Additional training will be required
By Holly Neumann
Recent changes to state regulations will have a direct impact on rural fire departments across the state.
The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (SPS) 330 will require additional training before firefighters may be promoted.
“The biggest change is that before, you could hold an officer’s position or a driver/operator position within the fire department before you had your certification,” said Rob Rosenau, Manawa Rural Fire Department’s chief. “Now you will not be able to do that.”
People currently holding those positions will now have to go back to school to get more training.
Drivers and equipment operators will need to have an additional 66 hours of schooling.
Officers will need even more, including 42 hours to get Firefighter 2 Certification and a 40-hour officer class after that, followed by an additional 40-hour instructor class.
“If the only class you have is state certified Firefighter 1, and you don’t have any of these other classes, you are looking at 188 additional hours per person,” said Rosenau. “And if you don’t have Firefighter 1 Certification, it will be closer to 210 hours that you will have to have.”
He thinks the change was designed with full-time departments in mind.
“With volunteer departments, it makes it difficult to get these additional hours in,” he said. “A person puts in 40-plus hours a week for their job, and now I am asking them to put in a minimum of three to four more hours and possibly up to 12 hours in one week for classes. It won’t be impossible, but we will have to get those hours in somewhere.”
Rosenau also thinks he will lose firefighters because of the new regulations.
“By requesting the guys and gals to do even more, we will probably be losing four of our 33 to start with,” he said. “This alone is going to make things hard.”
The changes will also have an impact on the department’s budget.
“Most of the costs with these additional classes is state funded,” said Rosenau. “But there are some that are not. These costs will fall on the shoulders of the department, which will impact some of the equipment purchases we make each year.”
He does believe the training will be beneficial, especially when it comes to Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) calls.
“Things are changing, and we need to keep people abreast of what is happening,” Rosenau said. “Making sure that our people are all trained the same way, is especially important when you are in MABAS situations. You will go to these calls knowing that all departments in our county are on the same page.”
The result is a better trained firefighter.
“I am all for training,” said Rosenau. “There are some departments that are slacking, and it’s important to get everyone up to where they should be. Waupaca County, in general, is moving in the right direction.”