Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Division of Training
302 West Washington Street, Suite E-208
November 30, 2006
Dear Chief and Fire Instructor,
The
IDHS Division of Training would like to share with you some important
information regarding the Hazmat Operations and Fire Instructor certification
courses and examinations. On these two
examinations, specifically, the feedback we are getting indicates that the
material presented in the course does not always match the material on the
examination. The examination results
typically fall into two groups; those where most of the class does well and
those where many in the class fail, with few in between. As a result, we are asking for your
assistance and extra effort in helping to better prepare students for these
tests.
As you are teaching any of
the certification courses, you should always refer to the list of reference
materials to which the examinations have been validated. Just because there is a new text published
does not necessarily mean a new test has been validated and put in use to match
that new text. You should refer to the
listed references in order to present the most appropriate information to your
students.
We understand
that some instructors have been using the Hazmat Operations (HMO) material from
the new Mandatory Firefighter Curriculum exclusively to instruct the
class. The HMO material provided is
simply an outline and not detailed information, such as was provided for the
Mandatory course and the Hazmat Awareness course.
The amount of
information that must be presented and digested by the student for the HMO
course is much more extensive than could be provided with the training
package. This material was intended to
simply be a guideline for the instructor as they prepared for the course.
Sufficient
knowledge of Hazmat and the use of supporting reference materials are necessary
for the successful presentation of the Hazmat Operations course. It is strongly suggested that the instructor of the HMO course be
certified at the Operations level (as a minimum) or, better yet, at the
Technician level. The HMO examination
has been validated to the following references:
1. NFPA 472,
Standards for Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Material
Incidents, 2002 Edition.
2. Delmar, Hazardous
Materials Incidents, 2nd Edition, 2004
3. Fire
Protection Publications, Hazardous Materials: Managing the Incident, 2nd Edition,
8th Printing.
4. IFSTA, Hazardous Materials
for First Responders, 2nd Edition
5. DOT, Emergency Response
Guidebook, 2004 Edition
6. NFA,
Emergency Response to Terrorism: Basic Concepts, Student Manual, 1997 Edition
7. Delmar, Firefighter’s
Handbook, 2nd Edition, 1st Printing
8. Delmar, Hazardous
Materials Incidents, 2nd Edition
9. Jones &
Bartlett, Fundamentals of Firefighter Skills, 1st Edition, 1st Printing,
FFFS1
NOTE: NFPA 472 is being revised and the new standards are expected out in 2007.
Problems with the Instructor 1 and 2/3 examinations
stem from the discontinuation and unavailability of the IFSTA Fire Service
Instructor 6th Edition textbook and its subsequent replacement by
the 7th Edition. There are
some significant differences in the two editions.
Important information contained in the 6th
Edition has been deleted from the 7th Edition leaving the students
short of information needed for the current test. We are currently in the process of updating and revalidating
these test banks, but please understand that we have limited resources and this
process does take a significant amount of time. We offer two suggestions to address this problem:
1)
Instructors should consider delaying any upcoming Instructor courses
until after February 28, 2007 to give us time to complete the validation of the
test bank (completion will be sooner if possible); or,
2)
Instructors should include material contained in the 6th
Edition but absent from the 7th Edition in their presentations,
urging the students to take special note of that information.
The Instructor examinations are
currently validated to the following materials:
Instructor 1
1. NFPA 1041,
Standard for Fire Service Instructor Professional Qualifications, 2002 Edition.
2. IFSTA Fire Service
Instructor 6th Edition, 4th Printing
1. NFPA 1041,
Standard for Fire Service Instructor Professional Qualifications, 2002 Edition
2. IFSTA Fire and Emergency
Services Instructor, 6th Edition, 4th Printing
3. IFSTA Fire Department
Company Officer, 3rd Edition, 1st Printing
We hope this will help
you deliver quality training programs and better prepare your students for
success. If you have questions please
feel free to contact Tony Pagano, Certification Section Chief, at 317-232-3985.
Sincerely,
SIGNED
Joseph
E. Wainscott Jr.
Director
of Training