The nice comments and high ratings just keep pouring in for San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s training resources on ventilation skills. The department posted a training video and PowerPoint presentation into TargetSolutions’ Community Resources in August of 2009 and three years later both of the items are still popular with the online platforms network of users.
The PowerPoint presentation, titled SDFD Ventilation Training, is the most viewed resource in the history of Community Resources. The presentation narrated by SDFDs Curtis Bennett, has been viewed more than 7,000 times, is being utilized by 86 different organizations and has an outstanding 4star rating (out of five). The video, titled Ventilation Skills, a companion video created by SDFD, has more than 4,000 views and the same 4star rating. There are 81 different organizations using this particular video resource.
Jeff Clyons, who worked as the department’s assistant training officer when the videos were created and was interviewed about them soon after their creation, said his department’s firefighters were having issues with ventilation during several fires, so it attacked the issue with a multi-pronged training approach. The department spent three months focusing on ventilation by incorporating the PowerPoint and video with in-station drills and an in-service training session where crews had the chance to work with chainsaws during a manipulative drill.
“We realized our recruits had learned one way to cut a hole in a roof and we realized when they got out in operations, that one way was restricting their ability to do other things,” said Clyons. “It was limiting what our personnel were doing when it came to ventilating a roof. So we wanted to teach our existing personnel multiple ways to do this. We wanted to raise the bar on our ability to use a saw and raise the bar on cutting holes. Ventilation is an extremely risky and dangerous proposition so it was definitely something we were concerned with. I think we were lucky we didn’t have more incidents in the past. But to avoid those in the future, we wanted to make sure everyone was very well trained.”
Clyons reported considerable improvement in the quality of operations after the fire department training. He believed the high-quality resources SDFD has generously shared with TargetSolutions’ community are a major factor for the significant strides in performance.
Our message was well received, he said. I think it assisted people who were tactile learners, people who were visual learners, and people who were a
uditory learners. They all had a chance and it hit all the senses, so we definitely felt retention was better.
Clearly, SDFD isn’t the only department that benefited from the online fire training. TargetSolutions has received numerous complimentary comments from other clients about the quality of SDFDs presentations. Here’s a sample:
>> Great video! Was a great refresher, said Tom Fritz of Palm Harbor Fire Rescue.
>> This is a good video for new and veteran firefighter to refresh on the basics, said David Ramirez of the Fresno Fire Department.
>> I learned some new cut techniques that I will put to use on future incidents, said Jordan Motta of Cal Fire Riverside County.
Clyons said his department will look to continue doing that type of multi-pronged approach with quality video presentations in the future.
“I think it’s important to try and make the videos entertaining,” Clyons said. “I think the narration of the PowerPoints provides visualization, so you’re not just seeing a slide, but you have the audio explaining it. That helps. And the beauty is that because it’s online, any company officer can pull it up at any time and drill on it again.”
TargetSolutions’ Community Resources application gives departments the ability to easily download, modify and assign shared resources like SDFD’s ventilation submissions with just a few clicks of the mouse. Organizations can import any of the files, videos or other documents from Community Resources into their organizations File Center and then modify and assign to employees through TargetSolutions’ Activities Builder.
About TargetSolutions
TargetSolutions is the leading provider of web-based technology solutions for fire and EMS departments. These solutions enable departments to maintain compliance, reduce losses, deliver curriculum, and track all station-level tasks, certifications and training activities.