WSESI July Newsletter

The System Is Changing, and Training Has to Change With It

Wisconsin’s fire and EMS system is changing whether we’re ready for it or not.

Departments are answering more calls with fewer volunteers. Communities are adding paid staff, sharing services, expanding automatic aid, and having serious conversations about consolidation and regionalization. At the same time, we’re asking members to complete more training while balancing work, family, call volume, and everything else life puts in front of them.

Instructors can’t solve the entire staffing problem, but we’re part of the solution. Training has to be useful. It has to respect people’s time. It has to prepare them for the calls they’re actually answering, and it has to give them a reason to keep coming back.

Fewer Volunteers, More Calls

A new Wisconsin Policy Forum report puts numbers behind what many departments have been saying for years.

As of June 2026, 92.5% of Wisconsin’s 762 registered fire departments were volunteer or mostly volunteer. Around 63% of the state’s fire service personnel served in volunteer departments. Since 2020, volunteer departments have lost 474 paid and 463 unpaid positions, while combination and career departments have added personnel.

That’s more than a recruitment problem. It’s a sustainability problem.

Communities are responding by adding paid positions, sharing training, strengthening automatic aid, consolidating services, and finding new ways to work across municipal lines. Those changes don’t eliminate the need for good instructors. They make good instructors even more important.

Instructor Takeaway

We need to stop treating retention like it’s somebody else’s job.

Poorly organized training drives people away. So does unnecessary repetition, wasted time, unclear expectations, and training that exists only to check a box.

Joint training can reduce duplication while improving relationships between departments that will eventually meet on the same incident. Shared objectives, common terminology, and consistent skill expectations aren’t extras anymore. They’re part of building a fire and EMS system that can survive what’s coming.

EMS Reminder: Late Renewal Is Open

Wisconsin’s late-renewal applications opened July 1 for EMRs and EMS practitioners whose certifications or licenses expired June 30.

There is an important catch. All required education had to be completed by June 30, 2026. Late renewal gives someone additional time to finish the application process through December 31, but it doesn’t give them more time to complete missing education. Late renewal also can’t be used to upgrade or downgrade a certification or license level.

EMS Instructor II certification is different. There is no late-renewal process for EMS Instructor II. Anyone who didn’t renew by June 30 may not act as an Instructor II and must meet the requirements for a new certification.

Free Wisconsin DSPS Fall Training

The Wisconsin DSPS Fire Prevention and Fire Department Safety and Health Program has asked WSESI and other fire service organizations to help spread the word about its upcoming 2026 Free Fire Program Fall Training Presentations.

These sessions will provide current information on fire prevention, department safety, firefighter health, and other issues affecting Wisconsin’s fire service. Members are encouraged to register, share the announcement with their departments, and forward it to chiefs, instructors, fire inspectors, safety officers, and neighboring agencies.

Registration: Use the QR code or Book when registration link included with the 2026 DSPS training flyer.

Free training only helps when people know it exists. Instructors are often the connection between state programs and the members working in local departments. Share the opportunity, attend a session, and bring the useful information back to your organization. 

Free NFA Course Coming to NWTC

WSESI would like to welcome Dan Koland, the new Fire Program Coordinator at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

Dan and NWTC are bringing a rare National Fire Academy training opportunity to Wisconsin. Wildland-Urban Interface Risk Assessment & Mitigation for the Fire Service, F2292, will be held September 3–4, 2026, at NWTC in Green Bay.

This 16-hour course uses science-based fire engineering research and guidance to help fire service personnel identify wildland-urban interface risks and develop practical mitigation strategies. The course is being offered at no cost through funding from the SFPE Foundation, and it is one of only three offerings of this course nationwide.

Wildland-urban interface risk isn’t only a western wildfire problem. Wisconsin departments protect homes, farms, businesses, recreational properties, and communities located near forests, grasslands, and other natural fuels. Learning how to identify those risks before a fire starts can improve preplanning, public education, community partnerships, and firefighter safety.

