PERI - Public Entity Risk Institute - Volunteer Fire and Rescue Course Outlines

Volunteer Fire and Rescue Course Outlines

PERI E-Training Center

E-Training Courses for Fire and Rescue Departments

Leading and Managing Volunteer Fire-Rescue Departments (All 12 Courses)

Purchase of 12-course series entitled, Leading and Managing Volunteer Fire-Rescue Departments.

Activation of the series may take 24-hours.

Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 1: The Structure and Services of Modern Fire and Rescue Departments

This course provides an outline of the organizational structure commonly used to establish and maintain volunteer fire-rescue departments. It identifies the types of officers and officials necessary to govern and manage a volunteer department, and points out relationships between the department and the delivery of service to the community.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 2: Assessing Local Response Needs and Planning the Department's Resource Requirements

In order to accomplish their mission, volunteer fire-rescue departments need to continue operating with all available assets and resources, which means any exposure to a hazard that would cause damage to, or destruction of, a resource could negatively affect the operation of the department. The purpose of this lesson is to conduct basic needs assessment and gap analysis and to create and use a Resource Master Plan.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 3: Laws, Codes, Standards and the Evaluation of Department Performance

This course will provide an overview of the national codes, standards, and recommended practices, as well as industry standards and “standard of care” issues which relate to fire and rescue operations and responsibilities. It also presents a methodology for evaluating your local volunteer department and strategies for building a deployment plan.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 4: Recruiting and Maintaining Members

This course will discuss how to maintain an effective and viable volunteer fire-rescue department membership. It will provide examples of why members both join and leave a volunteer department and demonstrate that there is a direct and important relationship between retaining experienced members and recruiting new members. Also, it offers examples of productive leadership for volunteer departments.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 5: Working with Members Toward Department Goals

This course illustrates the importance of volunteer fire departments setting goals aimed at good community protection and lead to a self-perpetuating, viable department. It will describe department mission statements, values, the variations in member orientation affecting morale and department effectiveness, and discuss some of the challenges officers face in motivating volunteer members toward task attainment.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 6: Supervising, Managing and Leading

This course will examine the differences between supervision and management, and between management and leadership. It will discuss the function of leadership in volunteer fire departments and identify examples of the types of challenges and problems occurring in volunteer departments which require the thoughtful application of leadership techniques.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 7: Stations, Apparatus, and Equipment

This course will present the operational concepts of mutual aid and discuss the differences between department capability and capacity. It will summarize the concept of Standards of Cover and examine the ways that fire stations, apparatus, and operational equipment may increase or decrease a department’s ability to serve its community.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 8: Building Effective and Safe Emergency Response

This course will examine some important aspects concerning the health and wellness of active members of volunteer departments and review safety measures applicable to volunteer non-emergency activities and training. It will highlight important safety measures during response, return to quarters, and while operating at incidents, and consider operational assignment options for active members who may be unable to participate fully in emergency response.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 9: Meeting Training Needs

This course will provide an overview of the training of volunteer fire department members and identify the primary reasons for volunteer fire departments to emphasize comprehensive, safe training programs on an ongoing basis. It will offer brief descriptions of the several categories of training most useful to volunteer department members and review selected operational methods of meeting volunteer fire department training needs by examining common barriers to the success of volunteer training programs and suggesting some methods to overcome them.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 10: Gaining Community Support

This course will review the major community government structures and the more typical individual fire department configurations volunteer fire chiefs must understand to promote effective communication. The course will list typical types of interrelationships between fire chiefs and community government, fire department boards, community groups, and outline the relationships between governmental policy and local politics by examining some common definitions of “oversight” and common areas of potential conflict for fire chiefs as they relate to oversight groups. It will also identify several conflict-avoidance and conflict-resolution techniques helpful to fire chiefs.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 11: Managing Finance and Department Assets

This course will identify some of the typical financial problems chiefs of volunteer fire departments face, and present practice cases to stimulate thinking about possible solutions. It will describe some general concepts of financial management and budgeting useful in leading volunteer departments and provide an opportunity to review your local department’s handling of finances and capital resources, and to evaluate its process for maintaining financial stability.Register Now!Course Outline

Lesson 12: Improving Yourself, the Team, and the Department

This course will encourage volunteer officers to increase their knowledge and leadership skills which lead to more effective community fire and rescue protection. It will stress that successful departments are built on good team characteristics and operations, sound management practices, and insightful leadership seeking productive, well motivated departments. This course will examine some common blockages to the development and maintenance of motivated and successful volunteer departments and stimulate the thinking of volunteer chiefs and officers concerning how their personal experiences and occupational skills can help with their department challenges.Register Now!Course Outline

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