DIVISION 11 NEWS
Special Operations Update
I’m amazed by what was achieved this past year, both by the personnel assigned
to Division 11 and those assisting from across County Fire. It is impossible for
me to list each and every name that has a positively impacted and continued to
support our mission of providing world-class service to San Bernardino County.
I am truly grateful to all of you and thank you for your service and dedication
to your coworkers. The efforts you put forth will benefit everyone into the future.
I want to pass along some reminders as we look ahead. First is that effective
Dec. 31, 2016, the current State Fire Training Certified Company Officer (CFO)
track will be retired. Thus anyone still missing some of those classes must
complete them and the CFO approval process via State Fire Training prior to
the deadline. Though it is not mandatory, I recommend taking classes from the
“new” curriculum, though the “old” courses are valid through the end of the year.
Failure to complete the current track by the deadline will mean starting from
square one with the new curriculum. If you are just starting the CFO process,
please take only new-curriculum courses and know that to obtain a valid CFO
you have five years to complete the series, promote to company officer and
complete your CFO task book during probation. This is a big change, both for us
and for the California fire service as a whole.
Another major change from State Fire Training is the transition from the current
certified and registered Training Instructor I, to the “new” Training Instructor I, 2
and 3 certification. The “old” classes expire on Dec. 31, 2016 and there is no
equivalency between the certifications. This transition seems very complicated
and overwhelming. What you need to know is that if you would like or are
planning to instruct CFSTES and/or FSTEP courses, and you currently have
Training Instructor 1A and 1B, you should complete Training Instructor 1C,
Regional Instructor Orientation and Instructor Ethics, then submit a State Fire
Training application and fees prior to the deadline. If you are just now entering
the instructor certification track, you should focus on the “new” courses only.
Please refer to the State Fire Training web site for exact details regarding this
change: www.osfm.fire.ca.gov/training/training
There are a few more notable Special Operations updates that I would like to
pass along. The Heavy Fire Equipment Operator (HFEO) program is expanding
and has added four new HFEO trainees for 2016 and dedicated most every
Friday to training. Congratulations to Captains Ted Mohr and Heath Hammonds,
as well as Engineers Dino Demarco and Anthony Pena. Meanwhile our current
HEFO trainees, Captain Tony Siciliano and Engineer Jeff Alexy, have both
successfully obtained their Class A CDL in 2015 and are expected to journey
sometime in 2016—congrats to both of them. This trainee process is time
consuming and grueling, to say the least. I would like to recognize Crew 6/15
Superintendent and Captain Shane Glaze, recently retired captain Gary McCord
and Engineer Paul Anastasia for their continued support of the HFEO program
for many years.
The hand crew program will continue to develop and the foreman qualified
relief roster will need to be reinforced with suppression personnel who are
interested in exploring the challenges of hand crew firefighting. Congratulations
to Foremen Travis Van Hulten and Durk Carlisle for their promotions to engineer
in 2015; we are looking forward to their return to the camp in spring of 2016.
The helicopter program will be expanding to seven days per week sometime
early 2016. Through this fiscal year, the additional staffing will be achieved
by using assigned personnel and current qualified relief folks to cover the
three additional days. The ultimate goal for staffing the County Fire/Sheriff Air
program is to be on duty 24/7 and all-risk capable.
The EMS section remains hard at work supporting our EMS training, mandates
and programs that help support County Fire. There will be another large hiring
of ambulance operators (AOs) in 2016, mostly due to the conversion of the
remaining limited term positions on ambulances and to fill behind the AOs who
were successful with the hiring process for Tower 7.
There is a good chance that County Fire may see a few training officers assigned
to the divisions to assist with local training needs and multi-company drills.
The initial training calendar is published and will be updated as the need for
classes expands and we discover more qualified instructors willing to lead a
CFESTES, FSTEP or other course. We will continue to support and develop the
workshops and are offering the full USAR series as well as a full wildland fire
course schedule for the first half of 2016.
Also, Tower 7—which promises to be the largest in County Fire history—is
scheduled to begin in mid-March 2016. It will be a 16-week tower that will
deliver fully qualified probationary firefighters at graduation. This will be the first
time County Fire will not need to bring tower grads back to the training division
to the complete their enhanced basic training.
2016 will prove to be another year of transitions and challenges to Division
11-Special Operations, and I would like to say thank you in advance to all of
the folks who have given so much of their time, energy and expertise throughout
2015. There is plenty more room for our fire suppression, ambulance operator
and fire suppression aide personnel to engage in training activities into 2016
and beyond. So feel free to inquire and discuss your ideas; as long as you
are willing to follow through with the details, anything is possible with a
decentralized training cadre.
Darrayl Felga "