All posts tagged Fire Department

Agency Stats:

• Area of coverage: 108 square miles
• Population in coverage area: 325,000 residents
• Fire Stations: 17
• Staff: 385 uniform; 445 total
• Implemented Vector Solutions LMS in 2015; Evaluations+ in 2021

West Metro Fire Protection District (CO) rolled out their Vector Solutions Learning Management System (LMS) in 2015. While they had a Records Management System (RMS) in place for incident reporting, most of the staff training, credentialing, policy management and reporting (including all their ISO documentation) was a paper-laden, manual process. Implementing the LMS has resulted “huge cost savings” and an improved training operation.

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Vector Solutions’ online firefighter training catalog is frequently updated to keep up with the most recent NFPA standards and industry best practices. Available through the TargetSolutions training platform, the most recently updated titles include:

• NFPA 1021 Company-Level Training
• NFPA 1021 Pre-Incident Planning
• NFPA 1584 Firefighter Rehabilitation (MOD #1)
• NFPA 1584 Firefighter Rehabilitation (MOD #2)

Each course features an onscreen instructor to guide learners through each lesson. Additionally, the courses include case studies, custom videos and comprehension checkpoints to ensure firefighters understand crucial fundamentals.

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused logistical and financial strain on local government agencies. To ensure fire departments and other public safety organizations can still effectively and safely serve their communities, agencies had to adapt processes according to CDC and government best practices.

To help organizations continue these efforts, the Montana Department of Administration announced the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) of the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF). This $200 million fund permits reimbursement for Montana agencies to improve processes stemmed from COVID-19.

With this state assistance, departments can purchase solutions such as the TargetSolutions training management system, to encourage socially distanced learning and track compliance standards. This funding covers costs incurred now through December 30, 2020.

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The fundamentals of firefighting require a deep understanding of fire behavior and effective communication. To ensure fire departments can deliver the most up-to-date firefighter training, Vector Solutions updated two essential courses in its firefighter continuing education catalog.

Available through the TargetSolutions training management platform, these courses can be assigned and tracked online. Newly updated courses include: NFPA 1001 Fire Behavior and 1021 Incident Scene Communications.

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As part of the recertification process, Florida Fire Safety Inspectors are required to take eight additional hours of continuing education. This training must be based on the Florida-specific versions of the NFPA 1 Fire Code and the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code.

To meet these requirements, Vector Solutions developed a course series specific to these codes: NFPA 1 & 101: Modules 1-4. Available through the TargetSolutions system, the series was updated to ensure Florida firefighters are compliant with the most current version of recertification standards.

Learn more about TargetSolutions’ newly updated courses designed for Florida Fire Safety Inspectors recertification.

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At the start of 2020, Cortez Fire Protection District (Colo.) implemented TargetSolutions Scheduling™ to modernize their employee scheduling tasks. This workforce management application has helped the agency streamline how they plan biweekly schedules, contact employees for open shifts and track hours worked.

With the TargetSolutions Scheduling™ mobile application, they’ve been able to not only save time, but also increase fairness and keep more accurate records.

Learn how Cortez Fire Protection District utilizes this flexible system:

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When the San Antonio Fire Department (TX) made the decision to move its old learning management system to something better, more modern, their selection of TargetSolutions’ Learning Management System (LMS) was the first step into a period of information, communication, and training enlightenment.

“It was a game changer for us,” said Captain Dean Watson, Training Coordinator for the San Antonio Fire Department.  “Our old LMS was centralized in the Fire Training Division and we had to rely on the Training Coordinator to pull reports.”

Captain Watson said that before going to TargetSolutions the previous department LMS had a limited capacity and recorded just continuing education units. There wasn’t the ability to capture training and share information in realtime to multiple groups.

“We were using the company logbook, or a spreadsheet,” said Captain Watson. “TargetSolutions allows us to build and deliver training content, document individual, company, and battalion-level training, and make it all available to be seen by everyone without having a big paper trail.”

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