W S E S I   NEWS BRIEFS – November 25, 2024

REGISTRATIONS OPENING SOON! 64th ANNUAL INSTRUCTORS CONFERENCE – coming to Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville February 14-16, 2025!
Our Conference registration webpage will be going live the week of December 1 -- Start planning to join us in Janesville this February! See adjacent piece to meet one of our Conference presenters.
 
AVAILABLE NOW:
F0322 – Incident Command System for Structural Collapse Incidents
F0146 – Supervising Emergency Medical Services
Both of these courses are scheduled for Sat.-Sun., February 15-16, 2025. Look for a Save your Seat button on our Conference Webpage:
www.wsesi.org/annual-conference
 
ALSO OPENING DECEMBER 1 – Nominations will be accepted for the 2024 Instructor of the Year (IOTY) Award. Nomination forms and full details will be posted on our IOTY webpage:
            www.wsesi.org/ instructor-of-the-year
 
LIVE LINKS to our events, and any sent in through our associates, will be posted on the WSESI Events webpage:
            www.wsesi.org/events
 
SEE ADJACENT PIECE regarding our 2025 Membership Renewal Drive, scheduled to kick off December 1, 2024 and continue into the coming year.
 
FROM OUR FRIENDS at Fire Hero Learning Network –
           New FHLN.net Modules:
Wildland Urban Interface Fires Lessons Learned
           Wildfires do not respect geographic, jurisdiction, or agency boundaries. Structural firefighters and wildland firefighters must communicate, collaborate, and work together where wildland firefighting meets structural firefighting in the wildland urban interface. Effective teamwork requires structural firefighters and wildland firefighters to each understand the other’s world — needs, priorities, strategies, tactics, and resources. A new training module from the Fire Hero Learning Network, Wildland Urban Interface Fires Lessons Learned, helps departments and agencies with wildland and WUI firefighting responsibilities understand the nature of firefighting in the WUI, how crews get in trouble, lessons learned from three case studies, and the keys to effective risk management in the WUI. You’ll take away lessons from the Williams Lake Fire (Spokane County, WA), the ACME VFD line of duty death (central Oklahoma), and the Twisp River multi-fatality fire.
 
From Korie Gospodarski at Jones & Bartlett Public Safety Group (PSG):
I wanted to tell you about a new article describing the evolution of the Driver/Operator role in firefighting. An interview with Captain Patrick Dunn describes the importance of Driver/Operator training to overcome the mechanical knowledge gap and meet the NFPA 1010 standard. Captain Dunn told us:
 
"Many departments are transitioning away from the automatic nozzle and we're getting back into the basics of understanding how our water's working, what are flow rates are, how to set our pump pressures, and understanding our friction loss. Now the importance of that driver knowing what to do and how to troubleshoot is coming back into the forefront."
 
He also discusses the driver/operator's role in high-rise firefighting, the need for visual learning, and much more.
 
Take a look at "Steering Towards Safety: The Critical Role of Driver/Operator Training in Firefighting" and let me know if this is helpful in your training! Also, be sure to reach out if you have any questions on fire or EMS training.
 
These links will be posted in the sidebar of our home page.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE to our members, customers and friends… The WSESI financial books will close for the year on Thursday, December 19, 2024 – Book orders, membership renewals, and Conference registrations that you wish to be marked paid in 2024 must be received by this date. All receipts afterward will be recorded beginning Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.
 

And on that note… We’d like to wish you and yours all the best for your Christmas holiday season and a joyous New Year!
 
WSESI MEMBERS: VISIT OUR REPOSITORY for information on our Inventory Retirement campaign, which will continue from now through the end of the calendar year 2024. More details are posted on our Repository webpage (found under the ‘Members Zone’ tab):
            www.wsesi.org/repository
           Watch for another general update of the New Old Stock titles list. Thanks!
 
VISIT OUR LINKS PAGE to check out the many online resources available from our colleagues around the state and across the country. This includes the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) – The mission of IFSTA is to identify areas of need for training materials and foster the development and validation of training materials for the fire service and related areas. Located at Oklahoma State University, IFSTA is home to Fire Protection Publications (FPP).
           www.wsesi.org/links
           If you know of a Fire / EMS website you would like to see added to our Links page, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks!
 
STATEWIDE FIRE SERVICE EVENTS – WSESI will continue to share information that we receive regarding events and programs of Wisconsin’s Fire / Emergency Services organizations throughout the year ahead. Please be encouraged to advise us of any of your agency’s / organization’s plans for events in the coming months, or of any changes that you are aware of. Thanks!