FLORIDA FIRE SERVICE May 2017 20 Fire Service Tenure: I have 19 years of experience in the fire service with two departments; currently 17 years with West Palm Beach Fire Rescue. Career Journey: I started in the fire service in 1998 with Sikorsky Aircraft as a Firefighter/EMT. I then became ARFF certified and flew in chase helicopters. In January 2000 I was hired by West Palm Beach Fire Rescue and I became a paramedic, hazardous material technician, and technical rescue certified. I was Palm Beach County Paramedic of the year in 2004 and was promoted to Driver in 2006. In 2008. I was promoted to Operations Lieutenant where I spent four years. In 2012, I was promoted to Operations Captain where I was assigned to oversee the hazmat program. After two years running the hazmat station I became an EMS supervisor on shift. In December 2015, I was promoted to my current position of Chief of Training. Form of Government: I work for a City that has a strong mayor and a five-members city commission. Sources of Funding for Jurisdiction: The Fire Department is funded through the City of West Palm Beach general fund. Population Served including square miles covered: The City of West Palm Beach services 115,000 full-time residents, during working hours the population doubles to over 200,000 Composition of Department: The fire department employees 230 members, 204 which are shift personnel. Department Equipment: Five engine companies, two truck companies, one Squad (engine/heavy rescue), ten EMS/rescue companies, a regional hazmat response team, two adaptive response companies, and one special operations unit. Does your department have a formal, long-range strategic plan and is training in integral part of that plan? The training division has put together a one-, three-, and 5-year plans which consist of officer development, quarterly training, and a training facility. Call Summary: In 2016, the city responded to just under 27,000 alarms What is the most challenging issue facing your department today? Technology. We need updated software, and training to support the software. How have current economic times impacted your training division and how are you doing things differently today because of the economy? The budgetary impact after the recession was tough on training. The budget was cut and all conferences and outside training were deleted. Presently, times are better and there are three personnel assigned to the training division, and our vision is moving forward. What training challenges do you see facing the fire service today? Because our department is very busy, time is a commodity that we cannot replace. Time to train is difficult, because placing units out of service for any amount of time places a burden on all the other units in the city, causing a ripple effect. Explain the structure of your training program and how it is implemented: Right now we are using target solutions to push out and record training. We have monthly training that companies do that is pushed out from the training division. We let the companies officers train their personnel on duty and we have several multi-company training drills annually. Do you have a close working relationship with your neighboring departments and other public safety agencies? Yes, all surrounding departments are very helpful and we have a training officers association that meets monthly. I have a good relationship with all the surrounding department officers and I feel that they can rely on me as much as I rely on them. What action has your department taken to comply with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) doctrine? Our department follows NIMS reporting and credentialing of personnel. What’s the future for the fire service as you see it?: The future of the fire service is using technology and better safety equipment to be safer and better prepared for saving lives. I also think that EMS is going to be a bigger part of where the departments are heading. It would not surprise me to see onsite clinics and home health checks before I retire. Meetthe Fire Training Officer/Instructor Brent Bloomfield, Fire Training Officer, West Palm Beach Fire Rescue