Centralized Training For Hoosier Firefighters Close To Becoming Reality

Aspiring police officers go through a unified training program at the state police academy.  They all leave having learned the same skills.  It doesn’t work that way for fire fighters.  There’s no centralized training so the process is inconsistent and costly. 

At a training facility in Terre Haute firefighters are taking turns teaching a high rise operations class.

With trucks fired up and water ready to pump, they’re folding hoses so they can run them up the stairs. Training Chief James Jason Kane says it’s one of many skills they’ll practice today.

"How to fight fires in them, how to setup for them, anywhere from hooking the fire engine up to stretching hose lines," Kane says.

Once they complete the training, they’ll be certified to teach other firefighters classes that prepare them for the unpredictable calls they respond to every day.

Fire Chief Jeff Fisher says that training is invaluable.

"You never know what kind of a situation you’re going to get into," Fisher says. "And, you try to train for everything." 

But, that can be difficult for smaller volunteer departments that operate on bare bones budgets.
For them, the cost of training new recruits is often out of reach. 

"I think the larger, paid departments here in Central Indiana do a great job of training. But, some of them just can’t afford a whole training academy," says Republican Rep. Randy Frye. "Some of the smaller departments across the state might have one or two people they hire a year, where an IFD might have 40. And, so, to do a training academy for one or two people is very difficult where with 20 firefighters it’s much easier."

Frye authored a bill that would create a centralized fire academy.

Currently, firefighter training is done regionally. Under the new law, those regional facilities would still be used, but instructors would teach from the same curriculum. 

"Our goal is to have standardized training across the state, where a firefighter from northern Indiana and a firefighter from central Indiana would have the same training and testing as is done by the curriculum established by the state," Frye says.

Departments would also have the option of sending their firefighters to the academy for training and continuing education.

President of the Professional Firefighters Union of Indiana Thomas Union says there, they could take more specialized courses.

"Individuals aspire and become fire chiefs or administrators and they may never have worked with a city budget – where do they learn that," Union says. "This academy will create an environment for them to come, a place for them to come and learn about government, human relations issues, ADA, all kind of things that our people in the fire service need."

But, there are still a lot of questions about what a centralized fire academy would look like – and how much it will cost.

Some funding for training comes from a fee on fireworks sales. But, developing curriculum and building the academy won’t be cheap.

"Once we really have the concept and the location and all laid out we’ll come back probably in a couple years with the general assembly on what are the final needs," Union says.

Back in Terre Haute, the fire department’s excited by the possibility of a centralized academy.

They say giving all departments access to top-notch training facilities will benefit the entire state.

"I think it’s going to be good for the state, have that consistency we need," Kane says.

The bill is headed to the governor’s desk for approval.