Firefighters working and learning together Above, left; Joint training exercises with the Lyons Fire Department help develop teamwork in the case of mutual aid responses. Above, right; David Lindquist, training officer for Lefthand VFD, front, and Chris O’Brien, LHVFD Fire Chief, background, pause for thought as they run the live fire training drills. Bottom, left; Firefighters practice setting ladders to enter a structure. Middle, left; Fire teams practice entering a burning structure during a recent training session. PHOTOS BY KIRK C. WATKINS[/caption]

It has been a busy March for the Lefthand Volunteer Fire Department (LHVFD). The Spring 2021 class of four graduated from probationary to full active member status, and the newest 2022 probationary class was processed in. A total of seven probationary members started their journeys to becoming well-trained firefighters and emergency medical responders. It comes at a critical time for local communities, as numerous fires have recently caused unprecedented destruction and made local communities wary of the next blaze to be reported.

Even as the enormously destructive Marshall fire lingers in our memories, the NCAR fire in South Boulder proved that the newest fire season is already upon us. The Lefthand Volunteer Fire Department has responded to many of the recently reported fires and continues to remain in response mode, which makes the newest class of probationary members one of the largest in recent history, an important addition to the department.

Recently, on March 12, 2022, the LHVFD performed a group training activity along with the Lyons and Boulder Mountain Fire Departments. This year LHVFD training captain David Lindquist is working to incorporate the Blue Card response model into the training program. He spoke about the new training model and the recent training session.

“Our March live fire training had several objectives. First, we run fixed facility burns a few times a year to keep our firefighters’ certifications and skills up to date. For this training we added a few elements in addition to the live fire attack in the burn building. We added a full scrimmage for the engine companies where they had to do everything, from establishing their own water supply to stretching hose and making decisions about the fire on the ground. In many live fire trainings, a lot of those elements are taken out, but for this one we timed our groups.”

Lindquist continued to describe the process in more detail. “From the moment they set the air brake on the truck they were being timed on how quickly and efficiently they got set up and got to their major benchmarks on the fire,” he said. “The other element we threw in there was using Blue Card for not only the initial arrival report and size-up, but putting into play the practice of having a single engine having to initiate the fire attack and hold command until a chief officer arrived.”

He also spoke about the mutual training that the local departments are participating in. “Further, we had three agencies at the training, so there was an element of realism for us where we may only have a single engine staffed and we’ll be relying on another officer to take command of the fire, and yet another agency to help assist us with the fire.”

Finally, Lindquist spoke about the new training model, and its anticipated benefits for the overall response effectiveness for the LHVFD.

“Blue Card is a way of creating common terminology, expectations, and practices, and while we’ve been training on it in the classroom, this is the first time that we’ve done this as a group in a live fire training setting. It was a real challenge to pull together all of those pieces, but we were able to do so, and I think everyone benefited from seeing how it can work, and how we can work together on structure fires fairly seamlessly if we just practice using the same system.”

LHVFD Fire Chief Chris O’Brien had some feedback on the day and commented on the ways it would help the department. “We support live fire training drills to help our firefighters stay sharp with their skills, especially their skills that are high risk and low frequency,” he said, “It helps us with our teamwork, understanding, and implementation of tactics to help us control loss, and allows us to work fire in a controlled environment.”

He continued, explaining the necessity of the rigorous training that the responders undergo. “These trainings help us to perform at our best on real incidents. Likewise, it allows us to develop new skills such as our recent adoption of the Blue Card system for incident arrival and management,” he said. “We’re working with our partner agencies who have adopted this system to help us harmonize our arrival reports, scene size-up, and initial incident stabilization practices, so we’re safer and more efficient on scene.”

As the warming mountain spring begins, our emergency response personnel, most of whom are volunteers from our own families and communities, will have to train hard and stay prepared for whatever is to come. The Blue Card protocols and the evolving understanding of the fire response strategies will continue to be the best, and often the only line of defense against the ever-changing fire season.

To find out more about LHVFD, check out their website at https://www.lefthandfire.org/.