Pedagogy of the fire-ground

In a fire department, there are a lot of skills for new guys to learn. Fire suppression, apparatus operation, efficient communication, emergency medical care, vehicle extrication; the list goes on and on. One thing that I think should be placed higher on that list is pedagogy. If you're really great at vehicle extrication, you can make a difference when you're on the scene; if you're really great at TEACHING OTHER FIREFIGHTERS about vehicle extrication, then you make a difference every time one of the firefighters who learned something from you is cutting up a vehicle. The effects of a good teacher are like ripples that carry throughout a department as those who learn from the instructor teach others the way that they learned.

Let me give an example where we see three teaching styles on the same subject, and maybe it will be clear why this is such an important topic.

SCENE 1
Instructor: "don't forget this, it's important: when you are going to have the apparatus parked in one place for a while, engage the 'High Idle'".

Student: "Why is that? What does it do? Is it really important?"

Instructor: "What did I just say?"

Student: "When the apparatus is staying put for a while, engage the High Idle"

Instructor: "So what do you do when you're parking and you're going to leave the engine on?"

Student: "Engage the High Idle"

SCENE 2

Instructor: "don't forget this, it's important: when you are going to have the apparatus parked in one place for a while, engage the 'High Idle'".

Student: "Why is that? What does it do? Is it really important?"

Instructor: "That let's the engine generate more electricity so it's able to handle more things being on at once like warning equipment and panel lights, etc."

SCENE 3

Instructor: "don't forget this, it's important: when you are going to have the apparatus parked in one place for a while, engage the 'High Idle'".

Student: "Why is that? What does it do? Is it really important?"

Instructor: "well, what does your car do when it's idling?"

Student: "It's just running at a low speed"

Instructor: "And what does the term high-idle suggest?"

Student: "That it's running at a slightly higher than low speed?"

Instructor: "Good, that's right. Now, why would that be helpful?"

Student: "I don't know, I guess it's using more gas, that's actually BAD. Maybe it's maintenance related, do long periods of low idle damage the engine or something?"

Instructor: "Interesting thought, but no, you're thinking to specifically to the engine. What about all those blinking things on the apparatus?"

Student: "Warning lights?"

Instructor: "And what do they need in order to keep blinking?"

Student: "Electricity. I guess the high idle probably generates more electricity."

Instructor: "Right. All those lights take a toll on the battery, and if you leave it in low idle the load manager will eventually start switching lights off to conserve energy, which is a big deal if you're on a highway or something where you need all your warning equipment going."

Now let me give you a scenario: The student is now pumping the apparatus at a large vehicle fire, and the lights start to shut off one by one. High idle can't be engaged because it doesn't work when the apparatus is pumping. What will the student do about his quickly diminishing warning equipment? If he's been taught by the instructor in scene 1, probably nothing, as he won't even know there's a connection. This kind of teacher just bugs the hell out of me. Anytime someone answers a question with "Because I said so", they're doing the student a disservice. You can't think adaptively without having the necessary information to synthesize into a solution. If the student was taught by the instructor in scene 2, he'd probably suspect that he should be engaging high-idle, but he's been told he can't do that when pumping, so what should he do? After thinking about it, he'd probably have to resort to choosing which lights he needs least and manually shutting them down. He's been told what he needs to know, and he's doing the most he can with the information he has. But the student who learned from the instructor in scene 3 knows the mechanics of his truck. By having a long dialog on the subject, he's been forced to think it through and knows what the players in this equation are. He knows that the high-idle works by increasing the engine speed, thus generating more electricity. He also knows that pumping the apparatus involves using the engine to power the pump. Putting this information together, he'd probably figure out that all he has to do is gate down the water he's flowing out of the truck and throttle up the pump, causing the engine to work harder, and generating the extra electricity he needs.

Good firefighters aren't born, they're made. Let's recognize the great makers, and realize that within a department great teaching means better everything else.