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 Fort
Payne FD First to Qualify to Teach Technical Rescue Courses in the Field
The Fort Payne Fire
Department has
become the first department to meet the requirements for field delivery of
the following certification courses; Rescue Technician; Rope, Rescue
Technician; Confined Space, and Rescue Technician; Trench. The availability
for field delivery of these courses along with Hazardous Materials
Technician was announced by the Alabama
Fire College in December 2004. 
Requirements for approval
to teach these courses included facility and equipment approval, new
instructor qualifications, and new registration procedures. These
requirements were to assure that the courses could be taught safely in the
field, and that the facilities were adequate for such technical
certification courses.
Alabama
Fire College personnel traveled
to
 Fort Payne on March 9 to inspect the
department's facilities and
equipment. AFC Deputy
Director Jimmy Connor, Training Director Bart Marshall, and Regional
Coordinator Wayne Murry met with Fort Payne Chief Wade Hill, Fire
Marshal/Asst. Chief Mike Leath, and other department personnel and city
officials. Fort Payne was verified as meeting the facility and equipment
requirements, and the AFC staff
was impressed with the preparations made in Fort Payne by Chief Hill (and
staff) to teach these courses on site. The AFC team visiting Fort Payne
verified that the department equipment list well exceeded the minimum list
for the approved courses. 
For any fire department's
facilities to be approved, the site must qualify as an "approved training
center" as specified in the General Regulations and Administrative
Procedures chapter, 360-X-l.01, of the 2003 version of Policies,
Procedures, and Regulations of the Commission. Paragraphs 9 and
10 describe the application process to become an approved training center. 
New instructor requirements
were established to support the enhanced safety and technical demands for
teaching these classes in the field. Instructors are required to have
certification as Fire Instructor I, be certified at the level of the course
to be taught, and be certified one level higher than the course to be
taught, if such
higher level is available and offered. In order to assure that all AFC
policies relevant to certification courses are known and will be followed,
instructors must attend a no-cost instructor awareness course. Instructors
are also required to attend the train the trainer course that is course
specific. There is a $25 enrollment fee per day/course for instructors who
attend specified train-the- trainer courses. In addition, new instructors
must gain experience in helping teach the respected AFC certification course
under the supervision of a qualified instructor. All of these steps must be
properly documented, and kept on record at the Fire College.
New registration
requirements include; completing all
student registrations in advance, maintaining the required
student-to-instructor ratios for each course, and collecting a $50
monitoring and certification fee. The advance registration is to assure that
all pre-requisites for each course have been met. The monitoring and
certification fee includes the expense of monitoring each class and t he
registration of each certification with the National Registry of the Pro
Board, which is the agency accrediting these Fire College courses.
So far, Fort
Payne instructor Jason Griggs
has qualified to teach both Confined Space Rescue Technician and Rope Rescue
Technician. Gary Hill has also qualified to teach Confined Space. Chief Hill
has indicated that additional personnel will soon become qualified to teach
these
courses for Fort Payne.
For questions concerning
field delivery these courses contact Bart Marshall at 205.391.3753 or email
bmarshall@alabamafirecollege.org
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