NSA Bahrain Fire and Emergency Services Department Completes "Tabletop” Workshop

Story and photo courtesy of NSA Bahrain Fire and Emergency Services Department

NSA Bahrain Fire and Emergency Services Department members completed a 3-day strategy and tactics workshop designed for fire service officers responsible for emergency incident management. Students worked in small and large groups to examine case studies and solve tabletopsimulated incidents that ranged from simple house fires to complex conflagrations involving multiple-story commercial and industrial occupancies. “I believe quality training is an important tool in improving skills to enhance our capabilities to the installation” said NSA Bahrain Fire Chief Shawn Herrera.

In simulated incidents, students learned to identify critical fire ground problems and developed incident action plans using a quickaction, value-time-size risk management model to create incident site safety and control plans. Students implemented strategies and evaluated progress using the tabletop simulator while interacting with other class participants and the instructor.

The workshop instructor, Bret Stohr, is a retired Fire Department Operations Assistant Chief and 35+ year fire service veteran for the Department of Defense. Chief Stohr has over 25 years of experience developing and instructing Hazardous Materials Emergency Response, Structural/Aircraft Fire Suppression & Rescue, EMS, and Incident Safety Officer Courses. “I was so impressed with the skill and professionalism displayed by all the members from NSA Bahrain during the class, this was one of the most enjoyable classes we have conducted” said Chief

Stohr. “NSA Bahrain is truly fortunate to have such a well-trained and dedicated group of professionals providing emergency response to their community.”

The class provided a rewarding, highly interactive environment where students reinforced their skills and learned from the instructor and the other students. “Our mission at NSA Bahrain Fire Department is to save lives and protect property,” said NSA Bahrain Firefighter Aldorey Bartolome. “This class made me more confident at my job by learning to size up a major incident, clearly communicate and assign tasks and direction, and properly manage an emergency scene.”

After the class, students raved about the opportunity to implement their newly learned skills. “It was a great class with a lot of new information from recent and current fire safety research studies,” said NSA Bahrain Captain Mohamed Al Matrook. “I learned a lot about fire behavior and how to assess and approach the scene of a fire based on the latest science-based fire dynamics research and testing.”

NSA Bahrain Fire and Emergency Services Department members collectively complete over 20,000 hours of training annually, concluding with live fire training in the cooler months of November and December.