On Saturday, 1 February we had the opportunity to deliver the Staging Follow-up Course for the Zaanstreek-Waterland Safety Region members. It was the perfect chance for the attending heads of training to expand their knowledge in the field of staging. For most of them, it has already been some years since they took the basic staging training, so this was a good time for refreshing their basic knowledge and for unpacking the challenges they had faced in staging over the last few years!
Staging a fire when pushed for time
One of the major issues when staging fires is the shortage of time. A training head might come home from work at 17.30, and while an evening course exercise starts at 19.30 he or she still has to eat, put the kids to bed and create a good scenario. During the course we managed to stage a proper fire scenario within no more than four minutes!
Working cleanly and hazardous substances
Contamination and decontamination are important topics in the world of fire-fighting, especially in view of the current focus on working cleanly. During the follow-up course a number of challenging exercises and principles for staging were discussed so that these topics could be covered in an even more challenging and fun way. A range of staging techniques were also tried out for covering incidents that involved hazardous substances, allowing exercises to be even more realistic.
Gaming
Not every exercise has to involve full exertion or covering scenarios, and there are many approaches that can be used during an evening exercise. During the follow-up course we discussed numerous games and forms of gaming, an alternative approach that readied the participants to come up with their very own games! Things are looking very promising for the stations throughout the region.
Victims
The in-depth section saw us take a closer look at the use of victims during an exercise. What else can we do with a training manikin, and what are the alternatives? How can we use victims in a multidisciplinary scenario and how will all the participants then achieve their exercise targets? These are all matters that an experienced staging specialist is able to integrate into an exercise.
Basic principles of fire-fighting
A large portion of teaching staging involves staging using the basic principles of fire-fighting. How do we create a realistic smoke pattern, and what else can be introduced when it comes to reconnoitring? Moisture and deposits on the windows and broken windows are all additional ideas. How do you get a smoking door?
A great day!
Part 2 of the staging course at Zaanstreek-Waterland Safety Region was truly a great day, with a lot learned, a great deal of inspiration and many things tried out. It couldn't have been any different, in view of the group of enthusiastic people who gave up their Saturday for the course – all in order to make sure that emergency services staff become more skilled and stay that way!
Would you also like to know more about staging?
FireWare has much experience in providing staging courses, and we offer them at three (progressive) levels. That way there is always a course available that fits in with your current level of knowledge and experience. You can enrol individually or as a group and we will provide the course on location or here at FireWare. For further information, take a look at our website!
Watch the video
Watch the fun video of our Zaanstreek-Waterland Safety Region course to find out more about the advanced staging training!
