Drillzzzzz...

[Kelly Tool]

Have you ever been to a drill that was so boring you wanted to fall asleep,(maybe some did) or you wished you had a call, so you would have some thing to do? I recently had a drill like this. We are a small department, at most we get 15 guys to come to drill(out of 30-35 members). My question is have you dealt with this problem(poor drills, lack of ideas, etc.) and what can be done to change it? Give your ideas, what should we be drilling on, for how long, how do we make it interesting. Basically, how has your department made drilling so that people want to come? Thanks for any responses and ideas.

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Put the wet stuff on the red stuff
Visit our Dept. Schodack Valley
Steve Kelly Jr.
SVFC

[BayRidge60]

You want to change it so you don't have boring drills any more???? Change your officers. When your officers don't want to do anything (I've dealt with that for a long time) it makes drill nights a chore instead of a time to learn. Eventually you'll find better things to do with your time and stop showing up for drills, or you can be more drastic like I was and change companies all together.

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Glenn Ralston
Firefighter/EMT-D
Bay Ridge Fire-Rescue
[email protected]

[SRVFD2]

Definitely have seen classes like that (and probably conducted some as well!!) Not sure there's a real solution until someone in the know comes up with more exciting videos, etc. for some of the classes our ff are required to have. Meantime, we ask for their input on what kind of training THEY want, and try to use that as guidelines, with lots of hands-on. Think the main reason our vollies come is that we have become a big family!!

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God is our Fire Chief;
Jesus is our Incident Commander.

[rfd241]

At our department you must attend a certain number drills/meetings to maintain your regular voting membership. If you don't then you are dropped to non-voting associate membership. Yes I have had boring drills before and in some instances there is nothing that can be done about it because some of the stuff that needs to be reviewed here and there is just boring material. Other ways of making drills more intersting is having a training committee, and anyone on the committee can sign up to run a drill. This allows for all members to voice their ideas and use their ideas.

[ArmyTruckCompany]

I must admit- I have been guilty a time or two (ok, ok maybe more than that!) of falling asleep during drill....It was all the practice I got falling asleep in high school.

Contact the Bucks County (Pa) Emergency Services Training Center- They have what they call the "Drill Maintenance Program" which was designed specifically for what you described- Volunteer organizations that are falling behind in training, boring drills, etc etc. They actually send instructors to your station to present/give drills, give evaluations to in-house training programs, or teach your people how to teach. Perhaps they can lend insight to assist you?????



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"Loyalty above all else, except honor."

[RFD220]

In our department I think that the lack of attendace is due to the fact that you have a company drill and a district drill. The problem is that they have to be on the same topic and it's yet another night out of the house. If there was a district drill only, you might get more people out but then it's less chances for people to get hours and then too many people standing around.
Speaking from an officers standpoint I can tell you that during meetings we beg and plead with people to tell us what kind of drills we can provide. We are more than willing to do whatever they want.


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Jeffrey D. Grey-Captain
Roosevelt Fire District-Hyde Park,N.Y.