Course: F2292, Wildland-Urban Interface Risk Assessment & Mitigation for the Fire ServiceDates: September 3–4, 2026Location: Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Green BayCost: FreeRegistration: Contact Dan Koland at daniel.koland@nwtc.edu

View the official National Fire Academy course description

Instructor Takeaway

This is a chance to bring national-level training back to local departments without having to travel across the country. Instructors, prevention personnel, officers, and anyone involved in community risk reduction should consider attending and sharing the opportunity throughout their region.

Instructor Development Point: Respect Their Time

Volunteer and paid-on-call members aren’t walking away because they suddenly stopped caring about their communities.

Many are working full-time jobs, raising families, answering more calls, and trying to meet growing training expectations. Then we ask them to spend another evening sitting through information that could have been taught in twenty minutes.

Before your next class, ask yourself one question:

Does every part of this lesson help the student perform the job better?

Cut the filler. Start on time. Have the equipment ready. Explain the objective. Give members meaningful repetitions. Correct mistakes without humiliating people, and finish when the work is done.

Respecting people’s time doesn’t lower the standard. It helps make the standard possible.

What to Do This Month

• Verify EMS practitioner and instructor certifications within your department or training center.

• Review the Wisconsin Policy Forum findings with department leadership.

• Register for a free 2026 Wisconsin DSPS Fall Training Presentation and share the flyer.

• Apply for a National Fire Academy resident course before July 15.

• Contact Dan Koland about the free NFA wildland-urban interface course at NWTC.

• Add a written heat and rehab plan to summer training sessions.

• Create your WSESI website account and explore the discussion boards and instructor resource library.

• Like and follow the WSESI Facebook page, share one post, and invite another instructor to join the Society.

• Identify one training session that could be completed jointly with neighboring departments.

• Send WSESI your ideas for the 2027 conference, regional training, and future instructor-development programs.

Summer Training: Heat Is a Hazard

Summer training brings together heat, physical exertion, heavy PPE, dehydration, and limited air movement. That can turn a normal drill into a serious problem quickly.

NIOSH identifies temperature, humidity, direct sunlight, physical exertion, PPE, lack of acclimatization, dehydration, certain medications, and individual health conditions as factors that increase the risk of heat illness. Heat stress can also contribute to fatigue, poor decisions, falls, burns, and members loosening or removing protective equipment.

The OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool provides current heat-index information, hourly forecasts, precautions, symptoms, first-aid guidance, and recommendations for hydration, rest, acclimatization, and monitoring.

Instructor Takeaway

Don’t cancel every difficult drill because it’s warm, but don’t pretend the temperature doesn’t matter.

Build rehab into the lesson plan. Establish work-and-rest cycles. Provide water and cooling. Monitor members, and assign someone to watch the students instead of assuming everyone will recognize their own decline.

Heat illness is easier to prevent than explain.

New Member Features on the WSESI Website

WSESI members can now log in to the Society’s website and create their own member profile accounts.

Once logged in, members will have access to members-only discussion boards where they can ask questions, share ideas, and connect with instructors across Wisconsin. Members can also access the new instructor resource library, which will include training materials, references, lesson resources, and useful tools.

These additions are meant to make the WSESI website more than a place to find conference information. The goal is to create an online space where instructors can exchange resources, solve problems, and stay connected throughout the year.

The value of these tools will depend on participation. Create your account, complete your profile, ask questions, join the discussions, and share something another Wisconsin instructor can use.

Help Us Grow the WSESI Community

WSESI is strongest when more instructors, officers, educators, and emergency service professionals are connected to the organization.

Please take a minute to like and follow the WSESI Facebook page, share our posts, and help spread the word about the Society. Every share gives us another chance to reach someone who may benefit from our training, resources, conference, and statewide network.

Membership isn’t only about what one person gets from the organization. It’s about strengthening the entire instructor community across Wisconsin. The more people we bring together, the more experience, ideas, resources, and opportunities we can share.

Help us grow the Society by inviting others to follow, participate, and join. The better connected we become, the stronger Wisconsin’s emergency services training community becomes.