Summer Essentials Program

By THOMAS J. GARRITY

The Montgomery County (PA) Fire Academy (MCFA) regularly partners with Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) and the Montgomery County EMS Training Institute to train volunteer firefighters. Most of this training occurs on evenings and weekends seven days a week to accommodate the volunteers' careers. However, the world is changing, and the fire service needs to adapt. After assessing our customer's needs with the advice of the MCFA advisory board, Ed O'Hanlon, the fire program coordinator, convinced me (as the deputy director of the fire programs) that a summer daytime program was needed. O'Hanlon designed the Summer Essentials Program to offer four courses that comprise the 168 consecutive hours of required training in the Pennsylvania Entry Level Firefighter curriculum during the day and over a five-week period.

It is getting increasingly difficult to recruit and train volunteer firefighters because of the training commitment and, as a result, the number of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania is declining. More than one Montgomery County chief believes that it is best if you can train firefighters early, before they have taken on the responsibilities of a career and a family. The program's goal is to offer fire training in a format that allows college students to train as firefighters during their summer break. However, training firefighters during the summer in Southeastern Pennsylvania would not be without its challenges.