Upcoming Changes at the DSFS

It has been a busy time at the Delaware State Fire School. We wrapped up a typically busy spring training season and saw the numbers for our core programs increase. Our inaugural summer accelerated firefighter academy began in early June and those students graduated July 13. The Junior Fire Academy had the largest group since the program began. We are running our summer accelerated EMTclasses and are assisting several public schools set up EMTprograms. We have had a particularly busy industrial training season that has extended into the summer. We were awarded another Assistance to Firefighters Gran t. And finally, our staff held our annual Planning and Evaluation session.

The first major change we are making is the elimination of Basi c Firefighting Skills, Structural Firefighting Skills, and Hazard ous Materials Response Skills. The new program will be based on the existing academy style class that runs in New Castle each spring. St udents will attend two nights a week and every other weekend. The evening classes will be held at the county divisions and the weekends will mostly be held in Dover. The students will be provided the opportunity to achieve ProBoard certification for Firefighter 1 and 2 and Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations. For now, students that do not pass the written certification exam will receive a Delaware State Fire School certificate of completion providing they are able to perform th e required practical skills.

We will continue to run the winter New Castle Academy and the summer Accelerated Academy in Dover along with the spring and fall Firefighter 1 and 2 classes. The age to enter these classes wil l be 16. For students under 16, we are designing an Exterior Firefighter course that will cover tasks on the fire ground that take place outside of hazardous areas and will set them up for success when they reach the age to take the standard course. This will align our programs with the national curriculum more closely. We have always trained students to recogn ized

Side-by-Side Demonstration Held at DSFS Proves Effectiveness of Sprinklers

The Delaware Fire Sprinkler Coalition promoted “Home Fire Sprinkler Week” by conducting a live burn demonstration at the Delaware State Fire School on May 15, 2023. Pictured is an incipient fire in the sprinkler protected room. The smoke detectoractivated at 14 seconds afterignition, and the one sprinklerhead in the room opened at the one minute, 14-second mark, flowing approximately 25 gallons of waterperminute. The sprinkerflowed forapproximately two additional minutes, controlling the fire. Once steam and smoke had cleared, Doverfirefighters removed the wet but unburned couch and table, then completed extinguishing a small fire in the back of the chair. Overall, less than 100 gallons of waterwas used on this fire.

- Submitted by Michael Lowe standards, but in a format that was fragmented and did not line up with how Firefighter 1 and Firefighter 2 are broken down. Secondly, this will allow firefighters to complete their training in a shorter peri od of time. We also want to provide students coming from a distance to train closer to home as much as possible. We are working on building up our New Castle and Sussex facilities to the point where the core traini ng can occur entirely at those sites. Finally, we want to enable our s tudents to continue serving as firefighters wherever life may take them an d by having our programs match national standards, that should be the case.

The second change will be reworking the officer programs. When I took over the officer programs back in 2013, we added our Fire Ground Operations: Size Up class as a prerequisite because we felt tha t firefighters were not coming into the officer programs with enough fire ground experience. Our new Fire Officer 1 class will include live fire evolutions and we plan to utilize fire apparatus similar to how our old Fire 3 ran. We will still run a version of the Size Up class as an in-service offering. The new prerequisite to Fire Officer 1 will be Fire Instructor 1 because this also follows the national curriculum established by the NF PA.

We are also reworking our Engine and Truck Company classes. We are developing a class that incorporates both of these functions and will include a lot of hands-on skills and live fire training. We wanted to prepare the fire companies of the state for these changes so that they will have time to process the information and make any bylaw or contract changes. Fire companies in New Castle and Sussex should also be aware that these classes may make scheduling in-service live bu rns slightly more difficult since the props may be committed to the core programs. If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns about the changes mentioned here, please feel free to reach out to any of our staff. We continue to be dedicated to providing you the best training possible and we appreciate your support.

- Submitted by Tucker Dempsey

Delaware State Fire School at NFPAConference and Expo

Last week, as part of his selection as a 2023 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire and Life Safety Public Education Network representative, Mike Lowe, along with Kim O’Malley, of the Delaware State Fire School attended the NFPAConference and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, to strengthen their dedication to effectively reach the public with fire safety education and to highlight Delaware’s successes in that effort.

The NFPAConference and Expo is the premier annual event for fire, electrical and building safety.

Senior Instructor Lowe stated, “By participating in the educational sessions and networking events, I have the opportunity to learn from experts across North America to better serve my community for fire and burn prevention.”

As a 2023 NFPApublic education network representatives for Delaware, Lowe and O’Malley participated in training sessions and conference events as well as networking events with fire and life safety professionals in attendance from across the U.S., Canada, and over 35 countries.

Throughout the year, NFPAPublic

Education Network members are invited to participate in professional development webinars to enhance their knowledge about common fire hazards, emerging issues, and educational tools to support their work in their communities. As part of their role on the Public Education Network, they share these resources and collaborate with fire and life safety and injury prevention professionals in their states to be able to bring best in class education and programs for fire and burn prevention to their communities.

Founded in 1896, NFPAis a global, nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPAmission. For more information visit www.nfpa.org/. All NFPAcodes and standards can be viewed online for free at http://www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.

- Submitted by Michael Lowe