD In The Fire Service & EMS
Presented by: Ed Mann
Suicide by first responders is outpacing line of duty deaths each year, often friends of the individual members of an organization look back on events prior to a suicide and realize they may have missioned some warning signs, and the suicide may have been prevented had someone intervened. This awareness class is meant to provide students with the basic knowledge to know and understand the potential warning signs of suicide and PTSD and what steps they can take to help themselves and others. The instructor will share his own experiences at dealing with the stresses of the job during his career. This course is meant for all first responders, fire, police, EMS, and dispatchers.