Funding is getting harder and harder to come by, and fire departments are forced to stretch their precious dollars to the limit each year. Adding to this conundrum is the fact that, far too often, the firefighter training budget is the first line item to be reduced or cut, but with a little footwork, some stick-to-itiveness, and an innovative approach to obtaining training prop construction materials, even the smallest budgets can reap outstanding rewards.
Most communities have at least one large, franchised home improvement store within driving distance or a local mom-and-pop hardware store with a lumberyard. All these places have “cull piles” of discarded lumber that is either warped, damaged, or otherwise unsellable. Here you can find many usable pieces; much if not all the lumber in these piles is free for the asking. This lumber is periodically cut into small pieces and discarded in a dumpster, eventually ending up in a landfill instead of in a fire department training prop.
You can make warped lumber usable in a number of ways. Often, only one end is the issue; not the entire piece. Cutting off the unusable end will yield a perfectly serviceable piece of lumber. If the issue is in the middle, some water and some weight will remove the warp completely. Saturate the warped piece of lumber thoroughly and then place it on a flat surface. Next, place some weight along the length of the lumber. Other similarly dimensioned lumber, concrete blocks, bricks, and brick pavers are just some of the items you can use for the weights. Allow the piece to dry over several days and voilà, you will magically have a straight piece of lumber in place of a warped one.
Large commercial home improvement stores’ annual budgets include sizable charitable donations. Timing is the key to obtaining items through the charitable donation process. Most businesses operate according to a fiscal year (July 1-June 30) vs. a calendar year (January 1-December 31). Determine how the business you plan to approach operates its budget, and get your donation requests in as early as possible.
When you obtain the items, regardless of what they are or how you receive them, get pictures of them when you pick them up and display them on your department’s social media sites. This free advertising for the business is worth its weight in gold and shows the community how much the business appreciates the fire department and how much the fire department appreciates the business. Place yard signs around the training ground showing the business name, logo, and contact information; take lots of pictures of the props being used. The signs will inevitably be in the pictures you post—more free and ongoing advertising.
If a company in or near your first-due area manufactures wood trusses, get to know the management of that enterprise. From time to time, these manufacturers have trusses they can’t use because of an error in ordering. Instead of letting these trusses be destroyed, your department can use them as the first building blocks of a roof ventilation prop. They are also sometimes damaged during delivery to the job site; the contractor may write them off as unusable. The damage may be a dislodged gusset plate, broken finger joints, or a cracked component. These are all easy fixes, and you can use the trusses as the basis for a peaked-roof ventilation prop. If the truss is completely unusable, you may salvage some of the individual components for dimensional lumber. Take pictures, and be sure to get the company some free advertising (photos 1-2). Note: I am not advocating operating on a lightweight wood truss roof during a fire involving the roof structure; this prop is simply used for training.
Speaking of job sites, construction dumpsters harbor a treasure trove of usable items for your training needs. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of feet of dimensional lumber that can be used to build training props. Partial and full sheets of drywall, some barely damaged, are perfect for demonstrating and practicing wall-breaching techniques. Wooden pallets by the score make great props to hone chain and rotary saw cutting skills. They can also be joined together in numerous ways to construct obstacle and confidence courses.
Various types of metals are often found in these dumpsters; they make great props for practicing rotary saw cutting techniques and torch operations. Pieces of corrugated metal work well to mimic roll-up and garage doors. Thicker pieces of metal such as rebar and I-beams provide excellent challenges even to the best torch operators.
Always be sure to speak with the project manager about your needs. Don’t go “dumpster diving” in the middle of the night. Most companies will welcome you removing items from their dumpsters; it reduces the contents’ weight and thus reduces the disposal fees. It’s truly a rare win-win situation you hear so much about but rarely ever experience. Of course, get pictures (photos 3-4)!
Your local public works department also has a number of items you may be able to acquire at no cost to bolster your training program. In addition to lumber, they may have large pieces of concrete that allow rotary saw cutting practice or can be used in developing a breaching/breaking training station. Cast iron pipe is also good for saw training. A variety of large pipe (concrete and high-strength corrugated plastic) makes excellent props for reduced-profile self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) maneuvers and obstacle/confidence course construction (photos 5-7).
Powersports retailers (motorcycles, ATVs, boat motors) traditionally have large amounts of metal that were used in shipping their products. These metals are of varying gauge and offer a multitude of training opportunities for circular saws, reciprocating saws, and torch operations (photo 8).
Often, you do not even need to leave the four walls of your fire department to find outstanding training props and deliver high-quality training. Recently, a training evolution was posted on the Internet that used only personal protective equipment (SCBA) and a 14-foot roof ladder. The ladder was placed on the apparatus bay floor, oriented horizontally on a beam, and stabilized at each end. The drill consisted of an SCBA removal technique in which the firefighter approached the ladder under zero-visibility conditions, removed the SCBA from his back (but did not dislodge the face piece), passed the bottle through the ladder between two rungs, and then proceeded to crawl through the same area. It’s a tighter fit for some than others, but you would be amazed at what you can fit through, even with your personal protective equipment donned. The drill concludes by redonning the SCBA properly while still under zero-visibility conditions.
Only one essential ingredient is needed to make a training program with limited funding a success—ingenuity. Simple problem solving is one thing that all fire departments do every day. We receive a call for help and spring into action, throwing people with different backgrounds and experiences at the problem to make it go away. It does go away or at least becomes less of a problem because everyone focuses on a common goal and, using human ingenuity, achieves it. Approach obtaining your training props and materials for your training props the same way. Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody. Don’t let limited funding hamstring your training. Your efforts will pay dividends in an effective, efficient, well-trained, and capable firefighting force.
JAMES L. JESTER is a volunteer assistant chief with the Ocean City (MD) Fire Department and a career assistant chief with the Salisbury (MD) Fire Department, where he is a special operations team leader. He is an instructor for the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, specializing in firefighter safety and survival and rescue technician. Jester has lectured extensively for the Maryland State Firemen’s Association.
James L. Jester will present “20 Training Props/Drills on a Shoestring Budget” at FDIC International in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Friday, April 29, 2022, 10:30 a.m-12:15 p.m.