USFA Releases Wildland Fire Skills 'Gap' Courses
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) recently announced the availability of wildland fire skills Gap courses for structural firefighters.
USFA's National Preparedness Network (PREPnet) has produced a Webcast that explains the requirements, availability, and distribution of these newly packaged Gap course materials. The Webcast, titled "Crosswalk: Bridging the Skills Gap," is available for viewing anytime on the USFA Web site.
The Gap courses are based on the Wildland Training for Structural Firefighters Skills Crosswalk. The Crosswalk effort, lead by USFA in partnership with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, identified parallel technical competencies between structural firefighters and officers (NFPA Standard 1001 and 1021) or equivalent with those of four NWCG positions: Firefighter Type 2 (FFT2), Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1), Engine Boss Single Resource (ENGB), and Strike Team Leader Engine (STEN).
The Crosswalk also identified wildland skills and knowledge that qualified and experienced firefighters would not already have acquired through their structural firefighting training, such as specific wildland fire tactical concepts, and wildland fire behavior. Learning modules were identified with the NWCG training courses to address these gaps.
The Gap courses take advantage of the existing skill sets of structural firefighters and minimize redundancy and classroom time for those seeking to develop their wildland fire skills. Each course is composed entirely of NWCG training material pulled into specific courses. These new Gap courses are:
- G-130, Wildland Training (FFT2) for Structural Firefighters
- G-131, Wildland Training (FFT1) for Structural Firefighters
- G-231, Wildland Training (ENGB) for Structural Firefighters
- G-330, Wildland Training (STEN) for Structural Firefighters