When emergencies like house fires, vehicle collisions or hazardous leaks occur, the public relies on local firefighters to respond swiftly and save lives. These trained professionals regularly risk their own safety to protect others — but ensuring their own survival in dangerous situations is equally critical.
Recognizing this, Cochrane Fire Services (CFS) has identified a need to standardize and enhance firefighter training, particularly when it comes to self-rescue techniques.
“There is an identified gap — that firefighters don’t have enough practical experience and knowledge in order to know how to rescue themselves,” said Deputy Fire Chief Jared Wallace. “So, we are looking at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to receive their Fire Ground Survival (FGS) course.”
With funding support from Alberta’s Fire Services Training Program grant, CFS is preparing to bring the FGS course to Cochrane. The $1-million provincial initiative helps fire departments across Alberta provide training that meets industry standards.
Fire Ground Survival is a five-day training program that combines classroom instruction and practical learning. It is designed to teach instructor candidates how to respond to mayday situations, including what to do if a firefighter becomes lost, disoriented, injured, trapped or low on air during a fire event.
Instructor candidates will then share their training with other firefighters in their home departments.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to capitalize on additional funding from the Government of Alberta to help bolster our training program,” Wallace said. “With the training we’re looking to get, our firefighters will gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to rescue themselves during an emergency.”
Cochrane Fire Services currently employs 28 full-time firefighters, 22 casual firefighters, and two fire prevention officers.
The FGS course was developed by the IAFF — one of the largest labour unions in North America — which represents more than 349,000 professional firefighters and emergency medical personnel in the United States and Canada.
“So what the IAFF did was evaluate line-of-duty deaths throughout North America and categorize them into common themes,” Wallace explained. “Then they took those learnings and developed a training course to teach the skills needed to prevent similar fatalities.”
The course accommodates up to 30 instructor candidates. CFS will reserve seats for its members, while the remaining spaces will be offered to firefighters from neighbouring departments including Canmore, Rocky View County, Airdrie, Calgary, Chestermere and Okotoks.
“Currently we’re just trying to narrow down possible dates for the instructors to come teach the course to us, and then we’ll be able to roll it out from there,” said Wallace.
